New Year’s resolutions––don’t make promises you can’t keep. This year, make a few small changes in your eating habits that can yield big results.

Do you remember the New Year’s resolutions you made last year? Let me guess: If you’re like most people, you probably vowed to eat better, get more exercise––and maybe floss more often. So, looking back, how did it go? Did you accomplish all you set out to do? Or, did you start the year out strong then fall back on your old patterns, so that you’re making the same resolutions again this year? This may surprise you, but I think that’s okay––and here’s why. If you make the decision every January to shape up, it says that taking better care of yourself is important to you. If it weren’t important, you wouldn’t keep working at it. And just because you make the same promises to yourself every year, it doesn’t necessarily mean you didn’t accomplish anything last year.

Any improvement is good

Maybe you didn’t exercise as much as you planned or ate as carefully as you intended. But if you’re still doing better now than you were the year before, maybe it’s because you managed to chip away at a few bad habits. And that’s great – because the little changes to the way you do things every single day can really add up. And you can continue to build on these small successes this New Year.

Don’t do too much at once

It’s great to be ambitious but if you try to tackle too many changes at once, you could be setting yourself up for defeat. Making resolutions is the easy part. Making them stick is what’s hard, because you have to do things differently. It takes time to undo a bad habit, which is why repetition is so important. But it’s a lot easier to repeat a small, relatively easy task than one that seems positively Herculean. Plus, you have to figure out what’s getting in the way of your progress, and figure out how to move these obstacles out of your way.

Let’s say you don’t floss your teeth as often as you should. What’s getting in your way? And what steps can you take to make sure you’ll do it regularly? It’s not really a time issue, it only takes a couple of minutes. But you need to make sure you have the floss in the house. You need to make sure you see the floss whenever you brush your teeth. You need a mirror so you can see what you’re doing.
Maybe you decide that rather than tossing the dental floss in the back of the medicine cabinet where it gets lost in a jumble of half-used toiletries, you’ll instead make a little ‘dental kit’ for yourself. Make one that includes your toothbrush, your toothpaste, your floss, and maybe a little dental mirror. With everything conveniently in one place it’s more likely that every time you pull out your kit, you’ll not just brush––you’ll wind up flossing, too.

Move obstacles out of your way

Same thing goes with your eating habits. You have to figure out why you’re not doing what you plan to do, and how you can make it easier. It’s easy to say you’re going to eat more fruits and vegetables, but it’s hard to do if you don’t keep them in the house. But that’s not enough. Once you’ve got them in the house, you have to make it easier to eat them. So, maybe you make sure to keep a stash of fruit in the freezer to add to protein shakes. Or keep a bowl of fruit on your kitchen counter to remind you that fruit makes a great snack. Or you keep some cut up veggies handy in the refrigerator where you’ll see them every time you open the door looking for something to munch on.

Just make sure that whatever changes you plan to make are things you know you can really do. If you’ve never brought your lunch to work, it’s unlikely you’ll suddenly start doing it every day. So, set a reasonable goal and make it specific. Not “I’m going to bring my lunch to work more often,” but “I’m going to bring my lunch to work twice a week.” That way at the end of the week it’s easy to determine if you’ve met your goal or not.

Learn more about healthy nutrition! Cut through the jargon with practical day to day help from Susan Bowerman, Herbalife Nutrition Expert. Tune in every week for new tips and build your confidence to make healthier food choices!

Nutrition is the cornerstone of Herbalife. A healthy diet and regular physical activity are major factors in the promotion and maintenance of good health throughout your life. Watch Herbalife nutritionist,Susan Bowerman share her advice and ideas to help educate and inspire people to eat more healthfully.  https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL68B1B394F3E91E26

Eating a healthy breakfast really can set the stage for healthier eating all day long. The right foods in the morning can provide you with the energy you need to power through until lunch. And, with a healthy breakfast in your system, you’re less likely to experience mid-morning cravings for unhealthy foods.

What Is A Good Breakfast?

The foods you eat for breakfast can really affect how you feel and perform throughout your morning, and there are several things that a good breakfast can do for you.

A healthy breakfast is a meal that can….

• Keep you fueled up until your next meal or snack. A well-balanced breakfast should provide you with staying power. Foods with protein help to satisfy hunger, and high fiber foods help to fill you up.
• Supply your body and brain with energy. In the morning, your body’s gas tank is running close to empty. When you eat the right foods for breakfast, you’re providing your muscles and brain with the fuel they need for optimal performance.
• Help avoid blood sugar swings and reduce cravings. A balanced meal that contains both protein and healthy carbohydrates can provide a steady and sustained release of energy into your system, and help ward off wild swings in your blood sugar that can trigger cravings for sweets or other unhealthy foods.
• Help you make better food choices throughout the day.

7 Healthy Breakfast Ideas

A balanced breakfast should provide you with a decent amount of protein (20-30 grams would be a good target) to help satisfy hunger and to support muscle health, along with some healthy carbohydrates which can provide sustained energy and fiber. Carbohydrates should include – at the very least – some fruits or vegetables; if calories allow, add some whole grains as well.

With these simple guidelines, it’s easy to put together a healthy, well-balanced breakfast. Here are 7 healthy breakfast suggestions:

1. Cook some fresh or frozen spinach in the microwave, top with scrambled eggs/egg whites and a drizzle of balsamic vinegar; fresh fruit on the side
2. Protein shake made with protein powder, low fat milk or soy milk and fruit
3. Plain nonfat/low fat yogurt or cottage cheese topped with either fresh fruit and cinnamon or chopped raw vegetables and some fresh black pepper
4. Rolled oats prepared with milk or soy milk; stir in protein powder and fruit after cooking

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Written by Susan Bowerman, M.S,. R.D., C.S.S.D. Susan Bowerman is Director of Nutrition Training at Herbalife. Susan is a Registered Dietitian and a Board-Certified Specialist in Sports Dietetics.