Dedicate 2020 to Health with these New Year Fitness Resolutions

New year resolutions 2020 – Health Goals you must not break this year!

Each year we make resolutions but we either fail to achieve them or if attained, we find it difficult to maintain them. This new year, let’s make health and prevention our no. 1 priority and work towards attaining simple and easy to achieve health goals. Resolve medical issues, get active and live life to the fullest, irrespective of age.

Fitness & Lifestyle Improvement Goals for a healthy body:

• Functional Assessment: Get your body’s functional capacity assessed by a professional. See how your muscles are performing. If you suffer from stiffness, or are unable to perform an exercise or move a certain limb, find out why and fix the root cause rather than not do it at all. Muscle imbalances can be corrected by Specialists by body conditioning and muscle re-education therapy.
• Exercise Regularly: Spend less time using gadgets and make more time for brisk walks and aerobic exercises at least 5 days a week.
• Exercise Right: Follow the right techniques and guidelines while exercising. Training under the supervision of a professional will help you achieve your goals faster. Exercise should be done the right way to avoid undesirable pain or injuries.
• Listen to your body: Don’t overdo the exercises. The excessive workout will do more harm that keeps you healthy. A graded exercise plan that gradually increases in intensity, frequency, and duration is better than too much too soon. The body needs to rest as well to avoid chronic fatigue.
• Do not ignore your body aches and pain: If you have a nagging backache or a recurring shoulder-neck pain or you are having difficulty in keeping your spine straight or facing movement or postural difficulties, then its time you consult a medical expert for such concerning health issues. AktivHealth’s Functional fitness specialists and Pain Management Doctors can help you achieve optimum health.

Focusing on your musculoskeletal wellness and preventive healthcare now will help you stay more independent, mobile and pain-free in the long run. You will gain an active lifestyle and long-term good health and in most cases, you will be able to successfully lower the chances of going through any debilitating joint surgeries in the later years of life.

Nutrition Goals for healthy metabolism:

1. Drink water: We all know that water helps us remove toxins from our body, increases our metabolism and helps in weight loss but we still tend to forget drinking adequate water. This time, put a reminding application like “water alert” in your phone if required.
2. Chew your food well: Next time count the number of times you chew your food and you will be surprised to know that we are gulping our food, chewing it only 2-3 times. If you start chewing your food at least 10-15 times, there will be lesser flatulence, lesser digestive troubles, and better nourishment.
3. Plan your meals: If you spend some time on the weekend to plan your 3 meals for each day- you buy groceries accordingly and make adequate preparations to eat healthily. This way, you will not skip meals and will be able to carry a healthy lunch to work.
4. Include a protein at each meal: Having a good quality protein like eggs, pulses, nuts, sprouts, chicken, cheese, etc. at each meal ensures that you get adequate protein throughout the day. This not only helps curb hunger but also helps in building more muscle mass.
5. Include a good amount of vegetables in your meals: While doing your grocery, try to buy different varieties of vegetables – so that you may use some for salads and others for cooking. Have vegetables in different forms (soups, salads, cooked) to have adequate intake throughout the day.
6. Have fruits: Try to include at least 2-3 different fruits like apple, papaya, grapes, orange in a day.
7. Eat whole grains: Always prefer whole grains over white flour. Try to have barley Dalia or chapatti as these keep you full for longer and do not convert to sugar fast.
8. Avoid white sugar: As far as possible try to avoid white sugar. You may take some jaggery or honey if necessary. Fruits can be a good substitute for sugar while making desserts. Eg: your carrot halwa can be sweetened with dates instead of sugar.
9. Reduce your alcohol intake: Alcohol gives empty calories, inhibits fat burning and promotes overconsumption of food. It is better to avoid it. When having, make sure to dilute it and prolong it instead of having unlimited drinks. Also, ensure to eat a protein before the first sip of alcohol, do not consume it on an empty stomach.

Besides healthy nutrition and maintaining functional fitness, including 15 mins of Pranayam and breathing exercise to your daily routine. Have adequate sleep, don’t take the stress and practice gratitude to lead a happy life and gain a healthy body and mind in 2020!

As contributed by Poonam Gupta, Physiotherapist, AktivHealth, New Delhi &  Taranjeet Kaur, Senior Nutritionist & Certified Metabolic Balance Coach.