Tips for a Healthy New Year!
Holidays are a great reason to spend time with family and friends but now that the New Year is here, you might be in need of some healthy new resolutions to get yourself back on track. To improve your health and wellness for 2019, try fitting in these tips.
Eat Real Food!
Vegetables and fruits are filled with antioxidants, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals. Eating a wide variety of different colored fruits and veggies is always going to be a healthy choice for you. When you look at your plate make sure 80% of it is fresh or lightly cooked vegetables and the other 20% should be grains like brown rice, quinoa, nuts and seeds, proteins and healthy fats.
Be active EVERY day! 
A pretty common health goal is to take at least 10,000 steps per day. You can use your Fitbit, an app, or a simple pedometer to measure your progress, but don’t worry too much about falling short of that big number. Instead, you can make it your goal to move around more today than you did yesterday. You can sneak in an extra exercise by parking your car farther from your office or apartment, and you can take a quick stroll around the block during your lunch break.
Minimize your processed food intake!
Foods that are processed usually come in a box or bag and have a long shelf life. These include things like crackers, chips, cookies, cereals, and cake mixes, and they have little to no water content. Processed foods can contain all sorts of unhealthy fats.
Eat Healthy Fats!
Healthy fats are important for providing energy, healthy cell membranes, and hormone balance. A few examples of healthy fats: avocado, coconut oil, olives, nuts, seeds, olive and flax oil and clean salmon. Stay away from margarine, vegetable shortening, fried foods, and anything with partially hydrogenated oil listed in the ingredients. Stay away from processed oils such as soybean oil, sunflower oil, corn oil, canola oil, cottonseed oil, and safflower oil.
Cut Calories in Your Drinks!
Substitute water in place of sugary drinks. Keeping your body hydrated has many health benefits and drinking water is the zero-calorie way to go. Replace one soda, fruit juice, or sweetened cappuccino every day, and you’ll notice how it can lead to significant weight loss over time as long as you aren’t replacing those calories with something else.
Drink plenty of Water!
Drink 8 glasses of water a day. Our body is about 60% water! Drinking enough water maintains your fluid balance, which transports nutrients, regulates your body temperature and digests your food. Dehydration lowers energy levels and brain function. Drinking 8 glasses a day will give you a boost in energy and keep your brain functioning. Proper hydration also promotes healthy bowel movements, keeps our skin clear and flushes toxins. You can infuse your water with fresh herbs or fruit to help detoxify and for taste.
Try Meatless Mondays! 
The best New Year’s resolutions are ones you can actually stick to as the days go by. Meatless Mondays are the perfect first step to healthier eating habits, since a vegetarian lifestyle is known to reduce the intake of saturated fat and the risk for heart disease.
Settling back down into a healthy lifestyle after the holiday season doesn’t have to be hard . Try these tips to help make changes in a way that’s easy to maintain, and you’ll discover how positive results encourage you to continue making smart choices throughout 2019.
