Have you gone through the Christmas Season with perpetual eating, drinking and being merry only to find yourself a few kilos heavier than you’d like to be?

Often the trend is to make New Year’s resolutions about being fitter and healthier than the year gone by.

We all know that these resolutions are usually short-lived and become the joke at every New Year’s Eve gathering.

I think the reasons these resolutions are short-lived is because they are :
a) not planned out well, Four tips
b) not given enough time to see results, and
c) are too hard to maintain within a busy lifestyle.

So how can you plan for the Healthiest Year yet?

1. Begin to manage your portion sizes. 

Start slowly and be deliberate in cutting back on how much you serve on your plate.

For example, aim for the next four weeks to cut back your carbohydrates and meat serves by one third.

If you need to cut back further, reduce again over the next four weeks.

As a guide: when you serve food on your plate aim to have half the plate with vegetables or salad, a quarter of the plate with carbohydrate (potato, rice, pasta, or bread) and a quarter of the plate with protein like meat, chicken, fish, pork, egg or legumes. Now continue this new habit for the rest of the year.

2. Find ways to swap unhealthy habits with new ones.  Start with breakfast.

For the breakfast skippers, try to find something to fit into your lifestyle.

If you skip breakfast for lack of time, then find breakfast options on the run like an Up n Go drink, fruit and yoghurt smoothie, breakfast biscuits, protein bar, egg and bacon wrap, yoghurt tubes, fruit puree pouches.

If you skip breakfast because you don’t like traditional breakfast foods, do something different.

For example try sandwiches, toasties, pasta, spaghetti on toast, crackers with fruit and cheese, dried fruit and nuts, fruit smoothie, breakfast muffins (fruit or savoury).
3. Be active often.

If you don’t think you will stick with a gym program then don’t start one.  Plan for other ways to be more active this year.

That might mean parking the car further away from work or the shops and walking, swimming, walking around the neighbourhood, walking up and down stairs instead of taking the lift, walking around at sporting events rather than sitting, joining a sporting team or a hobby group that involves being active, being active with your children or grandchildren, gardening, or walking along the beach or at a park.
4. Focus on reducing sugar. 

Sugar is found in many processed foods and drinks.

Sugar adds kilos very easily when eaten in excess.

The problem is we often don’t realise where sugar is found.

Sugar is not just in sweets, you can find then in savoury foods, sauces, yoghurts, muesli bars, breakfast cereals, fruit snacks and drinks.

The easiest way to avoid sugar is not to buy processed foods and choose fresh produce or make your own snacks and sauces.

Alessandra Winfield consults from the Friendlies Physiotherapy Service and sees patients by appointment on 4331 1888.