Healthy resolutions for 2011

It’s 2011, and you’re back to where you were a year ago: Ready to start anew, to make changes to improve your health. This year is going to be different. You’re going to follow through with your resolutions and emerge from 2011 healthier than ever.

Now, where do you begin?

Here’s what the experts say on how to make good on your health resolutions for 2011.

• Develop a strategy. Review your resolutions from last year and find out what worked and what didn’t. Then, work with your doctor to set your resolutions for 2011 and to motivate you to meet those goals. Most people love challenges, and if they are challenged even a little bit, it might trigger some motivation to move forward.

Choose one or two attainable goals instead of 10, and track your progress at the end of each week. If you do one thing, but you do it every single day of the year, it’s still going to amount to a big change by the end of the year.

• Establish a weight-loss program. Plan to lose five pounds instead of 50, and then work your way down, aiming for a pound of weight loss per week. Weigh yourself daily. To cut back on calories, reduce your portion sizes by using smaller plates or bowls, and limiting your intake of desserts, sweets, fatty foods, and alcohol.

Once you shed the unwanted pounds and need to buy new clothes, give all your clothes to charity, as an incentive to stay thinner.

• Get moving, and stay moving. Your doctor can help you develop an exercise program that’s right for you, but often, the problem is finding the motivation to follow that regimen. Find a workout buddy and establish a set time each day for exercise — you’re less likely to cancel an exercise appointment with someone else.

• Make wise food choices. Don’t think of healthful eating as a “diet” but rather a lifelong eating plan. Eat breakfast and then eat small meals every three to five hours to control your hunger. Incorporate more fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat/fat-free dairy products into your daily diet.

Eat out less often. Pack your lunch rather than grab something from a vending machine or restaurant. If time is an issue, pack your lunch the night before, or prepare several meals early in the week and freeze them for later use.

• Take care of your heart. Work with your doctor to meet your target goals for cholesterol, triglycerides, blood sugar, and blood pressure. If you smoke, talk to your physician about counseling, medications, and nicotine-replacement therapies that can help you kick the habit.

To help with your blood pressure, limit your sodium intake to no more than 2,300 mg a day by ditching the saltshaker either at the table or when you’re cooking. Avoid high-sodium convenience foods such as canned soups, snack foods, processed meats (bacon, ham, luncheon meat), and boxed foods (instant potatoes, rice mixes).

• Reduce stress. Worries and other concerns can prompt some people to turn to destructive behaviors, such as overeating and alcohol excess.

Instead, look for constructive stress-reducers, such as taking a walk, stretching, meditating or turning to activities that you enjoy.

• Understand your health risks. Know your family history of disease and talk with your doctor about screenings for cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, and cancer. Follow your doctor’s recommendations for physical exams.

• Learn your numbers. Learn what your ideal body weight is, what your target LDL (“bad”) cholesterol is, and work with your doctor to achieve those targets. Lifestyle modifications and medications can help you keep your levels in check and reduce your risk of complications.

• Strengthen your social networks. Previous research has identified a wide range of indicators of social isolation that poses health risks, including living alone, having a small social network, infrequent participation in social activities, and feelings of loneliness. By staying social, you can greatly reduce your risk of health problems.

New technologies, such as the Internet, make staying in touch with family and friends easier. In older adults, research has shown that those who have a strong social network are less likely to suffer from depression, cognitive decline, and even disability. Experts recommend that older adults do volunteer work, join a club, or pursue a new interest or hobby.

• Limit your alcohol intake. Drinking alcohol can have health benefits such as a lower risk of heart disease, but it can also cause problems. Experts recommend limiting alcohol intake to only one drink per day for women and two for men. Older adults metabolize alcohol differently and are more sensitive to it than when they were younger. Alcohol stays in the system longer and has a stronger effect, particularly in the central nervous system, so it’s much easier to overdo it now than when you were a teenager.

Medications that can interact with alcohol include antidepressants, narcotics, barbiturates, antihistamines, aspirin, NSAIDs, acetaminophen, high blood pressure medications, diabetes medications, drugs for ulcers, drugs for gout, drugs for heart failure, and blood thinners. Avoid drinking alcohol if you will be driving, operating machinery, or caring for others.

Resolutions For A Better Brain

If you want to stay as sharp as you are for as long as you can — and even add a little brainpower — you may want to make a few brain-friendly resolutions this year.

Here’s what experts recommend to boost your brain power in 2011.

• Resolve to do something new and good for yourself every day. Take a new and scenic route to work, try new foods, or learn a new hobby. Novelty encourages exploration and learning, and research suggests it may also improve memory by stimulating the hippocampus, a key memory region in the brain. Participants in a study who were tasked with remembering slightly familiar information improved their performance by 19 percent when the information was combined with new facts.

• Resolve to play. Infusing your day’s activities with a sense of play helps lower stress. Games and activities such as painting or carpentry can help you learn new skills, encourage problem solving, unleash creativity, and deliver a sense of achievement.

• Resolve to think critically. Get into the habit of thinking about events and people in the world around you and deciding for yourself how you feel about those issues. Spending more time evaluating information and thinking things through would have beneficial effects on our brains.

• Resolve to learn to meditate. Studies suggest that meditation can lower blood pressure and stress, improve immunity, reduce anxiety, and help control pain, among other benefits (An Apple a Day, October 19, 2010). Regular meditation also helps improve memory, attention, and well-being. Learn about meditation by reading the book The Relaxation Response by Dr. Herbert Benson.

• Resolve to stabilize your circadian rhythms. Regularizing daily cycles of sleep and wakefulness may be critical to the ability to remember information, because the hippocampus appears to need circadian rhythmicity for memory consolidation. Stabilize your circadian rhythms by exposing yourself to bright light during the day and by waking up at the same time every morning. For example, don’t disturb your daily circadian rhythms by awakening at 6 a.m. on weekdays and then sleeping late on weekends.

• Resolve to remain mentally active. People who busy their minds with puzzles, card games, art projects, and other challenging activities as little as twice a week may half their risk of dementia as people who pursue these activities just once a week, according to a study published in the September 15, 2009 issue of Neurology. Staying mentally active helps resist cognitive decline.

Indeed, it’s now 2011 and, as in previous years, you may be thinking about New Year’s resolutions. And for most people, New Year’s goals tend to focus on ways to live healthier and happier.

Hope you make 2011 your healthiest year ever.

Have a happy and healthy New Year!