Successful New Year's resolutions & health resolution ideas....

Today's Post: Tuesday, 1-3-2012

To have a successful New Year’s resolution or health resolution, you have to make one.

(Our last post on Friday, 12-30-2011 had several key ideas to make resolutions you actually achieve.)

That post included this idea:

“Health writer Dr Al Sears in his email today (Fri, 12-30-2011) endorses the idea of scheduling just one or two doable things to do in January to move him closer to reaching his goals.

He thinks he will even make progress with this method on a couple of goals he hasn’t been able to reach in prior years.”

Today, I’ll list two health related resolutions and such easy ways to make a real start on achieving them.

The resolutions are each well worth doing. But even if you already do them or prefer not to work on them right now more than you already are, they are examples of how to pick health resolutions and do doable steps or actions to do them or get started.

1. Here’s one that’s close to free. It’s easy to do once you learn how and get used to doing it. And, it has massive health benefits!

People who, at least once a day every day -- floss their teeth and then brush them with special techniques and attention to brushing their gums with a soft bristled brush, get dozens of health benefits.

They get the obvious ones. They are less likely to have really bad breath. They are far less likely to get gum disease. And they are far more likely to keep their teeth. Plus they don’t have to pay for expensive gum disease treatments or pulling loose teeth or false teeth. And, their future appearance and breath will be far better. They’ll look younger and less poor than they otherwise would.

But they also get several massive health benefits besides those! Because of the damage from the bacteria in gum disease and the chronic inflammation in your system all the time, gum disease makes death, heart attacks, strokes, and Alzheimer’s disease all more likely. In addition, that inflammation also may help cause cancers and DOES help cause osteoarthritis. Really! Ouch!

How to start doing this and preventing all these bad diseases?

Read our upcoming post now planned for Thursday this week on how chronic inflammation is a direct cause of osteoarthritis and how to brush and floss your teeth to save your gums and do it time efficiently. That’s one of the best ways to prevent osteoarthritis and keep it from getting worse.

Or, schedule a teeth cleaning or check up at your Dentist’s office and ask for a lesson on how to brush and floss your teeth while you are there. (That’s how I learned to do both correctly. I got lucky and they volunteered to teach me.)

If you don’t have a soft toothbrush or a new one, buy a soft bristled toothbrush sometime this week. (Brushing your teeth at the gumline and brushing your gums directly is critically important to do. But medium and hard bristled tooth brushes damage your gums if you brush that way.)

If you don’t have floss, buy two containers of floss sometime this week. (That way when you run out of the first one, you begin using the second one which you then replace the next time you go to the store.)

Then make a very strong special effort to floss and then brush once every day. First thing after breakfast tends to work best. And do that for 3 weeks. After that, you are in the habit of doing it. Just resume if you notice you begin skipping. Pick a start date soon and begin then!

(What if you get super rushed some mornings? Even if you are so rushed you skip breakfast or a shower, always do at least a fast brushing. Then floss later that day after dinner. That way even when being that rushed, you both brush and floss once that day. Then always do both right after breakfast on the days you aren’t so rushed.

As a last resort, up to once a week, skip flossing. But make a strong effort to never skip two days in a row. If you do, it puts you at risk and you can tell the difference when you restart.)

2. Here’s a health resolution that makes permanent fat loss easier and that has as many or even more health benefits.

Find out how and cut your intake of trans fats and related hydrogenated oils to zero! Then start doing it.

Eating them is like eating heart attack starter! They cause your bad, small particle, LDL to go up and begin causing plaque deposits in your blood vessels.

But that reduces your blood circulation and increases inflammation too. So it also causes high blood pressure from hardening and narrowing of your blood vessels and helps cause strokes and Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia too!

Eating a moderate amount of health OK fats and oils in such things as extra virgin olive oil, nuts, avocados, wild caught fish, omega 3 oil supplements, and some lowfat dairy and meat from 100 % grass fed animals is actually good for you. And, it actually IMPROVES fat loss over eating a very lowfat diet.

But eating trans fats too, adds extra calories you tend to wear as fat. So if you cut that back to zero, you will weigh less from doing so.

But it’s even more effective than that to eliminate trans fats and hydrogenated oils as a help to fat loss. Why?

Because most trans fats and hydrogenated oils are in packaged desserts and snacks and most commercial baked goods and in many fast foods.

And, those also often have such fattening ingredients as high fructose corn syrup, refined grains, sugar, artificial sweeteners, and excess salt.

Lastly, these foods tend to be eaten along with drinking a regular or diet soft drink—or more than one. Those drinks act as the perfect fatteners. They have no protein, health OK fats, fiber, or nutrients. And they both act as very strong appetite boosters. Worse they boost your appetite for sugary foods!

The less of these things you eat and drink, the less fat you’ll be. And you may even be LESS hungry!

How to avoid trans fats and hydrogenated oils?

Stop eating margarine, shortening that isn’t lard, nondairy coffee creamer, and microwave popcorn that contains any kind of oil. (Add butter later if you want. But the oils used in the other kind of microwave popcorn are virtually all trans fats and hydrogenated oils.)

Eat far less packaged desserts and snacks and most commercial baked goods and fast foods. (Begin always reading the labels first. If the label has any trans fat reading at all except 0.0 OR it lists ANY hydrogenated oil as an ingredient, take a pass. And, if it has no label, take a pass almost every time.)

And what are some ideas to get started doing it?

Begin reading the labels on all the food you buy or eat that has labels. Trans fats and hydrogenated oils are also still in many candy bars, ice creams, peanut butters, and breads!

Then leave them on the shelf if they have any of this stuff. Buy another kind of food or a better brand that has none of this stuff.

Simply read the labels the next several times you go to the grocery store.