Healthy

health·y

 [hel-thee] 

adjective, health·i·er, health·i·est.

1.

possessing or enjoying good health or a sound and vigorous mentality: a healthy body; a healthy mind.

2.

pertaining to or characteristic of good health, or a sound and vigorous mind: a healthy appearance;healthy attitudes.

3.

conducive to good health; healthful: healthy recreations.

4.

prosperous or sound: a healthy business.

5.

Informal. fairly large: I bought a healthy number of books.

Happy International Hangover Day! Today is the day that people the world over crawl from beneath the warm excesses of the holiday season and vow to do better. They will drink less, eat less, spend less, smoke less, stress less. They will exercise more, save more, earn more, and volunteer more. They will vow to FINALLY GET HEALTHY. Facebook feeds nationwide abound with declarations of "A new year, a new me!" 

Fortunately for the eye-rolling crowd, the enthusiasm is short-lived.  According to the University of Scranton, just 8% of those resolutions are likely to succeed. In fact, more than a third of them won't even make it until February, much less the end of the year. More often than not, all those good intentions to hit the gym will last about a week. Before you know it, you're out of steam and end up re-organizing your spice rack instead. 

UNfortunately in the US, unhealthy habits are killing us. Despite spending more on health care per capita than any other nation, our life expectancy ranks 33rd. Over two-thirds of American adults are overweight, and more than one-third are obese. Heart disease and cancer are the top two causes of death in this country,  and diabetes and stroke are not far behind. We eat too much, exercise too little, smoke too much, sleep too little, and don't drink enough water. 

Obviously resolutions are not enough. How does a person go about changing her habits? The first step is starting small. Change one habit at a time, and take baby steps toward a bigger goal. The experts recommend repetition as well. By creating short-term challenges, step goals, and checkpoints, it is possible to implement consistent behavioral change. 

With this in mind, I am undertaking a challenge! For the next 52 weeks, I will embrace healthy habits by implementing one new healthy habit each week. I will strive to maintain those habits even after the challenge week, and build on them. My goal: to use small changes in habit to build a healthy lifestyle. 

Follow my story of success and failure as I explore what it truly means to be healthy in America. 

Welcome to More Than Resolutions...