New Years Resolutions That Are ‘Healthy’ But Bad For You

With the New Year brings the clap of fireworks, songs of Auld Lang Syne and the dreaded New Year’s resolutions. There’s a pressure upon everyone to think about things in their life that they are going to change for the better – these normally refer to personality changes or goals with losing weight, going to the gym and doing things that you wouldn’t think to do in 2018.

While all of these decisions may seem to be a good idea on paper, to live a healthier life and watch what you’re eating or how much you’re spending; there are also some resolutions which research has stated aren’t going to be doing you any favors if you adopt them in 2019.

Letting Go Of Your Favourite Treat

For those of us with a sweet tooth, one of your resolutions may be to give up your favorite chocolate bar or sugary snack that you often find yourself reaching for. Your ‘guilty pleasure’ foods can leave you feeling like they are awful for you and therefore you must give them up – especially in the new year.

However, this doesn’t have to be the cake. Sorry, case. If you restrict yourself from eating the foods that you want to eat and only eating them in moderation, it can mean that your body will actually crave more of it – and in large quantities, too. This means that you will begin to crave them more and will binge more when you get the chance. This can have the same effect on your body as yo-yo dieting. So, even though it may seem like it’s the right thing to do – don’t give up your favorite cake or cookie. Just be careful to not let it become an addiction.

Working Out Daily

For those of us that are chained to a desk, the idea of a resolution which requires you to work out more and get more exercise in the New Year may seem to be the best one for you. While working out can be healthy, it also can cause more damage to your body if you previously didn’t work out at all. Training your muscles and your body can take effort over a period of time which means that you wouldn’t be able to go from not working out at all and lounging around on the sofa to suddenly attending the gym and Zumba every day. Your body would simply burn out, landing you in more trouble than if you hadn’t worked out at all.

So how do you win? You should work to increase how much exercise you do in a slow progression over time. If you were to suddenly adopt an intense fitness regime then you could make your muscles very sore and painful and you could even end up with a long-term injury that would put you out of action for a long period of time.

It doesn’t matter if you only took a small time off of exercising either. If you were once a dedicated runner and then you took a year off of exercising, you wouldn’t be able to automatically train your body into falling back into the same routine. Your body wouldn’t be able to cope and would react in a negative manner.

Quitting Smoking

There’s no denying that giving up smoking is going to prove beneficial to your health. It can decrease your risk of developing heart disease or cancer, improve your hearing and also your night vision and extend your life expectancy. However, if you want to give up smoking then you have to be realistic with yourself and your expectations of how well you could do with this resolution.

If you have been thinking about quitting for a long time, then there’s no reason that you can’t decide to give up tomorrow or next week or next month. But be honest with yourself – you’ll only grow more frustrated with yourself if you try to quit and find that you can’t go cold turkey and pick up a cigarette again. This could land you in a cycle of quitting and not quitting, meaning your frustrations will carry on into next new year, too. Be honest with yourself, don’t be ashamed if you think you can’t manage it in any particular time. Listen to your body and surround yourself with a support network that will help you to quit.