If you’re like me, you get excited to start a new year! A fresh start, putting your past struggles to rest so you can set new, exciting, audacious goals for the new year. When it comes to health, I see a lot of people writing “Lose 20 lbs” “Workout More” “Eat Better”… Which I LOVE! I love when people think healthy thoughts, I want to take it one step further and make their goals a reality!
I am totally guilty of the above and when I make open ended non-specific goals, they usually last a good 24 hours before I cave in. I realize in order to make myself successful, I need to keep myself accountable.
Instead of changing everything at once, which can overwhelm the body and mind… I like to take things in steps. Let’s say your goal is to stop eating all forms of gluten but your diet consists of breads, pastas, pastries… write a goal that after this week you are no longer eat pastries. After a week you will wake up and look in the mirror and say, “WOAH! I am still alive… and actually I feel a heck of alot better!”, so the following week you cut out all breads. Eggs in the morning are ate without toast, really it’s not as difficult as you might think. You can make an amazing omelet with spinach, mushrooms, meats, and you won’t even know you’re missing the bread! The following week cut out pasta. If you are a carb junkie, substitute with rice or rice products like rice pasta. Once you are off gluten then you can work on getting off dairy (Oh Em Ghee, no cheese? Like how will I ever survive? Trust me, you will…and you will probably survive longer doing so).
Homework: Write a list of 3-5 measurable things you want to see change with your health in 2017 (ie: I want to stop eating all dairy by Feb. 1st, I want to stop using toxic chemicals in my life by Feb. 1st, I want to workout for 45 min. every M,W,F starting TODAY)
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Next, write 3 action steps to achieve the above goals (ie: Switch Milk to Almond Milk; Use dairy free cheese if needed; Read labels to avoid anything containing milk, dairy, lactose, etc.; I will buy Vinegar and essential oils to clean my house, I will buy Eco-friendly dish soap and laundry detergent, I will throw out my bleach and other toxic chemicals in my house; I will put my shoes by my bed so I can jump on the elliptical for 45 min. each morning, etc.
Goal #1: ____________________________________
Action Steps:
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Goal #2: ____________________________________
Action Steps:
- ________________________
- ________________________
- ________________________
Goal #3: ____________________________________
Action Steps:
- ________________________
- ________________________
- ________________________
This year is going to be amazing, I can already tell! You are a strong person and you’ve made it through things that you probably look back and say, “How the heck did I ever get through that obstacle”… This is just another obstacle to add, “another mountain to climb”. You can do it! If you need help getting over that mountain, please schedule an appointment with me, I’d love to look at your overall health, dig deeper and find the root causes to things you feel like you can’t fix on your own. 563-284-2422. Happy New Year!