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With a new year comes a chance for a fresh start. The indulgent holidays are done, and warmer weather is on the horizon (maybe the far horizon), so it’s a good time to refocus your priorities on your wellness. If you want to create a new year diet and exercise plan, we’re here to help. Remember, the earlier you start planning, the better prepared you’ll be to achieve your goals in 2024.
Preparing for a Healthy Start: Crafting Your New Year Diet and Exercise Plan (Plus Extras)
Here’s a quick outline to help you create a comprehensive wellness plan for the new year. While exercise and diet should be a focus for new year wellness, they’re not the only areas that matter. Health includes your body, spirit and mind, so your wellness plan should include all of these.
Here are five critical components every wellness plan should include:
1. Set an Exercise Routine and Goal
A healthy new you means embracing a regular exercise routine. It’s been proven that regular exercise has many benefits, including up to a 30% lower risk of depression, dementia, falls and early death.
Many people embrace exercise in the new year and then quickly lose interest. This may be because they make exercise a chore. If you hate going to the gym, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to convince yourself to go there several times a week.
So, the key to getting regular exercise is to find a form of movement you enjoy. This could be going for long walks around the neighborhood, taking up a new sport like skating, rock climbing or tennis or joining a community sports team. When you can make exercise fun, it’ll stop feeling like an obligation and start to be something you look forward to.
2. Embrace Healthy Eating
Let’s face it — almost every person could stand to improve their diet a bit. If you’re embracing wellness in the new year, you’re also likely looking to make some changes to your diet.
Of course, eating salad for 365 days a year isn’t something everyone enjoys. (Nor would it be the best choice for every meal.)
So, like our advice about exercise, learn to embrace healthy eating by making it fun. A healthy approach to food is to focus not what you should take out of your diet but what you can add to make it healthier. You can still cook your favorite dishes, but consider making some healthy swaps. Here are some quick diet swaps to make your meals a bit healthier:
- Consider substituting low-fat milk for your coffee creamer, Greek yogurt for sour cream and olive oil for butter.
- Try having Meatless Mondays to reduce your meat intake.
- Sneak in extra vegetables whenever you can — add them to your pasta dishes, casseroles and even your desserts (have you heard of zucchini bread?).
- Add extra protein in fun, creative ways like black bean brownies and cottage cheese lasagna.
Having a positive mindset of “adding in” rather than “taking away” from your diet can help you eat healthy while feeling satiated. Over time, these swaps will start to feel so natural that you’ll forget you’re eating the healthier version.
3. Don’t Forget to De-Stress
According to the American Psychological Association, chronic stress is strongly linked to six leading causes of death, including heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, liver cirrhosis and suicide.
A wellness plan is about more than just what you eat and how you move; it’s also about how you feel. The more stressed you are, the more likely you are to deprioritize your health and diet.
So, in this new year, focus on reducing your stress levels. Some ways you can do this include:
- Practicing yoga or meditation
- Journaling
- Booking massages
- Spending time with loved ones
- Minimizing screen time, including social media
4. Make Sleep a Priority
Sleep is another area you may not necessarily think of when you think of wellness, but it’s just as important as diet and exercise. A recent 2021 meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials found that improving sleep quality leads to better mental health. If you want the energy to get through your day and hit your goals, you must give your body and mind the rest it needs to recharge.
Every adult should aim to get 7–8 hours of quality sleep nightly. If you’re currently not close to hitting this target, here are some tips for improving your sleep:
- Install blackout curtains in your bedroom.
- Stop using all screens, including phones and television, at least 1 hour before bed.
- Have a regular bedtime and wake-up time every day, including weekends, to get your body on an internal clock.
- Consider using a white noise machine.
- Invest in comfortable pillows, sheets and blankets for your bed.
5. Care for Your Mental Health
Lastly, you can’t have a wellness plan without considering your mental health. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health, and both are closely intertwined. One can’t succeed without the other.
You can prioritize your mental health by:
- Speaking to a counselor or therapist
- Writing daily in a journal or gratitude notebook
- Limiting drugs and alcohol
- Reaching out for support when you need it
- Setting boundaries at work and in your personal life so you’re not overburdened
Don’t Forget About Goal Setting
One last tip is to set goals around each of the components of your wellness plan. Without goals, you won’t be able to track your progress, and you’ll likely lose motivation. So be sure to set realistic goals for your new year wellness plan. Some examples of goals could be:
- Exercise: Move my body for 30 minutes daily, three times a week.
- Diet: Schedule Meatless Mondays all year long.
- De-stress: Spend quality time with a family member or friend daily, whether in person or over the phone.
- Sleep: Keep a consistent bedtime.
- Mental health: Start daily journaling.
Ask for Help When You Need It
Now that you have your new year health tips, it’s time for reflection. Part of a wellness journey should be understanding when you need to ask for help.
FHE Health is an addiction and mental health clinic that helps individuals get back to their regular selves. Don’t let another year go by without getting the help you deserve. Contact FHE Health today to learn how our experienced, friendly staff can help you live your best life. 2024 can be the year you prioritize yourself again.
