New Year's Resolutions - Should We Even Bother??

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December 29, 2020 - Episode #48 -New Year's Resolutions - Should We Even Bother??​
It's December the 29th and we are feeling the pressure.  January is coming. Shouldn’t we be thinking about our New Year’s resolutions? We certainly want 2021 to be better than the dumpster fire of 2020,  But, just thinking about resolutions makes us already feel more stressed and defeated.  Should we even bother? Here’s a refreshing, realistic perspective on those New Year’s resolutions. 
I understand where you are.  Here you are staring at the beginning of a brand-new year.  You know you need some freaking recovery from this year.   

And you know another funky diet or intense exercise program that you follow for a short time is not going to give you what you need.  You are looking for freedom.  You want to be resilient!
I hear you  This year more than ever, it’s time to do things differently when it comes to your health.   Please mark your calendar for the Food Freedom Masterclass on Tuesday, January 5th at 7pm Central.  This free webinar will look at our relationship with food, why diets fail, the secrets to weight loss and emotional eating.  Register for class at bit.ly/masterclassfoodfreedom and I’ll send you the Zoom link and your class notes to fill out as we go along.  
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FULL TRANSCRIPT

December 29, 2020 - Episode #48 -New Year's Resolutions - Should We Even Bother??​

Dec 29th and we are feeling the pressure.  January is coming. Shouldn’t we be thinking about our New Year’s resolutions.  We certainly want 2021 to be better than the dumpster fire of 2020,  But just thinking about resolutions makes us already feel more stressed and defeated.  Should we even bother? Here’s some refreshing perspective on those New Year’s resolutions. Today on Healthy Harmony
 
Welcome to the Healthy Harmony podcast. I'm Jennifer Pickett, your host, your health coach, your friend. If you're ready to tap into the healthiest version of you. So you can live life with confidence and intentional harmony. Then my friend you're in the right place as a Dietitian turned Functional Medicine Health Coach. I'm here to walk beside you and show you how to take control of your complete health body mind and soul.
 
Before we get started, I have something I want you to know about. You know so often it’s not really about food.  I’ve seen this time and time again with my clients. 

You want to lose weight

You want to figure out the best nutrition for your body 

You want to feel like you are in control when it comes to your health and your life

You really just want to feel better!

But deep down you know, it’s not really about the food.  It’s about all the other things spiraling out of control in your life.  It’s the stress and the worry and the anxiety about the future.  It’s the complicated overwhelming emotions that make you turn to food for comfort. You hear the term emotional eating and you relate to that.  You get it. 

So here you are staring at the beginning of a brand new year.  You know you need some freaking recovery from this year.  It’s been awful. 

And you know another funky diet or intense exercise program that you follow for a short time is not going to give you what you need.  You are looking for freedom.  You want to be resilient!
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I hear you.  This year more than ever, it’s time to do things differently when it comes to your health.   Please mark your calendar for the Food Freedom Masterclass on Tuesday, January 5th at 7pm Central.  This free webinar will look at our relationship with food, why diets fail, the secrets to weight loss and emotional eating.  Register for class at bit.ly/masterclassfoodfreedom and I’ll send you the Zoom link and your class notes to fill out as we go along. 
 
Do you dread January?!? Everyone is making New Year's Resolutions.  You feel like you have to make those resolutions but honestly you have failed so many times before, why even try again? And then we have the dumpster fire of 2020.  Are you even in a frame of mind to set some unrealistic resolutions that will just contribute to the stress and overwhelm??

There’s nothing wrong with settings resolutions, the problem comes when you feel pressured to do so.  You feel obligated to hop on the happy New Year’s bandwagon.

