by Tim Ditman
OSF Healthcare
OSF Healthcare
We have to make them realistic
ROCKFORD - It's that time of the year again when we turn our backs on past mistakes and pledge to do better. We're talking about News Year's resolutions.
Some people will promise to quit smoking, exercise more frequently or maybe plan to reunite with long lost friends or loved ones. But about this time every year one of the most talked-about resolutions is to improve our diets and perhaps lose weight.
Fill up on fruits and vegetables
Drink more water
Watch your sodium intake
Plan your meals
Keep a food log
And if you don't set goals early in 2023, don't sweat it. There's never a bad time to get started on making healthy lifestyle changes. Proper nutrition isn't a quick fix, Schafer says. It's a habit that we will work to develop for the rest of our lives.
"It's never too late to get started on one," he adds. "If you feel like you missed the New Year resolution time frame, there is always time to improve on yourself, whether it's related to diet and health or anything else in life."
Photo: Unsplash/Brooke Lark
While most people are more than ready to put 2022 in the rearview mirror, what are the best ways to go about making our food-related resolutions attainable now that 2023 is here?
"We have to make them realistic," says Adam Schafer, a clinical dietitian with OSF HealthCare. "A lot of times people say I want to eat healthier or be healthier. There are no specifics to that. We need to make sure resolutions are very specific and that you can measure it rather than throwing something out there that has no real meaning to it."
The keys to sticking with your food resolutions include setting specific goals, measuring those goals, and having a plan to meet those goals. Schafer recommends setting S.M.A.R.T. goals (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, Time-bound). The best ways to change behaviors is to focus on small, achievable habits and activities that will help improve your health over time.
When it comes to eating habits, there are going to be good times and bad. No one is perfect. Schafer says the key is to not beat yourself up over a bad eating day here or there. If you do stumble occasionally, reflect on what you did wrong and move on without any regrets.
If one of your resolutions is to lose weight, Schafer recommends thinking about what did or didn't work in the past before setting your weight loss goal. Rather than concentrating on a certain number, think about things like your clothes fitting better, or your ability to do certain activities easier or better. These milestones will help you maintain a more positive mindset and keep you motivated to stay the course.
"Focus more than just on weight," says Schafer. "A lot of times we focus on a certain number when it comes to weight loss, but if you're exercising too you may be putting on muscle. It's not going to reflect well on the scale and you're going to assume you're not doing well and you're going to quit."
Other tips include:
"The manikins are very much like the human body, so the students get a really good, hands-on experience with how CPR works,” Meeks says. "They also learn how to use the AED. Most students know where it is in their school, but they’ve never seen it before. They have no idea how it works."
You can count Paige Ferguson and Kira Becker, both juniors at Fisher High School, among the adolescents who think the training is valuable.
"You just had to stay at a consistent pace, which was difficult [to start]. But once you got that pace going, it was pretty easy to stay with it," Ferguson says, describing the training.
"It’s important to know this so you can help friends and teachers in your daily life. You can help save a person’s life,” Becker says.
One of those teachers is Doug Ingold, the health and physical education instructor who asked OSF to train the whole student body.
"It’s great to have hands-on experience. It’s different than just watching a video,” Ingold says. "Having OSF come in and give the students actual practical experience really gives them a good idea of what it takes to do CPR."
Recently, in a Mexican restaurant in Houston, Texas, a patron shot and killed a man who was robbing other patrons. The robber was masked and brandishing what appeared to be a pistol. If the man who shot the robber is charged with murder for protecting himself and others from a potentially lethal threat, then we have a serious problem.
We have another problem. Millions of undocumented people have crossed our border from El Paso to San Diego and in between. America is being invaded. We do not have enough free housing, welfare and food stamps to support all these people.
Biden wants to mobilize 85,000 IRS agents who will find every dollar they can to support the millions of undocumented people roaming our nation. How many more dollars can the IRS squeeze out of your pocket? Do you have property that they can seize and sell for a few dollars? 85,000 agents will need to find something to do and most likely they will be checking up on everyone.
Arizona has been patching holes in their border with containers which has been working. Biden ordered that the containers be removed. Over one million undocumented people have crossed into America through Arizona during Biden’s Presidency.
Can you imagine being a farmer or just living on the Southern Border? This is 24-hour a day nightmare for these landowners. Do you think anyone wants to buy their property? These same people are coming to your community. They are looking for jobs and housing. They need money and food. Do you have plenty of affordable housing in your community? Do you have big free food banks to feed these people? If you need a reasonably priced apartment, I would suggest you snatch it fast because people are coming who need that apartment and they may have more help from the government than you do to underwrite the costs.
McCarthy, Biden, and Congress must bring back every job we have outsourced to China. We can no longer do business with China. The people who have been living in America the last few years need jobs and millions of new undocumented workers need jobs. By the way, do you remember when the United States Census was a once every ten-year job? Now, Census workers have to work year-round chasing down people who will not complete U.S. Government Census information. How many full-time census workers will it take to chase down all of these undocumented people?
If Biden, McCarthy, and Congress do not protect Social Security your town will probably have to close up. Over 70 million Americans count on Social Security income. Social Security is all or over half of all this number receives each month. As the buying power of the retired population suffers, each community suffers. The government collects social security taxes from people to subsidize us in our old age. Americans will be back into abject poverty if they don’t keep Social Security strong.
Affordable housing, medical insurance and jobs that pay over $15 an hour must also be McCarthy and Biden commitments. We must be able to buy health insurance across state lines. State governments need to make it easier for working poor to have health insurance. We need real people to answer the telephones in the state and local governments. Websites need to be simple and seamless. Working poor Americans feel like their local states aren’t that interested in helping them.
Making medical care more affordable will solve problems for everyone including the insurance companies. Publicly listing the cost of services and surgeries was a good idea that most medical providers don’t seem to be following. Making pharmacy purchases from Canada easier is imperative for struggling Americans.
We have some problems in America. Biden, McCarthy and Congress have a lot to do. Name calling, and aggressive behavior in the House only makes for a few seconds of television stupidity. America has some problems. We need for McCarthy and Biden and Congress to step up and help us solve them.
Illinois House Representatives passed legislation banning high-powered weapons and large-capacity magazines last week. It is a step in the right direction. What if it is not enough?
The bill that passed through the House also created a prohibition and criminal penalties for devices that turn semi-automatic weapons into fully-automatic guns. It now heads to the Senate for approval.
