What is Healthy Eating and Exercise for Health the New Year

Friday, February 10, 2023 - 4pm
Author Rezza Kirom

Experts in nutrition and diet therapy focus on detailed planning of the steps to follow to achieve the objective and not abandon it in February.

Photo illustration of a person maintaining a balanced diet for health. Source: @InsularLife

MainHealth - The question many people ask themselves every New Year is: how to keep the new January promises? According to the Spanish Obesity Society (SEEDO), 'eat healthy' and 'exercise' are two of the most frequent New Year's resolutions. Experts in nutrition and diet therapy focus on planning in detail the steps to follow to achieve the objective and not abandon it in February, and experts in psychology propose establishing "guidelines" to achieve the goals in a "new cycle".

Psychologist and sociologist Victor Gonzalez Campabadal writes that setting year-end resolutions, such as eating healthy and exercising, is "an act of pleasure in itself" for the person, because "it allows us to imagine an idealized version. However, in most cases "it has little practical application because of the difficulty of establishing or eliminating habits".

According to a survey conducted in the United States, only 10% of adults make sincere New Year's resolutions, but of those, nearly half (47%) break them within the first month.

For Campabadal, the important thing when it comes to meeting New Year's goals, such as starting to eat healthier or exercising, is that they are "realistic". That is, although they may be a challenge, "they have to take into account the real capabilities" of the person. Therefore, "unattainable goals" will inevitably lead to demotivation for not being able to achieve them.

In other words, the psychology expert says it is best to set "intermediate goals that are easier to achieve" and help "maintain motivation".

Among New Year's resolutions, "one of the most common is to control our diet," explains Cristina Porca, co-coordinator of the SEEDO Diet Therapy Group. "It is a good time to develop healthier habits," such as eating healthy and exercising, she says, although she also recognizes that "the problem with New Year's resolutions is that they often involve restricting some food or losing weight, and this is not always easy," she concludes, and even more so "if it is done without help".

In this regard, SEEDO itself has formed working groups on physical exercise and diet therapy, which have reached a consensus on a series of recommendations and practical advice, based on scientific evidence, so that the promises of the new year are "lasting and really effective".

There are two paths to follow: healthy eating and exercise. Starting with the first, diet therapy experts highlight the following tips.

Reflecting the Goal of Healthy Eating in the Shopping Cart

Choose healthy eating destinations in the shopping cart. Source: @Nature

The first is to "set health goals," explains the SEEDO working group. That is to say, not to focus only on weight loss but to acquire new habits and routines to be able to establish them from the beginning, such as eating healthy and exercising. And for that, "everything starts with the shopping list," they continue. When it comes to shopping, they give a little trick: "Whenever you can, shop with a full belly". According to the experts, it is easy to get carried away and fall into excess.

Whenever possible, experts say it is best to buy fresh, seasonal foods and to choose whole-grain pasta, cereals and rice, if possible.

Then, after making the purchase, there are two other important keys: eat varied (and healthy) and spend time in the kitchen, because this way we will eat healthier. "Avoid battered and fried foods," they say. "Stews, roasts or grilled dishes will help us to maintain the diet without losing flavor," they insist.

After the objective of nutrition, experts explain the steps to introduce and maintain physical exercise routines.

Five Tips for Exercising (and Sticking With it)

Beyond eating healthy, in terms of physical exercise, "we must take advantage of the initial motivation provided by the new year to start or return to exercise," says Marc Aguilar Rosell, sports physical educator and member of the SEEDO Exercise group. To this end, the working group of experts puts five basic pieces of advice on the table.

The first tip is to set "reasonable goals". According to experts, it is "fundamental" to set goals that are "simple" and that "you can control". Following in the wake of eating healthy and exercising, a concrete example is when it comes to walking. "If you go for walk on a certain route that you know, you can always look at the time it takes you and try to reduce it little by little," they say.

The second tip is to "stay motivated". First you have to know the reasons why you start doing this exercise (or eating healthy). "It's not so important what you do on the first day or the first week, but to integrate physical exercise into your daily life, in the long term and in a sustainable way," explains the working group.

The third idea is to look for progressive training, but this idea also applies to healthy eating, in addition to exercise. Marc Aguilar Rosell reminds us that "one of the basic principles of training, especially at this time of year, is progression". Wanting to train very intensely from the first day "is a mistake", you have to "do training that your body accepts". "It's better to go from less to more than to start with very high intensities and your body won't allow you to repeat it the next day," Marc continues.

The fourth tip has to do with time: make the most of it and don't waste it. "At the beginning it is important to adjust the time to minimum dose of exercise that can generate a change," according to experts. For example, start with an exercise one or two days a week and for 20 minutes. Over the weeks you can gradually increase the time and training load.

Finally, the types of training. You don't always have to do the same exercises, and as explained from SEEDO, "it is just as important to work cardiorespiratory as muscular capacity." In other words, the ideal is to combine cardiovascular exercise with muscular strength.

Last but not least, stretching: it can improve joint and muscle health and well-being. According to the SEEDO physical exercise working group, "2 to 5 minutes of general stretching performed for 20 seconds between each exercise is usually sufficient".