by erin thursby scopes1925@msn.com
As we merrily, or regretfully toss our ’06 calendars into the trash, we start new and charge into the New Year awash with resolution. As long as we’ve had the concept of seasons, we’ve had the concept of a fresh start. Different cultures have placed the beginning of the cycle of seasons at other dates (the Babylonian New year started on our March 23rd) but the notion of clearing away the old has held through the millennium.
These days we make resolutions to spend more time on the treadmill, less time smoking, and more time with loved ones. But all of these resolution ideas are fairly modern. What sort of resolutions did people make a hundred years ago? Four thousand years ago? In times gone by, resolutions had to do with putting an end to something that had dragged on—forgiving a debt from a neighbor, resolving a family dispute and so forth.
The most common resolutions have stayed pretty much the same for the last few decades. Heath-related goals top the list, as well as financial resolutions such as paying down debt or saving more.
Whatever your reasons for smoking, there comes a time when you’ll want to quit. These days, quitting is easier than ever, with far more resources available than there were 10-20 years ago. There are a myriad of free resources you can lean on, if you need to. On-line support groups abound, go to www.about.com and put “quit smoking” in the search box. Here are a few major quit smoking tips:
If you calculate how much money you spend on smokes, it might be a start on motivating you to quit. Keep a jar in your house and fill it with the money you would have spent on the packs of smokes you aren’t buying. Depending on how much you smoked, you’ll be able to afford a vacation at the end of a year or at the end of a month. If that’s too long to wait for a reward, buy small things each week with your smoke money.
Start carrying a water bottle with you everywhere you go. Each time you get the urge, take a sip. It will help you detox faster as well. An artist friend of mine started carrying a sketch pad to draw during her breaks instead of smoking. Other people learn how to knit. You can also start exercising each time you have the urge.
Maybe it’s the big C, a hacking smoker’s cough, dulled taste buds or to spare your kids the second-hand smoke. Whatever your reasons for quitting, it’s hard to remember those reasons when the urge hits. Write your reasons down on an index card. Keep it with you so you can stay motivated.
Here are some tips and tricks from Roni J. Adams, Director of Fitness Education at Bailey’s Powerhouse Gym. The locally owned gym has locations all over Jacksonville. Check them out at http://www.baileysgym.com
1) Set realistic goals
Although I think it is important for people to strive towards their personal best, I think it is paramount for everyone to maintain a realistic idea of the results he or she can attain. When setting goals, men and women have a tendency to compare themselves to what they see in health and fitness magazines. On more than one occasion, I have had clients bring in pictures from popular publications and state that they want to look just like this particular person. As a society, what I think we all need to remember is that these people are fitness models for a reason. Some may be genetically gifted, while others may be willing to give up some of the best parts of life, such as children or the occasional dessert, in order to maintain that look. And no matter how hard these people work, at the end of the day, there is someone in a photography studio somewhere airbrushing deeper abs or removing dimples of cellulite. Good lighting and airbrushing can go a long way in these pictures!
2) Write your goals down and post them everywhere – EVERYWHERE!
Write down what you want to accomplish, make copies, and post them in your pantry, the inside of your fridge, the outside of your fridge, your desktop on your computer, and in your car. Constantly reminding yourself in writing (with YOUR handwriting) or what you want to do with your body can quickly squash the urge to cheat (or at least make you feel guilty enough about it to keep it to a minimum).
3) Take inventory of your pantry and get the bad stuff out
This can sometimes be the hardest thing. About 85% of the results you see from exercise come directly from what you eat. Make it very difficult to eat junk by completely eliminating it from your available choices; rid your pantry of the goods.
4) Clean up your children’s diet, too (and stop eating their leftovers).
As a fitness professional, it has been my experience that parents will cut the crust off of their children’s sandwiches, only to find it in their own mouths. As a society, most of us are programmed to create a “happy plate,” one that is empty. So, when we see leftovers on our children’s plates, it is our job to make that plate smile – WRONG! If your kids don’t finish their dinners, don’t be a human garbage disposal and finish it for them. And if your kids aren’t hungry, don’t make them finish their dinners. Preprogramming the “Happy Plate Syndrome” into your kids can possibly contribute to a weight problem in later years. If your kids are eating Little Debbie cakes and M&Ms on a regular basis (more than twice a week), then now is a good time to clean up their diets, too. Blaming the children for poor eating habits is common, but not a valid excuse.
