2005 Tip #1:
What Shape Will It Take?

Happy New Year! Healthy New Year!  2005—keep it alive!  Wishing us all the best in meeting our goals, keeping our hopes and dreams alive in 2005!

What shape will this year take?  What shape are we in?  What shape do we want to be in?

With “State of the State” messages, budget proposals, a new legislative session and countless new bills, an inauguration around the corner, tsunami relief efforts underway in historic proportions, our men and women still in Iraq as an election nears – what shape will this year take?

Leaving the politics of these events aside for the moment, a front page news headline this week gives me the opportunity to focus on our health goals – and to invite your ideas to our health tips “network” throughout 2005.  Contra Costa Times, January 13:  “Government restructures the food pyramid – new federal guidelines call for more exercise and fruits, less salt and sugar.”

The news report is “scientifically based” but is really also grounded in common sense.  We all remember seeing pictures of that “Food Pyramid” – now it’s out.  Like some kind of pyramid scheme, it really wasn’t working.  Page 15:  “A pyramid replacement is expected in the next two months – though it has yet to take shape, as the government debates whether the pyramid is the best way to illustrate healthy eating.”

The picture we developed last year had to do with finding balance and maximizing our energy – by eating more natural foods and moving more, being more physical.  We focused on a picture of balancing calories in with burning calories off.

Picking up from where we left off with the last tip of 2004 and the 10 ideas for eating with friends and family while enjoying the holiday festivities and delicious foods, here’s the next 10 ideas on controlling the calories going in:

1-5   = Drink 5 full glasses of water daily. 

6-10 = Eat 5 – preferably fresh – fruits or vegetables daily. 

Good calories are better by far than empty junk calories!

That’s 10 things to do every day that will make a huge difference!

These guidelines will even help at a dinner at your in-laws home, where the second “helping” may be insisted on.  More ahead on eating out and eating with friends and relatives.

In moving forward into a healthy and happy New Year, the question is: What shape will it be? Just keep thinking positive, and it will shape up to be a great year for you personally!