4 Simple Daily Health Resolutions That Matter More Than You Think

It takes self-control and discipline to make and sustain changes to your existing habits and routine. When your resolution involves multiple steps, a significant time commitment or anything that doesn’t offer some sort of immediate gratification, it’s even harder to keep.To help, I’m sharing four simple health resolutions that require limited daily effort while delivering far-reaching health benefits — as well as some form of immediate gratification.These resolutions still demand daily consistency but only take single-step effort with minimal time commitment. Consider adding one or more of them to your 2024 healthy habits!

1. Floss your teeth daily

With only one-third of Americans flossing daily, you may be one of the majority who could benefit from adding this habit to your dental hygiene routine.Too many people only floss when they eat popcorn or when they feel food stuck in their teeth, according to my dentist, Dr. Victoria Spindel Rubin. “In reality, food is always getting trapped between your teeth. … If you don’t floss, you miss cleaning 40% of each tooth,” Spindel Rubin said.In addition to fighting gum disease, Spindel Rubin pointed out that flossing is linked to better heart health and improved diabetic control. But you only reap the benefits with the right technique.

Spindel Rubin said that proper flossing technique involves “wrapping string floss around your tooth and going up and down a few times to remove the plaque and biofilm.”Don’t let a little blood stop you from flossing. It’s normal for your gums to bleed when you start but will abate as you continue to floss regularly, according to Spindel Rubin. “If the bleeding doesn’t stop … see your dentist to be evaluated for periodontal disease,” she added.

The process may sound involved, but flossing only takes a couple of extra minutes before bed. For those who brush every night but tend to skip flossing afterward, Spindel Rubin suggested flossing before brushing. It’s a habit stacking technique — performing the new activity just before the ingrained habit pairs them together in a way that makes maintaining the new habit easier.

Where’s the immediate gratification I mentioned? After flossing with proper technique, slide your tongue along your teeth and notice how much cleaner they feel compared with brushing alone. That’s something to smile about.

2. Stand and move your body once an hour

Do you have a sedentary job that leads to sitting during the bulk of your day? High amounts of sitting time are associated with increased risks of cancer, cardiovascular disease and all-cause mortality.

The good news is that a little effort to break up prolonged sitting with short bouts of standing and movement can make a big difference in your overall health. Standing and moving every hour for just five minutes is effective, according to a Columbia University study published in January that investigated the least amount of activity needed to counteract the negative health implications of excessive sitting. Even one minute of walking every hour improves health, as demonstrated by decreased blood pressure in the study participants.

To make it easier for you to remain consistent with your resolution to get up hourly, set an alarm on your phone or other devices.

In terms of immediate gratification, you’ll feel better mentally and physically when you stand and stretch after prolonged sitting, and adding just a little bit of cardiovascular activity can lift your mood.

3. Express gratitude daily.

It takes just a bit of effort to find reasons to be grateful. And daily expressions of gratitude lead to many health and wellness benefits, including boosting happiness and lowering stress levels. Multiple studies during the height of the pandemic showed that practicing gratitude had the capacity to reduce stress and improve mood. Gratitude practices can also decrease depression and increase self-esteem.

So how does one go about practicing gratitude daily? It can be as simple as making a point to thank anyone you encounter who gives you their time and energy. For more consistency and routine, you can keep a gratitude journal and write three things in it every night that you were grateful for that day. For over a decade now, my husband and I have kept a gratitude whiteboard in our bathroom. Nightly, we each write three things on it that we were grateful for that day.

Recognizing that you have reasons to be grateful is immediately gratifying all on its own. All the health benefits are icing on the cake.

4. Cuddle with your pet more

Roughly 68% of US households have a pet, according to the National Institutes of Health. If you are a pet owner, you know the positive health effects they offer through companionship and emotional support. Dogs, in particular, can also promote an active lifestyle, and some even detect oncoming epileptic seizures and the presence of cancer in their human companions.

Beyond simply having your pet in your household, spending time physically interacting with it can reduce stress and anxiety. While stroking your pet, have you ever noticed an immediate sense of calm and contentment washing over you both?

In a small study of 242 college students, researchers found that the students showed greater positive impacts on stress levels, happiness and well-being when they touched dogs compared with when they only observed them, and the positive mental health outcomes increased with duration. Science confirms it: You should resolve to pet your dog more.

Barring any allergies or other issues, if you don’t have a pet, maybe now is the time to consider one. Shelters are full of dogs and cats eager to shower you with health benefits. That said, adding a pet to your household is a major, long-term emotional, physical and financial responsibility — not a simple New Year’s resolution.

