Ring in a Healthier You in 2007

By CHRISTINE DELL’AMORE

Welcome to 2007, the year you will finally fit into your jeans from high school. It’s also the year you’ll become a gym rat, free yourself from college debt and quit smoking. Sound familiar? While we scramble to make New Year’s resolutions — 71 percent of Americans do, according to a recent survey by Corporate Research International — not all of us set realistic goals, dooming our resolutions to failure.

But resolving to change your lifestyle need not require a marathon effort; rather, smaller steps can amount to healthy, sustainable habits, experts say.

What sets resolutions apart from commitments is a heartfelt desire to make a change, said Dr. Kenneth Bollin, chief of the department of family medicine at St. John Hospital in Detroit. It’s easy to make a frivolous decision to lose weight, but until someone lays out a real course of action, it probably won’t work.

That’s why Bollin advises people to:

– Don’t expect too much. If you weigh 250 pounds and you want to slim down to 150, you can’t do it in a year. Take your time in reaching your goal, and try to focus on one at a time.

– Don’t go it alone. Waking up at 8 a.m. to go exercise is usually more bearable if you’ve got a buddy ready to face the morning chill with you.

– Fit it into your lifestyle. If going to a gym before work doesn’t fit into the natural flow of your daily schedule, you’re never going to do it.

– Make sure it’s enjoyable. Try recreational activities like gardening, so that exercise ends up being a byproduct of fun.

– Try a rationing approach to quit smoking. One morning, open a pack of cigarettes and throw one away. The next morning, throw out two, and so on. Cutting down slowly on nicotine can prevent withdrawal symptoms.

Smokers should also not get discouraged if it takes them four or five tries before they quit, Dr. Ron Davis, president-elect of the American Medical Association, told United Press International. Overcoming a habit might mean multiple failures before you are successful.

Davis also offered these New Year’s resolutions:

– Reduce soda intake. A 64-ounce soda drink can have 48 teaspoons of sugar — an excessive amount.

– Cut back on salt. Limit your intake to one teaspoon a day.

– Check your blood pressure. For a proper reading, visit your doctor.

– Get a mammogram every one or two years if you’re a woman older than 40.

– Talk to your doctor about a colonoscopy if you are older than 50.

Overall, Davis said, people should not shy from seeking help when making any major changes to their lifestyles. Doctors are excellent resources, and they can often prescribe medications that give a boost in reaching a goal.

Families are also a vital source of support, and parents should try to make whole-family commitments to better health, said Dr. Tamara Hannon, a pediatric endocrinologist at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh.

She recommended families:

– Eat meals together. Sharing meals fosters healthy relationships in the family and encourages them to eat smaller portion sizes.

– Be a role model. If you want your kids to get off soda, don’t buy it for yourself.

– Reduce TV and video time. Limit screen time to less than two hours a day.

– Increase intake of fruits and vegetables. Everyone seems to struggle with this, so Hannon recommends parents keep a calendar on the fridge to keep track of how many fruits and veggies each family member eats per day.

People also might need assistance in how to set a goal. Theresa Fassihi, a psychologist at The Menninger Clinic in Houston, provided these tips for achieving wellness:

– Set priorities. If you have been neglecting an area of your life, focus on that.

– Develop an action plan. Lay out an outline of steps to achieve your goal. Make it detailed and concrete.

– Build in incentives for motivation. Treat yourself along the way — it’ll help you keep going.

And if New Year’s doesn’t seem like the right milestone to start on a healthier you, don’t fret; as Davis pointed out, there’s always your birthday.