By Melanie Stewart

It’s almost that time again. In just a few short weeks millions of people worldwide will once again commit to the number one resolution:  Losing Weight. 75% will last only a week. What would it mean to you to finally reach your goal weight and be able to maintain it?  How would your life change for the better?

“Probably nothing in the world arouses more false hopes than the first four hours of a diet.” – Dan Bennett

Have you ever been on a diet?  There are certainly plenty of them to choose from.  In fact, there is a list of diets on Wikipedia that numbers over 90.  You can choose a belief based diet like eating Kosher or the Hallelujah diet, a vegetarian diet or one if it’s sub-categories of lacto, lacto-ovo or vegan.  There are diets promoting low calories, low sodium, low fat, low protein (or high protein) or low, slow, or no carbohydrates. Or you might consider the Blood Type diet, the Zone diet, Sugar Busters, Southbeach, Weight Watches, Jenny Craig,  Nutri-system, Macrobiotic, Mediterranean, Keto or any number of “crash” diets like those that encourage copious amounts of grapefruit juice or cabbage soup.

And it might work…but, usually only in the short run.

Too often diets are simply temporary states of deprivation during which we obsess over the very things we are feeling deprived of.  As we near our goal weight, the temptation to reward ourselves with the very things we’ve avoided comes back full strength! And diets that focus on just one thing or those that eliminate several things?  They’re out of balance. You won’t get the benefits you need from what you’re not eating.  It’s time to forget about diets!  Diets are temporary! And, too often, so is the associated weight loss.

“The second day of the diet is always easier than the first.  By the second day you’re off of it.” – Jackie Gleason

We all know by now that improving eating habits combined with exercise is the only really effective way to achieve and maintain an ideal weight; putting it into consistent practice remains the tough part.  As adults we often struggle with habits we developed earlier in life. What we need is a natural inclination to choose well; what we typically have is a whole lot of bad habits and wavering willpower.

Wouldn’t you love to feel great?  And what if it was easier than you think?

Gift yourself with a real education in healthy living. Retrain your brain to see food in a positive way: as a gift for healing, a way to nurture yourself and those you love, and the way to wellness.  No more yo-yo dieting, no more deprivation and no more failure. You can lose weight, you can rewrite a family legacy of health and weight issues, and you can feel better!

Melanie Stewart has written 2 books for children (Yum Tum, Good Food is Fun! and Yum Tum, We Get it Done!) and one for adults (Yum Tum For Everyone!) all available on Amazon or at: https://www.yumtumnutrition.com/ All content is commentary or opinion and is protected under Free Speech laws. It’s not meant to give individual medical advice or to make any health claims on the prevention or curing of diseases.

The post Have a Happy & Healthy New Year! appeared first on South Walton Life | 30A News, Events and Community Information.