As someone whose family includes five rescue dogs, I can attest to both the added responsibility and the enormous benefits. It’s not always easy, but it’s more than worth it for my household. Make sure it’s the right choice for you and your family before making the commitment.

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 What Are The Natural Ways To Manage Weight Loss?

Some natural ways to manage weight loss are:

Eating more whole, single-ingredient foods, which are rich in fiber and nutrients and can help you feel full and satisfied.

Reducing your intake of added sugar and refined carbohydrates, which can spike your blood sugar and insulin levels and promote fat storage.

Increasing your protein intake, which can boost your metabolism and reduce your appetite.

Drinking enough water, which can help you stay hydrated and burn more calories.

Exercising regularly, especially strength training, which can preserve your muscle mass and increase your energy expenditure.

Practicing mindful eating, which can help you pay attention to your hunger and satiety cues and enjoy your food more.

Managing your stress, which can affect your mood and appetite and cause inflammation and weight gain.

These are some general tips that may help you manage your weight loss, but you should always consult your doctor before starting any weight loss program. Your doctor can advise you on the best approach for your specific goals and health conditions. Remember that weight loss is not only about the number on the scale, but also about your overall well-being and happiness.

 

This Type Of Plant-based Diet Helps Battle Diabetes And Weight Gain, Study Says

Some plant-based diets are healthier than others, experts say, so stick to whole grains and fresh fruits and veggies.

Eating a plant-based diet can do wonders for your health. Studies have found limiting red meat and eating whole grains, legumes, and a variety of colorful fruits and 

veggies can lower cholesterol and the risk of cardiovascular disease, prevent type 2 diabetes and even prolong human life — not to mention the life of the planet.

When it comes to preventing diabetes, however, those benefits may only manifest if the plant-based diet is a healthy one that curtails foods that are highly processed or loaded with sugar, according to a new study that analyzed 206 different types of foods.

The 12-year analysis of dietary patterns of over 113,000 participants of the UK Biobank study, a longitudinal study of health among the country’s residents, placed people into four categories based on their intake of fresh fruit, vegetables and whole grains.

People in the top 25% mostly ate a plant-based diet low in sweets, desserts, refined grains and sugary drinks. People in the bottom 25% consumed many more of those unhealthy plant-based foods.

Compared with people in the lowest tier, those who ate the most whole grains, fresh fruits and vegetables and limited their intake of unhealthy options reduced their risk of diabetes by 24%, according to the study published Tuesday in the journal Diabetes & Metabolism.

People who ate the healthiest diet also had lower body mass index and waist circumference, as well as better blood sugar levels and lower inflammatory levels.

The benefit extended to people genetically predisposed to diabetes and those who had other risk factors for diabetes such as obesity, the study found.

“These data are really important, particularly for those thought to be at high risk of developing type two diabetes as it demonstrates they can greatly reduce their risk by following a healthy plant-based diet,” said first author Alysha Thompson, a doctoral student at Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, in a statement.

However, people eating the least healthy plant-based diet had a 37% higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes, along with a greater waist circumference and higher levels of triglycerides, a form of cholesterol, the study found.

In fact, obesity was a “key mediator underlying greater type two diabetes risk among individuals following unhealthful plant-based diets,” said coauthor Tilman Kühn, a lecturer from the Institute for Global Food Security at Queen’s University Belfast and chair in public health nutrition at the Medical University of Vienna, in a statement.

What’s the underlying mechanism?

How does a healthy plant-based diet help protect the body from type 2 diabetes? By impacting a range of antidiabetic mechanisms “including blood sugar and lipid levels and lower body fatness,” Kühn said.

Another finding was the important role played by the kidney and liver in reducing the risk of type 2 diabetes, said coauthor Aedín Cassidy, a professor at Queen University Belfast’s Institute for Global Food Security.

“For the first time we have shown that improvements in both metabolism and the function of the liver and the kidney as a result of a healthy plant-based diet, may explain how this diet can reduce the risk of type two diabetes,” Cassidy said in a statement.

Although the study only found an association, not a direct cause and effect, the findings were “interesting,” said Duane Mellor, a registered dietitian and senior teaching fellow at Aston Medical School in Birmingham, UK, in a statement to the Science Media Centre in London.

The analysis “looked at aspects of liver health and other measures of inflammation and explored how they might be linked to diet and risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” said Mellor, who was not involved in the study. “This suggests a number of possible designs for future research to actually assess if this type of plant-based diet can actually reduce risk of developing type 2 diabetes.”

