How are those New Year’s resolutions for you? If you’re not as “healthy” as you hoped for by now, ask yourself these questions for a new outlook—and try this delicious winter salad.

By Brook Barney / Natured Balance

HEALTH & WELLNESS

The New Year is centered mainly on getting “healthy,” focusing on exercise, losing weight, and eating healthy. While these intentions will significantly benefit your overall health, there is a sizeable missing component in making sustainable lifestyle changes.

Statistics show that over 50% of people give up on New Year’s resolutions within the first 4-6 months, and over 25% within 2 months. 

The leading cause of giving up is setting too high of expectations based on willpower, not an action plan. Willpower can motivate you, but without an action plan it won’t lead to sustainable change. So, you give up again and try again next year. Is this resonating? Once you give up, the feelings of failure, guilt, shame, and hopelessness set in.

Suppose you’re relating to this vicious cycle. In that case, whether it be resolutions/goals during the new year or any time of year, and you are ready to try a different angle, I invite you to shift your focus to getting Emotionally Fit.

EMOTIONAL FITNESS

Emotional fitness is a method of working from the inside out and starts with asking yourself WHY. Why do I want to get Healthy? Let’s walk through an example. Your goal is, I want to get healthy. You know that changing your food choices and moving your body are well-known paths to reaching this goal. By stopping here, your main focus is on the outer body’s physique, but when you connect with your WHY by starting from the inside, you create a deep connection and relationship as to what FEELING this will create in you and how it will change your life and surroundings.

Now, your WHY looks something like this: By changing my eating and movement habits, I will FEEL more energy, get better sleep, feel less stress, connect to others and myself, have greater mental clarity, and elevate happiness and purpose. Once you have this layer of connection, dive deeper: Changing my eating and movement will strengthen my heart, lungs, brain, and muscles, balance blood sugar regulation, hormones, and cholesterol, and reduce joint pain and overall inflammation.

Now you are creating the emotional feeling of what this lifestyle change will bring you. This is just one layer in emotionally connecting, but an excellent place to start.

Enjoy this satisfying immune-supportive recipe to create the feeling of giving your body more instead of restriction.

Crunchy Beet and Quinoa Salad

Winter Salad
greens of choice 
1 C cooked/chilled quinoa
1 C gala diced apples
1 C cooked diced beets
1/4 cup pomegranates
1/2 cup finely chopped pistachios

* I also add cooked yams sometimes

Citrus Dressing
3 TBS freshly squeezed orange juice *I like to add the pulp for more fiber.
2 TBS apple cider vinegar
1 t Dijon mustard
2 1/2 TBS olive oil 
Orange zest of 1 orange
Salt/pepper