People tend to either love or hate the very concept of New Year’s resolutions. Some view the beginning of a new year as an opportunity to reflect on the past months and set goals for the coming year. Others are content to move into January without changing a thing.
At Heart and Vascular Care, we suggest you take a new approach to New Year’s resolutions this year. Instead of making grand proclamations about sweeping change, we urge you to create achievable goals and incorporate small changes into your daily life. Here are five options to give residents of Plano, Texas, and beyond a strong starting point.
Staying active is one o the best things you can do to preserve your heart health. But most of us are already overtaxed with obligations each day, and have little time left to add a new workout program.
One way to get more activity into your life is to look for small changes that won’t interfere with your normal routines. You’ve heard it before, but parking a bit farther from your destination adds more steps to grovery shopping, commuting, or other tasks.
Many people find it helpful to tackle their exercise early in the day. This helps you reach your goals each day before life gets in the way and you find yourself without any extra energy as evening approaches.
Managing stress is an essential part of staying heart healthy. While working with a counselor can help, there are also ways you can reduce or manage your stress on your own.
A great place to begin is by trying something new. There are so many wellness activities and trends that you’re bound to find something that interests you. If you’re someone who finds motivation from being wiht others, look for a class you can join.
If you’d prefer to branch out without a room full of strangers, look for online videos to help you get into a new groove. Whether it’s yoga, meditation, tai chi, mindfulness, or forest bathing, there is always something new to try. You might find yourself with far less stress and anxiety.
One of the very best ways to eat better is by cooking more meals at home. When you eat out, you have no control over the quality of ingredients, how they’re prepared, and what your portion size might be.
Learning some new skills in the kitchen empowers you to create new meals and snacks that align with your specific tastes, while also helping you eat more healthfully. If you’re a total beginner, there are many different online resources that can help you build your skills and confidence.
Advanced cooks might want to tackle a new type of cuisine or new skills. Learning how to poach a piece of fish or using a sous vide perfectly for the first time are exciting ways to up your game.
More and more research suggests that there is no healthy level of alcohol consumption. That doesn’t mean you can never drink again without harming your heart health, it does mean you should make carefully considered choices when it comes to what you drink as well as how much you’re drinking.
There are plenty of ways to cut down on alcohol consumption. You can begin by alternating alcohol beverages with a glass of water or other nonalcohol beverage. You might also switch from drinking straight alcohol to craft cocktails, which often have less alcohol and more mixers by volume.
Of course, of you feel that alcohol consumption is not helping you meet your health and wellness goals, quitting for good is always an option. There are a number of programs that can help you live a rich, fulfilling, and sober lifestyle.
It can be shocking to learn how much sugar is added to everyday foods, including things that aren’t even noticeably sweet. That’s often because highly processed sugars like high fructose corn syrup are cheap and readily avialable sweeteners.
Food manufacturers often turn to added sugar to boost the flavor of foods (or to mask just how little flavor is there in the first place). This can leave you with high levels of sugar consumption even on days when you said “no” to dessert.
Once you learn where to find hidden sugars, it becomes easier to avoid them. There are often low-sugar alternatives on the market, and it’s oftne difficult to taste any difference. Lowering daily sugar consumption can help you regulate your blood sugar and avoid chronic disease.
If you’re exited to improve your hear thealth in the coming year, we’re happy to sit down with you and discuss your options. We also offer heart health screenings to educate you on where you stand in regard to your heart health, and establish a baseline from which you can track your progress.
Just give us a call at 469-960-3554 to reach our Plano office, or 469-966-2190 to reach our McKinney office. We also offer easy online booking, giving you another way to contact our team.
If you’re concerned about your own chest pain or the discomfort felt by a loved one, you are always welcome to reach out to the team at Heart and Vascular Care to schedule a visit.
We offer comprehensive diagnostic technology and a warm, compassionate bedside manner. Even if your screenings reveal no concerns, we can focus on discussing ways to enhance and support your heart health, as preventive cardiology is a specialty at our practice.