Health Based Resolutions: Eating Better, Weight loss and Tobacco Use
Well, welcome to the roaring 20’s. Did you make any New Year’s resolutions? Did you break them already? It is not easy for sure, but a new year does bring new hope.
Two HUGE resolutions that people frequently make are weight loss and stop using tobacco (smoking, chewing, and dipping).
Weight loss is a long discussion and many things go into sustained weight loss. Primarily, long term weight loss is only achieved by radical lifestyle changes in how you live and eat—it’s a heart and brain change. Surgery won’t cure it and pills can’t fix it, only hard work and discipline will work.
Most of the heavy lifting of weight loss is diet changes to eat fewer amounts of food and fewer calories. There are several ways to attack this like clean keto (low carb) or plant based diet, but you need to do something you can do for life.
Simple steps to start are limiting sweet drinks like sweet tea, soda and even juices. Water is your friend. Cut back on bread, pasta and potatoes as well as refined sugar like in cakes, pies and ice creams.
We would like to help you even more here as we start nutrition classes by Julie Cottrell RD who has years of experience as a registered dietitian. We plan to have 6 free classes starting in March 2020. More info is coming soon on those classes!
Exercise is important for weight loss too. It can be as simple as walking 30 to 40 minutes every day. Find something you like to do and that fits in your schedule. You have to make exercise a routine and part of your schedule or it will never last. You can do online classes, do yoga or join a local gym. Do something!
Finally, tobacco addiction. It’s very hard to quit smoking or dipping. We would love to meet with you and help you work on this and provide tips or even some medicine that might help.
Main things to consider are:
1. Keep trying to quit: it could take 8 to 10 times of trying to quit. 2. Avoid smoking areas where you work or bars that allow smoking. 3. Tell your friends and family you are trying to quit so they can support you (and so they know what you’re so mad all the time now). 4. Buy cigarettes or dip one pack or can at a time. Make it harder to get them. 5 Use sugar free gum or lollipops instead of smoking or dipping to keep your mouth busy.
It’s time to make some changes. You CAN do it! We can help.