Around this time of the year, many people are settling in on their New Year’s resolutions. Lots of folks might have already given up on theirs. Their intention was probably a good one, but something got in their way. As Sabrina Romanoff, a clinical psychologist and professor at Yeshiva University in New York, recently explained to Fox News Digital, “While goals are motivating to some, they also may paralyze others who feel overwhelmed by the resolution. Instead of motivating (them) to achieve the goal, it may cause them to feel stuck.”
As another story posted by verywellmind.com notes, just because a resolution doesn’t stick, it doesn’t mean it wasn’t worth making. If nothing else, a survey conducted by YouGov “found that people who planned to make New Year’s resolutions were more optimistic about the future,” says the report. We shouldn’t punish ourselves for falling short of fulfilling a resolution. Maybe think of it as just a setback. Maybe think of taking a different approach in addressing your goal.
Take resolving to eat healthier in 2024. It’s a common resolution people might make. As Stacey Colino, a health coach and award-winning writer specializing in health and science, reminds us in a U.S. News report, “it takes more than knowing which foods are best to eat and how much to eat at any given time,” in achieving such a goal. It starts by thinking for a moment about the “psychology behind how you eat,” she writes. According to Colino, if you start by accepting there is psychology being behind how we eat,” it also leads to the belief that you can “train your brain to adopt healthy eating habits.” Understanding the psychology of eating includes understanding what drives your personal eating behavior and using these insights “to train your mind to adopt healthy eating habits as a way of life.”
“Before you try to change a particular eating habit, you need to know what exactly you’re dealing with,” says Colino. Psychologist John Foreyt, a professor emeritus of medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, recommends keeping a food journal or diary that tracks when you eat healthfully and when you don’t, to help become more mindful of eating habits and identify differences in your state of mind and circumstances between the two patterns. “Then, you can develop a strategy to deal with the psychology of eating, rather than the eating itself,” he says. “Once you develop self-efficacy — believing you’re in charge of your life — it becomes easier to stick with healthy eating habits.”
According to the U.S. News report, “a 2022 study in the journal Eating and Weight Disorders found that the practice of mindful eating is associated with less emotional eating and less uncontrolled eating.” Rachel Goldman, a clinical psychologist in New York City and a clinical assistant professor of psychiatry at the NYU Grossman School of Medicine also cautions that “labeling foods as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ is a form of all-or-nothing thinking, which is a cognitive distortion. It’s unhelpful.”
This doesn’t mean that the pathway to healthy eating will be an easy one even if it gives a person some insights that help. “We live in a world where highly palatable packaged and ultra-processed foods are plentiful and ubiquitous,” the report reminds us. “Food companies specifically formulate these foods in a way to hit the taste buds’ ‘bliss point,’ which refers to the perfect combination of added salt, sugar and fat that keeps consumers craving more.”
I’ve written often in the past about the concept of food as medicine. Taking this concept a step further, what if going to the grocery store as you passed down the section for fresh fruits and vegetables, instead of merely the cost per pound and maybe a heading that says if they are organically grown, there was a list of all the ways they can improve health?
To be clear, what I am suggesting is purely hypothetical and in no way substitutes for a medical consultation or a prescription or advice from a medical professional. People with health problems should seek the help of health care providers. But what if as you come upon, for example, a grocery aisle containing tomatoes, and you find the following message courtesy of Healthline: “Tomatoes are the major dietary source of the antioxidant lycopene, which has been linked to many health benefits, including reduced risk of heart disease and cancer.”
And why stop there? Healthline adds that lycopene and the consumption of tomatoes and tomato-based products has been linked to improved skin health. Clinical studies of tomato products also indicate benefits against inflammation and markers of oxidative stress, defined “as an imbalance between free radicals and antioxidants in your body (that) can cause damage to organs and tissues and result in various diseases.” Maybe end on the Healthline message “locally grown tomatoes may taste better because they’re allowed to ripen naturally.”
And, whatever you do, don’t rush by the display of okra, that odd-looking long, slender plant sometimes referred to as “lady’s fingers.” Says the Cleveland Clinic, “it’s good for cholesterol, blood sugar, your gut, and stronger bones.”
“Okra is full of fiber,” according to the Cleveland Clinic, “which studies have shown can decrease the risk of colorectal cancer … the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. It is also full of the less well-known vitamin K, “a fat-soluble vitamin that you need for growing and maintaining bone strength,” would be the concluding note from the Cleveland Clinic.
And while you are at it, “don’t neglect the selection of spices.” A note could say “consider adding some spice to your diet among the many selections containing antioxidants, flavonoids, and other beneficial compounds that are involved in mood and inflammation regulation,” advises Harvard University’s T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
But then, I know this is a New Year’s wish just too good to come true.
Follow Chuck Norris through his official social media sites, on Twitter @chucknorris and Facebook’s “Official Chuck Norris Page.” He blogs at http://chucknorrisnews.blogspot.com. To find out more about Chuck Norris and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate webpage at www.creators.com.
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