So how do you decide? Will it even make a difference?  You know you need some better coping strategies but you are not sure if setting some resolutions will even help.  Here’s the Top 4 Considerations for setting New Year’s Resolutions

1. Forget the resolutions, focus on some goals - wait, isn’t that the same thing? Resolution is a decision to do or not do a specific behavior. A goal is a series of calculated steps designed to help you achieve the resolution.  But it has been said that resolutions can really place this huge perfectionist burden on you.  It is so focused on the long term outcome that you don’t enjoy the journey. It’s a lot of pressure.  Resolutions are too general, for the year, give me a break, my mantra is one day at a time right now, small and simple is where it’s at, Often when we look at the big picture of get healthy or lose weight it gets overwhelming, all or nothing approach, all in - very strict and rigid approach, restrictive diet, intense exercise and it only lasts a short time because it is so intense and it is not realistic for our life.  A nothing approach happens when you are just burned out and completely overwhelmed at what you need to do, you don’t even know where to start, it all seems insurmountable so you don’t start at all.  A nothing approach. Here is what works.  And here is how my clients see success.  It is by focusing on small changes, you are looking for momentum, the ball moving in the right direction, Nothing happens overnight.
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3. Set smart goals, you’ve heard the acronym…..specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, time bound.  I like to keep things super simple to reduce the overwhelm.  It seems like anytime I hear a great motivational speaker and I just aspire to change everything at once, it ends up horribly.  I get overwhelmed.  It’s not realistic and then it really affects my confidence.  I feel like a failure and then feel guilty and ashamed that I couldn’t do that when it seems to come so easily to others.  So I like to set some very small goals for the week……..that might be making sure stick to my morning routine with my quiet time and journaling, aiming for a set amount of workouts, being mindful of stress and how I’m responding…am I emotionally eating or drinking.  Just 3-5 very small, realistic goals for that week.   What happens is that when you set a goal, for instance, I’m going to exercise 3 times this week.  It builds your confidence.  I can do this! You often see if you can do a bit more. 
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5. Know your Why - If you are thinking about goal setting and those are health related.  WHY do you want to lose weight?  WHY do you want more energy? WHY do want to feel in control when it comes to food and alcohol?  WHY do you want to manage stress?  WHY do you not want to continue to be burdened by stress and anxiety?  If my goal is to be a healthier mom.  I look at my WHY.  My why is my family.  My husband James and my kids, Maddie and JD.  Since I started learning disease during my education to become a dietitian and started digging in to my family medical history, My eyes were opened. I became worried.  I wanted to protect my health.  But it wasn’t until I lost my mom to Breast Cancer and Liver Disease that I really got worried.  Adding to that extensive family medical history. With mom and her very short 5 month battle from diagnosis to death at the age of 66. Now I felt like the cards were literally stacked against me.  I want to be around for my kids.  But here’s the deal.  I don’t just want to be around.  I want to feel good and live life to the fullest!!  I want to be the best me possible.  I can look back at my motherhood journey and see how I was so on edge and uptight and short tempered.  And it was because I was struggling with depression and I wasn’t taking care of myself in the way that I needed to.  So my family is my why.  What is your why?  What motivates you?  If you start to understand the true purpose of WHY you are setting that goal, you will find a way to achieve it. 
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7. Be kind to yourself - you have been through a lot this year.  If setting resolutions or big goals is going to lead to more stress and disappointment in yourself then it honestly defeats the purpose.  Instead of focusing on bad habits and where you have gotten off track or fixing what’s “wrong” in your life, can you make an adjustment with your perspective.  How you have preserved? Part of being kind to yourself is to practice mindfulness.  If there are some small changes that are realistic to you that you can easily implement and then celebrate yourself, that’s awesome.  You don’t have to tackle everything right now just because it’s January.  This is your journey my friend.  And you have preserved and survived an unprecedented year.  Be nice to yourself.  You really do have what it takes to keep going. 

 
I hope this has gotten you to thinking and most importantly taken some pressure off of you!  You don’t have to figure it all out and set these lofty New Year’s resolutions.  Be thinking, what are those simple, realistic, small goals that make sense right now.   What is my Why and how can I practice kindness to myself?

Don’t forget, if you need a breath of fresh air and a change of perspective the Food Freedom Masterclass is FREE and happens on Tuesday, January 5th.  Register now so you don’t forget bit.ly/masterclassfoodfreedom

And let me put a bug in your ear for next week’s episode.  I’m exposing the diet industry and you are gonna want to hear this!!