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Forget Dieting In 2024. Do this Instead

A serving of fish such as salmon can be key to lowering the risk for heart disease due to its high content of healthy omega-3 fatty acids.

In much of the sunny Mediterranean, mealtime is a means to an end. The food, while freshly prepared and delicious, is secondary to the main event — a gathering of friends and family, where boisterous talk about the events of the day is often mixed with loud and infectious laughter.

This sense of community is the cornerstone of the award-winning Mediterranean diet, experts say. Add daily walks and meals with little red meat or sweets and a focus on fresh fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds, and you have a style of eating that nutritionists have labeled “best diet” six years in a row.

“Even though it’s called the Mediterranean diet, it’s not really a diet,” Atlanta registered dietitian Rahaf Al Bochi, a spokeswoman for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, told CNN in an earlier interview. “It doesn’t tell you what to eat and not eat. It’s a lifestyle that encourages consuming all food groups but gives more weight to those which have the most health benefits.”

Not convinced? Studies have also found the Mediterranean method reduces risk of diabetes, high cholesterol, heart disease, stroke, dementia and depression, to name a few.

So why not ditch your thoughts of a diet for 2024, and start treating food as part of healthy lifestyle instead? Sign up for CNN’s Eat, But Better: Mediterranean Style newsletter, an eight-part series that guides you in this delicious, expert-backed meal plan that’s good for your health.

Here are five tips from that series to jump-start your new outlook on healthy eating.

Whole grains are easy

One of the easiest steps to take when starting the Mediterranean diet, experts say, is to replace refined grains with whole grains. Choose whole wheat bread and pasta and replace white rice with brown or wild rice.

Consider “ancient grains.” Quinoa, amaranth, millet, farro, spelt, Kamut (a wheat grain said to be discovered in an Egyptian tomb) and teff (an Ethiopian grain about the size of a poppy seed) are some good choices. Each has a different taste and texture, so try out one a month until you find your favorite.

Prioritize a different protein

To maximize the benefits of the Mediterranean diet, push meat to the side. Varied sources of protein are key — consider lentils, canned beans and chickpeas instead.

An easy way to start, Al Bochi says, is to cook one meal each week based on beans, whole grains and vegetables, using herbs and spices to add punch. When one night a week is a breeze, add two, and build your meals without meat from there.

Make it fishy

Two servings a week of fatty fish such as salmon, herring, sardines and albacore tuna are a must on the Mediterranean diet due to their high content of healthy omega-3 fatty acids, a key to lowering your risk for heart disease.

The American Heart Association suggests eating a wide variety of seafood to minimize any adverse effects from mercury and other contaminants. Focus on shrimp, salmon, pollock, canned light tuna and catfish, which tend to have the lowest levels of mercury, and reduce consumption of swordfish, shark, mackerel and tilefish, which have the highest levels.

Reimagine dessert

In the Mediterranean, sugary sweets are luxuries reserved for weddings and other special occasions. “Eating fruit that is in season is the dessert of choice in the Mediterranean region,” Al Bochi said, “rather than our typical pastries, cookies and cakes.”

If you tire of eating raw fresh fruit, get creative. Poach pears in pomegranate juice with a bit of honey, then reduce the sauce and serve over Greek yogurt. Grill pineapple or other fruits and drizzle with honey. Make a sorbet out of fruit, including avocado (it’s really a fruit). Stuff a fig or date with goat cheese and sprinkle on a few nuts. Create a brown rice apple crisp or even a whole wheat fruit tart.

Add joyful movement and socialize

Remember, eating the Mediterranean way isn’t all about food. Being mindful at meals, socializing and getting fresh air and exercise are also key parts of this new way of living.

“The Mediterranean lifestyle is walking with friends and family,” registered dietitian Kelly LeBlanc, vice president of nutrition programming for Oldways, a nonprofit nutrition organization dedicated preserving traditional diets based on African, Asian, Latin American and Mediterranean heritages.

“Instead of thinking of exercise as something that you have to do, just walk or dance or move in joyful ways,” she said.

Nutritionists such as Al Bochi encourage each meal to be at least 20 minutes long.

“I understand that can be hard for a lot of people to implement but start small,” she said. “Turn off the TV, put away the cell phone, focus on meaningful conversations, chew slowly and pause between bites. That could be the start to your mindful eating journey.”

Editor’s Note: Not sure how to establish a habit? Try out behavioral scientist Katy Milkman’s five strategies for nailing your New Year’s resolutions.

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