The 2024 Health Edit: A Personalised Guide to Your Best Self
I love the freshness of a new year. It feels like opening a brand new notebook, a clean slate. Despite January 1 being just another day, I embrace the Gregorian calendar's start of the year as a time for reflection on the past and planning for the future. There's a sense of renewal, new intentions, and the excitement of mapping out the upcoming journey.
Over 14 million Australians set resolutions, but unfortunately, more than half of them remain unfulfilled. The key to successful resolution-setting lies in how many goals you set and the plan, or lack thereof, created to achieve them.
Rather than overwhelming yourself with an extensive list of resolutions, focus on one high-priority goal. This approach increases your chances of success and prevents feelings of overwhelm.
In 2024, eating healthy tops the list of resolutions for 39% of Australians. If this goal is on your list too, consider employing my health edit process for effective goal setting. First and foremost choose one thing. Then ask yourself if you're merely interested in your resolution. Are you genuinely committed to eating healthily? Being honest with yourself will guide your decision to invest energy into this goal. Now some people are able to take on more than one goal and successfully implement the changes required to achieve it, but anymore than three is too many.
In my experience new beginnings only happen when we are ready for change. They are not something to be forced. Often a lot has been happening in the background that leads us to a point where we are ready for transformative change. It’s the choices we make day in day out that lead to change over time, so follow what feels right for you.
If you're committed to your goal, the next step is creating a plan. Ideally you collect health data about your current state, identifying nutrient imbalances that may require adjustments through diet and/or supplementation. With this information you are able to generate a personalised meal plan to support your journey.
The key to fulfilling the resolution is to create an accessible plan. With the eating healthy goal example, the following general diet guidelines will get you there:
Include protein in meals and snacks.
Focus on whole foods, avoiding processed options.
Minimise foods with added sugars.
Structure your plate: 1/4 protein, 1/2 vegetables, and 1/4 legumes or whole grains.
Consume food in the following order: vegetables first, then protein and fat, and finally, carbs.
Avoid overeating, there is no need for seconds unless you're an athlete or engage in daily exercise.
With these guidelines in mind, establish routines to ensure consistency in following them. When it comes to routines it’s important to be realistic about what will work for you and your circumstances and creating routines involves problems solving when it comes to obstacles to implementation of healthy habits.
To recap, start by choosing one thing and commit to it. This prevents overwhelm and sets the stage for success. Develop a realistic plan with guidelines, embedding them into your daily routines.
Regularly review and refine your approach. I am still working through how my morning routines will realistically incorporate my self care practices I want to do regularly. It takes time to get it right and there will be times where the routines works and then stops working and needs to be reviewed and changed up.
It is important to know there where will be relapses. The way to respond to those is to know you need to keep going. Just because you had a gelato after the movies does not mean you have failed. You just wake up the next day resolved and committed to your eating healthy goal and keep going. The result in 12 months time? You will be where you want. You’re a healthy eater!
