New Year resolutions you can stick with

January 1 could be renamed ‘National Diet Day’ as many people fall into the trap of making drastic, quick changes to their diet and lifestyle. The thinking is that a new year brings a fresh start, which is why more than 50% of Australians will make New Year’s resolutions. Most popular resolutions often revolve around health – with many focusing on dieting, increasing exercise or a specific goal for weight loss.

Despite everyone’s good intentions, studies have found that 80% of resolutions fail by February and just 8% of people manage to follow through with their resolutions. This is due, in large part, to the fact that many resolutions are restrictive, not realistic for a person’s lifestyle, and are solely focused on weight loss, rather than the many other positive measures of health.

Avoid ‘quick fixes’

When making any dietary or lifestyle changes, be particularly wary of fad diets which promise quick and easy results. A fad diet is an eating plan that often promotes quick and easy weight loss or radically improved health. Fad diets can be tempting as they offer a quick fix to either real or perceived problems. But they have little scientific evidence to support their claims. They can often result in rapid and unsustainable weight loss, followed by regaining the lost weight within a few months.

Don’t focus on weight alone

Instead of focusing on a certain number on the scale, try focusing on changing behaviours that you can control. These may include choosing more nutritious options, moving more or reducing intake of less healthy foods. These changes will have several positive benefits on our health aside from weight, including improvements in your cholesterol, blood pressure, blood glucose levels (BGLs) and mood to name but a few.

Here's five top tips to get you back on track:

1. Drink more water

We need water to help us digest food, move nutrients and waste through the body, and maintain good hydration. This helps to keep blood pressure normal, as well as control body temperature.

Aim for at least 2L of water per day, and more in hot weather.

2. Aim to fill half your plate with vegetables

Vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. They are an excellent source of fibre, which keeps us full, helps keep BGLs in target, and can help with weight management. People tend to get plenty of vegetables at dinner time but can find it harder to include at breakfast and lunch. Try including some mushrooms, sauteed spinach or tomatoes with your breakfast meal, and a side salad with lunch to get things started. Fruit is an excellent option to add to breakfast too, or as a snack during the day.

3. Ensure a good quality protein source with every meal

Protein foods are filling and can keep us full for longer after a meal.

For most people, aim to eat 20g-30g of protein at each meal. In simpler terms, aim for one quarter of the meal to be protein. Choose lean sources of protein like poultry, fish, eggs and low-fat dairy, or vegetarian options like tofu, beans, legumes and lentils.

4. Focus on good quality carbohydrates

A low-carbohydrate diet is not required when aiming to improve your health or BGL. For most people, the best approach is to match your carbohydrate intake to your activity levels. For example, the more you move your body each day, the more carbohydrate you need.

After you've considered quantity, focus on quality.

Choose high fibre, wholegrain carbohydrates such as rolled oats, wholegrain bread or wholemeal pasta. When reading labels, aim for carbohydrate sources with more than 5g of fibre per 100g. Low glycaemic index (GI) carbohydrates will be the friendliest to BGLs and keep you fuller and satisfied for longer. Find out more about GI in our factsheet here.

5. Choose healthy fats

Dietary fats are essential to give your body energy and to support cell function. They also help protect your organs and keep your body warm. Unsaturated fats include polyunsaturated fats and monounsaturated fats. These are healthier types of fat. They help to reduce your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels and increase your HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

Aim for more unsaturated fats to help keep your blood vessels healthy and reduce your risk of heart disease.

Unsaturated fats include oily fish, nuts and seeds, vegetable oils, nut butters and avocado.

Get some delicious meal and snack ideas to start your new year in style, including plenty of healthy cooking tips on the NDSS website here.

Article published January 2024.