You
don't need to make mammoth overhauls to upgrade your health, fitness, diet and
emotional wellbeing this year. Our small, smart tweaks are all you need
Thinking of making one big,
life-changing New Year's resolution for 2012? Stop right there! Research shows
80% of us give up on our resolutions by Valentine's Day, and making several
small but powerful life tweaks can have much more impact. 'Setting yourself a
huge goal – like dropping two dress sizes In a month or signing up for a marathon
if the furthest you’ve ever run is for the bus - often backfires because there's
so much pressure,' says nutritionist Amanda Ursell. 'Instead, make smart changes
that are small enough to be doable but big enough to make a difference,'
Rosie Huntingdon-Whiteley's
trainer James Duigan agrees, adding that it's important to take a multi-
pronged approach, 'Don't just focus on your diet, while ignoring your emotional
health and stress levels, or worry about your fitness but neglect your health.
Instead, take a holistic, 360-degree approach, making tweaks to all areas, and
you really will change your life.
Upgrade
your health
1. Take a tiredness test
'An increasing number of
young women are deficient in vitamin D and feel constantly shattered as a result'
says our GP Dr Pixie McKenna. 'We get most of our vitamin D from sunlight, so
in winter months, our levels plummet. Oily fish, such as salmon, mackerel,
sardines and fresh tuna is a good source, as are eggs, dairy products and some
fortified cereals and margarines, but daylight exposure - especially a sunny
winter day - is even better, so get outside as much as possible, particularly
between the hours of 71am and 3pm, when the sun's rays are at their strongest.
If you think you may be deficient, see your GP who may offer you a blood test,'
advises Dr Pixie.
2. Know your ABC
Before you put on another
layer of woollies, give your moles the once over. Rebecca Maxwell, a senior
nurse from The Mole Clinic, says now is the best time of year to check them. 'In
winter, your skin is paler so changes show up more. Yet studies show we're less
likely to notice these changes because we're so covered up.' The Mole Clinic
has an ABC guide to checking moles: A is for asymmetrical (is one half of your mole
different to the other?), B for border irregularity (is it poorly defined?), C
for colour (any changes?), D for diameter (bigger than 7mm?) and E for evolving
(has it changed in any way?). If you're worried, see your GP or visit The Mole
Clinic (themoleclinicco.uk and at selected Superdrug stores).
3. Have an electronic sundown
Spend evenings catching up
on texts, emails and EastEnders? According to Dr Frank Lipman, Gwyneth Paltrow's
doctor and author of Spent? End Exhaustion & Feet Great Again ($16,
Hay House), you should avoid texting, browsing on your iPhone or laptop, or
watching TV during the two hours before bed. They stimulate your brain in a way
that stops you falling into the kind of good quality, restorative sleep you
need to feel happy, healthy and smart,' he says. ‘Without it, you'll feel
exhausted, anxious, and you'll be prone to weight gain and stress.' He also
recommends eating brown carbs with your evening meal ('they help your body
produce the sleep hormone melatonin') and wearing an eye mask ('total darkness
helps your brain switch off’). We love Holistic Silk's pretty Lavender Eye Mask
($75, holisticsilk.com).
4. Fork out
Watching your meat intake
will be on your 2012 health radar if a glut of recent books is anything to go by.
There's The Meat free Monday Cookbook ($32, Kyle Books), inspired by the
McCartneys' campaign, and US best-seller Forks Over Knives $16, Experiment
LLC), which examines the link between meat consumption and certain diseases. In
the UK, we eat too much cheap meat' says James, "instead, eat less of it
but make it the best you can afford, as lean as possible and ideally organic.'
5. Using your sitting bones
Almost a third of us spend
over ten hours a day sitting down. No surprise then, that 72% of us will also
suffer from back pain at some point, not to mention a stiff neck and hips and
bad digestion caused by all that slumping. To minimise the damage, use your
'sitting bones', which are directly underneath the centre of your pelvic bone.
'Sit on the palms of your hands and you should feel two lumpy bony bits
sticking straight down, says Noel Kingsley, author of Free Yourself From
Back Pain (Kyle Cathie, $23.80). 'Often people slump the lower back and roll
back on these sitting bones, or they over-arch and roll the other way,'
