New Year’s Recipe for Wellness

New Year’s 1 Cup Health Recipe for Wellness and Safety

By Coleen M. Andruss, MD

• Wash your hands.• Cover your cough.• Stay smoke free.• Get vaccinations and yearly exams.

From the Thanksgiving Day kick-off to New Year’s Day, the holiday season is a long, tempting food fest designed to make you gain weight. With the stress and high-emotion of the holiday season in the past, it is time to take control of your health with this new year’s recipe for wellness!

1 Cup Strength

• Learn to say no! Do less, not more. • Have a coping plan for emotional triggers, such as music and smells.

2 Cups Sanity

• Carve out me-time by sharing responsibilities and prioritizing. • Create a calendar to stay organized and manage time. • Create a financial budget, and stick to it. • Free yourself from technology. Avoid social media.

3 Cups Healthy Cooking

• Plan easy recipes. • Modify recipes using substitutes (applesauce, Greek yogurt, and broth).• Reduce sugar and fat. Don’t cook with sauces and creams • Cook healthy sources of lean protein (chicken, seafood).• Grill, roast, or steam.• Eat healthy carbs (whole grains, sweet potato, quinoa, wild rice, beans); avoid the “white hazards” (white flour products that stimulate appetite).• Limit sodium, and use herbs and spices for flavor.• Use olive oil, canola oil, or coconut oil instead of butter.• Cook less volume to prevent leftovers.• Prepare foods on a full stomach. Don’t taste everything you cook.

3 Cups Healthy Eating

• Eat at home rather than eating out. • Eat more fruits, vegetables, and protein at every meal. Snack on nuts, hard cheeses, fruit, chilled shrimp, or hummus with veggies. • Bulk in the GI tract provides appetite suppression. • Eat slowly. Enjoy and savor each bite. • Focus on what you need instead of what you shouldn’t have. • Indulge to feel satisfied, but don’t overindulge. Listen to your stomach! • Don’t skip meals; it promotes overeating. It takes fewer calories to prevent hunger than it does to deal with it once it occurs.

8 cups Water

• Drink tons of water! Add lemon. • Don’t drink your calories; liquid calories provide no bulk. • Avoid or limit alcohol. Keep drinks on the rocks, as ice dilutes the beverage and you sip longer.

7 cups Beauty Sleep

• Lack of sleep promotes hormones that increase appetite and weight gain.• A recovery night is documented to be helpful if there is lack of sleep.• Avoid caffeine (chocolate, overthe-counter pain meds, coffee, etc.). • Don’t eat right before bed.

4 cups Physical Activity

• Recommit to your regular exercise routine. • Engage in winter sporting activities (ski, snow shoe, hike, sled, ice skate).

Mix all ingredients together and blend them with a spirit of gratitude. Taste daily to improve mood, relieve stress, and increase smiles, energy, and motivation. At the end of each day, take a spoonful of deep breathing for relaxation. Weigh yourself daily and become a bit obsessive. Occasionally, add a few tablespoons of social interaction to enhance happiness and beat the blues. Approach the new year mindfully, and be confident that you can maintain a strong and healthy body. Note that the leftovers from this recipe will never spoil; indulge often so that you can enjoy happy, healthy habits and a more vibrant physical, mental, and spiritual life forever.

About the Author Dr. Coleen Andruss practiced as an internist for ten years and has specialized in weight management for twenty-six years. She and her staff have personally experienced weight management issues and have a compassionate understanding of patients in the Healthy Lifestyles program. Dr. Andruss’s internal medicine background helps her to see underlying medical problems when formulating individual plans that work.