2022 New Year's Resolutions - Family Health and Well-Being

Is the new year 2022 the year you and your family will start genuinely living a healthy lifestyle? Striving for better health is an excellent new year resolution but figuring out how to live a healthy lifestyle as a busy parent isn't always easy. Fortunately, these health tips can help you make the right changes during the new year and stick to your commitment.

Eat for a Healthy Lifestyle

For adults, improving your diet can dramatically reduce your risk of many health problems, from heart disease to diabetes. Kids who learn to eat well will have an easier time making healthy food choices as adults, so their risk of obesity and chronic diseases becomes lower, too. Follow these tips to change your diet for the better:

• Follow serving sizes printed on the packaging
• Strive to eat 3 ounces of whole grains every day
• Work at least 2 cups of fruit and 2.5 cups of vegetables into your daily eating plan
• Reduce your intake of products that contain added sugar
• Bake, broil, and grill foods instead of frying
• Choose healthy cooking oils like olive, sunflower, or canola
• Keep a food journal to record what you eat daily
• Put together a menu plan for the whole family each week
• Eat before you go to the grocery store to avoid stocking up on junk food
• Stop buying sugary soft drinks and soda
• Involve your children in the food preparation process
• Don't make your kids clean their plates. Encourage them to stop eating when they feel full.

Get Active with a Focus on Family Health

Exercise is essential to good health at any age. To get everyone up and moving:

• Take walks as a family whenever possible
• Choose board games or video games that require movement to enjoy as a family
• Get everyone outside for a game of tag, basketball, or other activity
• Adopt an active family hobby like hiking or cycling
• Reduce the amount of screen time everyone gets to two hours
• Park farther away from entrances to require more walking
• Walk places instead of driving whenever possible
• Strive to get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic exercise each week

Consider Family Chiropractic Care

A family chiropractor can be an ally in your quest to start living a healthy lifestyle.

Chiropractors in Clive that specialize in caring for the whole family can assist you and your children in many ways, including:

• Less risk of injury. Visit a chiropractor regularly means maintaining better spinal alignment throughout the year, which benefits bone, joint, muscle and nerve health. This can mean a lower likelihood of injury during competition and training for young athletes and dancers. It can also help to address stress-related headaches and the overall smaller risk of getting hurt while completing everyday activities.
• Support for other interventions. Studies have found that improving spinal alignment can benefit the entire body. Suppose you or one of your children suffers from a chronic medical condition like digestive issues, an autoimmune disease, or migraines. In that case, chiropractic care could complement other parts of the treatment plan and even boost immune system function to support your body's natural healing process.
• More success with other health goals. Chiropractic care promotes relaxed muscles and looser joints. This can make it easier for all of you to stick to that commitment to get up and moving by improving flexibility and making post-exercise soreness less likely to occur. Plus, your chiropractor can provide motivation and accountability as you continue to reach for your goals.

Banish Bad Habits to Make Healthy Lifestyle Changes

What you don't do every day can make as much of a difference to your health as what you do during the day. To strive for good health, eliminate the following bad habits as needed:

• Smoking
• Drinking alcohol in excess
• Mindlessly eating in front of the television
• Not getting enough sleep
• Skipping preventative doctor's visits

Set Health Goals for Your Family

Goal setting is essential to achieving any resolution. The act of writing down a goal is a powerful way to commit fully, and establishing measurable goals gives you something concrete to work toward. Goals like "I will take my daughter to her weekly family chiropractic appointments all year" or "I will double the amount of vegetables we all eat by the end of the year" are easier to reach for than "we'll take my daughter to the chiropractor" or "we'll eat more vegetables."

Once you have actionable goals, you can break them down into steps, such as "this week I will set up the chiropractic consultation" or "this month we will have a vegetable at two out of three meals." At the end of the period, you specified, check-in with yourself and see what you achieved. Celebrate successes and refine your goals as needed when you fail to reach a milestone.