Start Your New Year's Resolution Now!

Do you remember January 1st, 2016….seems like a distant memory now. Remember the New Year’s resolutions you made? Have you kept them? Most people would say - no, I gave up on it about March (maybe May if you were “good”)!  Well, it is never too late to start again!

The struggle to lose weight, quit smoking, eat healthy and exercise is a lifelong one. It is not hundred meters dash; it’s a marathon. So, setbacks are to be expected and need to be dealt with in a pragmatic way, without overreacting or completely abandoning your efforts to become a healthier person.

Don’t let the calendar dictate your promises or your failures. As your health and personal well-being should be at the top of your list of most important things in your life, you need to be determined to stand up after every fall and never accept defeat.  Sometimes, all you need is that little push to get you going again. If, for example, you used to eat unhealthy every day of the week, aim at a healthy Tuesday; that’s a real progress. Once you conquer this first step you can add another day, allowing yourself your old-style unhealthy binge on the rest of the week. Capitalizing on your positive psychology of eating healthy on certain days, it is very likely that, over time, you will be able to eat healthy most days of the week. One healthy day is better than none! There is a quarter of the year left, enough time to prove you can really improve to yourself and achieve your initial goal.

Let’s talk about diet: if you can only eat five or more portions of fruits and vegetables a day and cut out sugar (especially sugary soda), even if you also eat some junk food, you have made a big step forward. Then, try to eat lean meat and the good fats (olive oil, fish, nuts), and prefer fresh non-GMO foods over processed food. Control your calorie intake, as too many of the bad carbs or even the good fats, can lead to belly fat or abdobesity.  This can lead to a whole host of problems down the road (diabetes, heart attacks, stroke, to mention but a few).

Also, take advantage of your “wellness” visits to your primary care doctor. Most plans require no copay for these visits. If you have not made that doctor’s appointment that you meant to do- do it now! Many insurance companies have a flex fund or HSA account where money is put aside, and if you don't use it, often you lose it. So put that money to use and make your health a priority. A wellness visit can unmask a high blood pressure or cholesterol, prediabetes or diabetes and start you on the right path towards health.

Exercise usually ranks high on New Year’s resolutions. With summer, and vacation and work and kids and,and, and….well you see where this is going.  It is easy to fall off the workout wagon. But climb back on.  Pretend the calendar says 1/1 again!  Get to the gym, grab a friend or your spouse and start a walking routine (and light weight training every other day-muscles improve your metabolism), check around to find home exercise equipment that someone ELSE is now selling after buying it last Christmas! Make their loss your gain.  Consider buying a standing or a treadmill desk and use it at work. It is a waste of precious time and opportunity if we spend all our working hours sitting; we get the “sitting disease’, as many scientists now call it-contributing to obesity, muscle wasting, diabetes, high blood pressure and more.

If your resolution was to stop smoking and you haven’t ... please consider stopping now. There are several smoking cessation tools, including groups and/or medication to help. Ask your doctor to help you quitting. Be aware, though, that if you are not really determined to quit, no nicotine patches or gums, no Wellbutrin and no Chantix will get the job done.

Make today your “new year” day and get in gear! If you do this, by December 31st, you will not need to make as many resolutions.  

To your health!

Dr. Anthony

New Year’s Health ‘Re-Solutions’

Aiming at an almost daily practice of a healthy lifestyle is my suggestion for 2016  health resolution.  

Here I need to explain two things: first, what healthy lifestyle really means in practical terms and, second, why I believe that embracing and practicing a daily healthy lifestyle makes a better new year’s resolution than losing weight.

A healthy lifestyle means not smoking, following a healthy diet (six or more portions of fresh fruits and vegetables, taking in the good fats and lean protein, avoiding the bad fats, significantly limiting the intake of salt and sugar and controlling our calories) in at least 90% of our meals, near-daily exercise (combination of aerobic, low-weight resistance, and stretching), not drinking more than moderate amounts of alcohol (no more than one alcoholic beverage daily for women or two for men) and avoiding prolonged or unnecessary use of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications (‘NSAIDs’). The practice of a healthy lifestyle should be coupled with monitoring, with the help of our doctor, our blood pressure and LDL cholesterol and with keeping our wellness visit appointments.

Losing weight as a new year’s resolution is a cliché. A goal of weight loss at any cost or by any means does not improve our health or prolongs our longevity as much as the consistent practice of a healthy lifestyle (and keeping our blood pressure and LDL cholesterol low). Additionally, for so many people, weight loss can be difficult-if not impossible- to achieve and the struggle to lose weight may deteriorate into a frustrating uphill battle, a daily nightmare that can make people feel worthless and give up on their health altogether. Finally, a near-daily practice of a healthy lifestyle very often results, over time, in a healthy and sustainable weight loss.

Here is a personalized list of healthy daily practices, with emphasis on individual health profiles:

If you smoke, quit. Daily exercise and a perfect diet won’t come even close to offering you the health benefits of quitting smoking. Smoking, even as your only vice, is plenty capable of destroying your arteries (giving you heart attacks and strokes) and your lungs (causing emphysema) and contributing to an assortment of cancers, provided you continue to smoke long enough (it may take a couple of decades for smoking to destroy a young human body, considerably less for a middle-aged one)

If you have high blood pressure, eliminate salt from your diet, take your medications, and monitor your blood pressure at home, aiming at the blood pressure goals that your physician recommends for you (less than 140/90 mm Hg, or even lower, depending on your medical history)

If you are diabetic, do whatever it takes to keep your A1c at the level your physician recommends (around 7% or even lower, again depending on your unique health circumstances), monitor your blood sugar and blood pressure at home and discuss with your doctor whether a statin is appropriate for you.

If you have high cholesterol, eat at least six portions of fresh fruits and vegetables a day, take in the good fats (in the forms of fish, olive oil, unsalted nuts, or dark chocolate) and discuss with your doctor whether medications are necessary

If you are overweight or obese, eat a healthy diet, exercise at least five times a week (including not only aerobic but also resistance and stretching exercises), don’t smoke, do not drink more than moderate amounts of alcohol, make your home as sugar-free as possible, and keep your blood pressure and LDL cholesterol low, with the help of your physician. If your obesity has already caused significant health problems, discuss with your doctor about bariatric surgery and obesity-treating medications.

Remember: it is what we do on most of our days that counts. Good health is built or destroyed, one day at a time.

Have a most healthy 2016!