When the new year rolls in, we can all have the best of intentions when it comes to setting goals for the year ahead. However, very few of us are able to stick to them for various reasons whether it’s setting the bar too high, being time poor or trying to juggle competing priorities. Instead of setting an unrealistic goal for 2023, here are five new year’s resolutions worth having a crack at
1. Eat more plants
Less than 1 in 10 (8.7%) Aussie adults eat the recommended servings of vegetables, around 2 in 5 (44.8%) eat the recommended servings of fruit and 6.1% meet both the fruit and vegetable recommendations. Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins, antioxidants and fibre which together help to increase our life expectancy and reduce the likelihood of us developing a range of health conditions. Some easy way to increase your intake is snacking on fruit between meals, adding in some of the Activate Foods vegetarian or vegan meals or including their vegetable sides with your main meals and adding tinned or fresh legumes to main meals.
2. Stop skipping breakfast
The research around breakfast and weight is conflicting but in clinic breakfast skippers tend to fall short when it comes to meeting their nutrient requirements and it almost always backfires when it comes to afternoon and evening snacking. Starting the day with a protein-based, fibre-rich breakfast helps with building and maintaining muscle mass, reducing our appetite in the evening, fuelling our body before and after exercise and also helps us reach our nutrient targets. Poached eggs on sourdough toast, an Activate foods Frittata, muesli and greek yoghurt, a protein smoothie, overnight oats and avocado or cottage cheese on sourdough or seeded toast are great examples.
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Aim for seven hours sleep
People who tend to get the recommended amount of sleep tend to weigh less, perform better at work and have a lower risk of developing serious health conditions like heart disease and type two diabetes. Put that iphone away and try your best to average 7-9 hrs sleep per night!
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Move more
Although a lot of people exercise to change their appearance, exercise is great for our
physical and our mental health regardless of what it does to our weight! Less than 1 in 4 (24.5%) people aged between 18-64 years currently meet the physical activity guidelines. Try to be active most days of the week, The current guidelines suggest people aged 18-64 years undertake either 150-300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity, or 75-150 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity, or an equivalent combination of both, per week. The guidelines also recommend that people aged 18-64 years include strength or toning on at least 2 days per week. If you don’t know where to start or have a medical condition or injury find out if there is an exercise physiologist local and start small!
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Eat less takeaway
More than 30% of the average Australian adult’s diet comes from ultra processed foods, which basically are so processed they shouldn't be called food. These are things like processed meats, soft drinks and takeaway foods. Too many of us are guilty of failing to be prepared when it comes to dinner. Swap a takeaway meal for a nutritious Activate Foods meal.
Reference:
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020-21), Dietary behaviour, ABS Website, accessed 11 January 2023
- Australian Bureau of Statistics (2020-21), Physical activity, ABS Website, accessed 11 January 2023..
- Department of Health, ‘Physical Activity and exercise guidelines for all Australians’, https://www.health.gov.au/health-topics/physical-activity-and-exercise/physical-activity-and-exercise-guidelines-for-all-australians?utm_source=health.gov.au&utm_medium=callout-auto-custom&utm_campaign=digital_transformation;
- Ramar et all. Sleep is essential to health: an American Academy of Sleep Medicine position statement. 2021. Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine
- Machado PP, Steele EM, Levy RB, da Costa Louzada ML, Rangan A, Woods J, Gill T, Scrinis G, Monteiro CA. Ultra-processed food consumption and obesity in the Australian adult population. Nutr Diabetes. 2020 Dec 5;10(1):39. doi: 10.1038/s41387-020-00141-0. PMID: 33279939; PMCID: PMC7719194.
Looking to smash your health goals in 2023? Book in with one of our Accredited Practising Dietitians at Eatsense today!
