Danielle Anthony There’s a lot of pressure to accomplish big New Year’s Resolutions. Instead of focusing on one large goal, what if you broke down each month into smaller goals?
Small accomplishments can build confidence and make a big difference in your health. Here are twelve goals you can focus on during each month of 2022 to help you become a healthier version of yourself.
January: Sleep 7-8 hours a day
One of the easiest ways to get healthy is to get enough sleep. Adults are recommended to get between 7-8 hours a night. Not getting enough can cause you to feel tired and is linked to an increased risk of obesity, diabetes, inflammation, and cardiovascular disease [1].
Sample goal: Track how long you sleep for one week in December.
Reflection: Are you under or oversleeping? If you are not sleeping enough, explore some strategies for getting more sleep. If you are oversleeping, how could you prevent it? Are you making up for lost sleep earlier in the week?
February: Swap soda for water
Water helps cushion your joints and get rid of bodily wastes through urine and sweat [2]. Substituting water in place of soda can also help with weight management. Skipping one 20-ounce soda and choosing water instead can save you about 240 calories. Doing the Drink Water, Georgia! text campaign can help keep you on track throughout the year.
Sample goal: Try one of our flavored water recipes instead of soda or sugary beverages like sweet tea. Try water once a week during the month of February.
Reflection: How was skipping the soda? Did you miss the flavor or the bubbles? Consider sugar-free sparkling water to add tasty flavor, without the sugar calories from soda or tea.
March: Try Meatless Monday
Eating less red and processed meat can benefit both you and the environment. Swapping red meat for lean meats such as turkey or chicken can cut your saturated fat intake. [3] Reducing the number of processed meats, such as deli meats or smoked meats, can cut your risk for colorectal cancer. [4]
Sample goal: Try practicing Meatless Monday (not eating meat on Mondays) for the month of December. To get meatless meals, try one of our healthy vegetarian recipes or vegan recipes. Read why plant-based diets are beneficial to your health.
Reflection: How did you feel about having meatless meals? Was it easy or difficult to find meatless recipes?
April: Avoid sitting for long periods of time
Many Americans spend hours a day sitting. Sitting a lot has been associated with having a higher risk for weight gain, heart disease, and death. [5] These risks are especially true for those who watch a lot of TV. Risk starts to increase at watching just 3 to 4 hours of TV a day. Here are some simple home exercise videos.
Sample goal: Reduce your TV time by 30 minutes every day during the month of April.
Reflection: How did you spend the time you saved by not watching TV? Did you move more or spend time with family?
May: Get outside
Being in nature can help you recover from “mental fatigue.”[6] Mental fatigue is when you have trouble thinking after doing work that took a lot of mental energy or is due to stress. [7] Being outside can also promote a positive mood.
Sample goal: Visit a park twice in the month of May.
Reflection: How did you feel after you spent time outside? How could you work more nature time into your usual schedule?
June: Eat greens
Green leafy vegetables are high in antioxidants. [8] As a result, they have been suggested to be one of the best cancer-preventing foods. Studies show that eating 2 to 3 servings of greens a week may lower the risk of certain cancers. A serving of leafy greens is 1 cup raw or ½ cup cooked.
Sample goal: Eat 2 servings (2 cups raw or 1 cup cooked) of green leafy vegetables each week during the month of June.
Reflection: What if you experimented with eating the greens in different ways? Try adding them to a soup recipe, eating them as a salad, or mixing them in a smoothie.
July: Watch for (hidden) salt
Did you know that more than 70% of the sodium we eat comes from packaged, prepared, and food purchased away from home (think fast food, restaurants, gas station deli, etc.) and not the saltshaker? One easy way to lower salt is to rinse off canned vegetables, like beans, before cooking them. More info on salt hidden in common foods.
Americans eat an average of 3400 mg a day. [9] The recommendation is to consume less than 2300 mg, or about 1 teaspoon, of sodium a day.
Sample goal: Practice rinsing any canned beans or other vegetables for one week. See if you can do the same for the rest of July.
Reflection: Reflect on why you might care about your blood pressure and your heart health, both of which are affected by sodium. How else could you reduce sodium in your diet?
August: Walk
Improve your mood, strengthen bones, and build muscle by taking a walk. Walking can help blood get to where it needs to go in your body and release chemicals that improve mood. [10]
Sample goal: Spend half of your lunch period twice a week walking outside. Increase walking to three times a week after the first week. Continue for the rest of July.
Reflection: How does your body feel before, during, and after walking? How is your mood?
September: Eat more yogurt
Did you know that all bacteria aren’t bad? In fact, a healthy gut has both good and bad bacteria that coexist. Good bacteria can break down toxic food items and make certain vitamins, such as vitamin K. [11] The balance of your gut bacteria can even influence the prevention or management of certain diseases. Yogurt with “live, active cultures” have good bacteria called probiotics in it to support a healthy gut.
Sample goal: Eat one yogurt with “live, active cultures” a week during the month of September. Greek yogurts with minimal sugar added are a good place to start.
Reflection: Could you incorporate yogurt into your cooking as well? Try this Greek salad with chicken or yogurt crunch parfait.
October: Cook at home
Cooking meals at home instead of going out to eat is a good way to save money. It also allows you to control portion sizes. This is important because meals from restaurants are not always the lowest in calories. In fact, a 2016 study found that 92% of the meals from various restaurants contained more calories than required for a single meal. [12]
Sample goal: Try to cook at least three meals at home during the first week of October. Increase the number of meals by one for each remaining week in October. If you are looking for nutritious meals to cook, try one of our recipes.
Reflection: Did you make a new recipe or a familiar one? What obstacles did you run into? How can you avoid those issues the next time?
November: Eat with your kids
Children learn about eating by watching others and children will eat a similar amount of fruit and vegetables that their parents do. Eating healthful foods in front of your kids can inspire them to also eat well.
Sample goal: Eat at least three meals a week with your children. Try our kid-friendly recipes. Include at least one fruit and/or vegetable at each of those meals. Try to repeat for the remaining weeks of November.
Reflection: How was having family meals together? Did you notice a change in your child’s eating patterns?
December: Practice mindful meals
Mindful eating is the practice of paying attention to physical and emotional responses to eating. It has been associated with reduced emotional eating [13]. Mindful eating is also suggested to decrease the influence of non-physical eating cues, such as attractive food packaging.
Sample goal: Use all five senses while eating lunch every day for one week in December.
Reflection: What does your food look and taste like? What is the texture? What do you smell?
Do you need motivation?
- Try our article on setting goals for the new year to help you accomplish things that you want to do.
- If you would like to know more about the five food groups and general nutrition, our Food Talk Feature Series is full of helpful resources and information.
- Sign up for our fast and free nutrition course (in ten simple lessons) or find a class, in Georgia, near you.
Written by Taylor Newman, Ph.D./DI student | Edited by Laurel Sanville, MS, RDN, LD
[5]Owen, Sparking, Healy, Dunstan, & Matthews (2010)
[6]Maller, Townsend, Pryor, Brown, and Leger (2006)
[7]Bernstein, Durkee, Phan (2016)