Review Of Perseverance And Effectiveness Of New Year Resolutions

We’re at the end of the year and it’s time to review the perseverance and effectivity of our New Year health resolutions that we made at the beginning of this year.  (If you’re new to this blog and do not have an idea of what those health resolutions were, have a look at our New Year healthcare resolutions.  Were any of these your health resolutions?)  Were you able to resolve the decisions made last New Year?   Are you paying proper attention to your body in between your busy schedules?

Here is the review (on persistence and effectiveness of our New Year healthcare resolutions):

Will quit smoking. Will limit alcoholic drinks to an ounce a day.

I’m a teetotaler and these two New Year resolutions were to encourage you, my readers, and hope you were able to stick to these two resolutions. If you still haven’t thought about quitting smoking or saying bye to alcohol abuse until now, it’s high time now on this New Year to make it as a resolution as you may be aware of the potential dangers of cigarette smoking and how nicotine affects the body, and the adverse consequences of alcohol abuse.

Will try to focus more on natural lifestyle and organic foods.

This resolution was aimed at avoiding those fruits, vegetables, grains and pulses grown with artificial fertilizers and pesticides (poisons) that slowly creep into our body through our food unknowingly and cause extra load to our excretory system in flushing them out. The more we move close to nature with fruits and vegetables grown with organic manure and natural pesticides, the less load and damage to our cells and tissues and more lifespan.

However, this is the resolution which I found hard to stick 100%. To be frank, I was unable to be only 2% true to this resolution. Though it was easy to find some fruits and vegetables organically grown, it was absolutely impossible to find food grains, oil seeds and cereals grown organically, and the awareness of organic farming is just catching up.

Will sleep at least 7 to 9 hours a day. Will drink at least three liters of fluid/water daily.

Resolved 100% and has given a lifetime extension for these two decisions.  These two were helpful as methods to prevent constipation and indigestion headaches. Adequate sleep gives time to cells to refresh and if you never compromise on sleeping not less than 8 hours a day, many ailments can be averted. Similarly, ample fluid intake is necessary to flush out many of the wastes excreted by the cells, and adequate intake of water ensures this function to go on smoothly.  Adequate fluid intake along with plenty of fiber can avert hard stools too.

Will try to avoid starch rich foods. Will avoid junk foods. Will try to avoid fat rich foods. Will try to avoid intake of sweets, savories and chocolates. Will limit
(per capita) oil intake to half a liter a month.

We discussed earlier the heart healthy eating and lifestyle habits and these resolutions are primarily focused in that direction of being heart friendly and antidiabetic.

Carbohydrate (starch) is required for energy for your day-to-day activities and compromising on starch intake makes you feel drained.  So it’s actually a balance of intake between carbohydrate and fiber to stay energetic and sustain or lose weight.  So totally avoiding starch rich foods and taking only fiber is only needed if anyone wants to lose weight drastically or if he/she is diabetic to the core.  Since I’m neither diabetic nor overweight, I focused on balancing the fiber and starch intake.  I have been able to be faithful 75 to 85% to the rest of this set of resolutions and will now stick on to those resolutions throughout lifetime.  How about you?

Will exercise an hour a day or at least walk five kilometers a day. Will focus healthcare thoughts to weight reduction. Will try to sustain the BMI under 25 and if possible move to lean BMI.

Resolved 101% and will try to sustain the results this New Year and the coming years too.

I’ve been weighing 80 kg at the beginning of this year. For a height of 1.77 meters, my BMI worked out to be 25.535.  (Check your BMI with BMI calculator.) With these three resolutions, I have been able to lose 13 kgs which we discussed in earlier partial followup of our resolutions. I’m now weighing 67 kgs even, and that works out to be a BMI of 21.4, which is in the lean BMI range (18-22) or normal weight.  If I’ve been able to reduce weight in four months to the tune of around 28.66 lbs without having a visit to a doctor or a dietitian or without any major lifestyle alteration, why not you give a try if you want to shed those extra bumps around your hips?

Would try to minimize stress.

Since we don’t have a yardstick to measure the results whether stress has been minimized except monitoring the blood pressure,  hoping that this resolution is a positive step towards good health care, I’m continuing this resolution for the coming years too.  In the modern lifestyle, one may find it very hard to minimize stress, but minimizing stress will extend your lifespan. Feeble light music in dim light is my stress reliever apart from a break into the woods and hills. How about you?

Will try to reduce salt intake or at least balance between sodium and potassium. Will try to take more of fruits and vegetables especially green, leafy vegetables.

I’ve been stressing my family members to reduce sodium intake especially the elder ones and the one who cooks to decrease the quantity, and is being rigorously followed.

These two resolutions are interdependent. More amount of fruit intake will bring you more potassium. Potassium has an antagonist function against sodium in bringing the blood pressure down.  If you’re not a diabetic, the more fruits you intake, you’re sort of trying to balance the action of sodium that you already consume with your regular foods.

Fruits have fiber which is again essential to prevent constipation.  We know that our ancestors were herbivorous monkeys and apes who fed on fruits and nuts, and our digestive system still remains with primitive lifestyle and  has not transformed to fast food and modern lifestyles. Hence the more we move close to fresh fruits and vegetables, the less trouble with our health.  25-40% of my intake is fruits, nuts and vegetables; hence resolved 25-40%.

Will restrict tea/coffee to two a day. Will avoid other caffeinated drinks. Will try to avoid carbonated drinks.

Only 90% faithful to this resolution.  Those carbonated cool drinks are still tempting!

Will not hesitate to visit dentist before next New Year and would encourage other family members for a visit once in six months.

Checked.

Will you need to spot a black mark on your tooth or will you need to have bad breath or even worse, a toothache?  Hence prevention is better than cure.

Would set up vaccination alerts for kids in the family.

Checked.

Hope nobody would compromise with this resolution as different vaccines brings in immunity to different diseases as the child grows and thereby lessens troubles for parents.

Would encourage mammograms once a year for perimenopausal and postmenopausal women at home. Would encourage elderly women to drink at least three glasses of milk to fight osteoporosis and ensure adequate calcium intake.

Checked.

Would encourage blood pressure and blood glucose monitoring once in six months or as apt for family members above 40.

Checked.  Proper monitoring of blood pressure and blood glucose can increase your lifespan significantly.  Who will not want to live more at least by a day on this beautiful earth?

Would be punctual with food timings.

Faithful to this resolution almost 90%.  Who will need an ulcer to develop or stomach upset?

Would stick to the deworming schedule.

Checked.

According to UNICEF, regular deworming of children can significantly improve a child’s ability to learn at school and his overall growth rate when compared to a non-dewormed child.  If  kids are there at home, it would be ideal to deworm the whole family per deworming schedule.

Hope you’re having a different set of resolutions this New Year, healthwise, careerwise and business/financewise.  What are your New Year resolutions this time?

Stay Healthy, Live Happily. Wish You And Your Family A Very Happy and Prosperous New Year.

Related Posts:

• New Year Health Care Resolutions
• How To Prevent Constipation?
• How to lose 13 kilograms (28.66 lbs) of body weight in 4 months?