5) Exercise first thing in the morning (and start slow)
This is something that I practice myself. If I procrastinate on working out, it simply won’t happen. So at night, when I get home after work, I pack everything I need for the next day and set it by the door, program my coffee pot to brew at 5:00AM, and I get up to make that journey to the gym. Do I enjoy getting up early? Nope, but my training is done and I can’t blow it off later in the day. I think that by training first thing, you give yourself no room to weasel out of it later – it’s done. No excuses, only results.
Furthermore, don’t kill yourself! Start slow and don’t debilitate yourself by using too much weight and causing injury. The best recommendation I can make to those who are new to exercise and healthy eating is to seek guidance from someone in that profession (not the best friend who did Atkins or the cousin’s mother-in-law’s ex-husband’s best friend who lost 40 lbs on a diet of watermelon and crackers). If you get the right information the first time, you will save yourself the trouble and headache of doing the wrong thing and prolonging your success. Get it right the first time and enjoy your new body that much sooner!
6) Journal your exercise and food everyday
Be accountable to yourself by documenting what you are doing. This way, you can compare your goals to your daily activities on a regular basis and see how things are adding up. Count your calories and monitor your food intake so that you consume a balanced diet, not one that relies heavily on any one particular thing. And when I say “journal,” I mean every beverage (including diet), piece of candy, anything, and everything you do!
7) If you fall off of the horse, brush yourself off and get right back on.
If you fall short of your daily goals, don’t just quit. An occasional mistake or missed day doesn’t mean that everything you’ve done up to this point is in vain. Just pick up where you would have left off and move on. So what if you eat a brownie? Life is too short to completely avoid everything that’s good. Enjoy life to the fullest, just make sure you save your “enjoyment” for special occasions and/or the weekly cheat meal.
My solution to the whole resolution thing is to make resolutions I can keep. For instance, I make a resolution like “I will wake up every day in the next year.” This is a terrific resolution because each day I can wake up with an immense sense of satisfaction, feeling slightly superior to everyone else. Sure, nearly everyone else woke up today (barring coma victims and those who have watched that “depression hurts” ad one too many times) but I am keeping a promise I made to myself.
Also, I don’t just make one super-simple resolution. I make as many as I possibly can, like: I will eat chocolate once a week, I will put music I love in my car CD player, I will make my cat happy and I will get a haircut this year. I write down as many as I can and spend the rest of the year being pretty happy. There’s another one: I will spend the rest of the year being pretty happy. Let me know if I backslide.
The majority of resolutions aren’t made between December 28th- New Year’s Day. Most are made sometime in the month of January or as late as May. What’s your resolution? EU wants to know! Send a postcard with news of your resolution to Resolutions c/o EU Jacksonville, 5121 Bowden Rd, Suite 311, Jacksonville, FL 32216 or you may send us an email to feedback@entertainingu.com. Just drop us a creative line to announce your resolution or the success and/or tribulations of your resolution.
2007 marks the year of the Pig in the Chinese Zodiac. According to the Chinese calendar, their year doesn’t start until the end of February, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start celebrating now!
Those born under the sign of the Pig are said to be thoughtful, honest and passionate, putting their whole energy into all that they do. A seemingly lazy Pig might bide their time in starting a project, but once they do, they are said to be unstoppable. The Pig is the last sign of 12 in the Chinese Zodiac calendar. Fire is this year’s elemental sign, making this the year of the Fire Pig or the Red Pig, which means prosperity for business. Pig years cycle around every 12 years, and the luckiest pig year is the Red Pig, which comes around every 60. This year is said to be even more unique, because it is also said to be the year of the Golden Pig, something that comes around every 600 years. The birth rate in China and Korea is projected to be 10% above average because the population believes that children born in this year will be financially lucky.
Years of the Pig are 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, 2007, 2019
Pigs are most compatible with: Rabbit, Sheep
Famous people born in the Year of the Pig: Lucille Ball, Humphrey Bogart, Thomas Jefferson, Ernest Hemingway, Alfred Hitchcock, Mahalia Jackson, David Letterman, Arnold Schwarzenegger
To usher in the year of the pig, here are a few wacky suggestions:
· Check out the utterly strange YouTube video entitled “pigs are like men.” A translation from the Spanish is at the bottom of the page. It seems to chronicle an existential relationship between a plastic pig and Elmo.
· Make origami pigs with your kids. The web address with instructions is at http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/origami_pig.htm
· Throw a pig party! Cook up some pork, decorate in a pig theme and pass out the piggy noses!
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