FoodWIse's Healthy Community Corner by Amy Macemon, FoodWIse Healthy Communities Coordinator and Nutrition Educator
After recently reading, “How To Change” by Katy Milkman, I have a hunch that many of us may be hitting the “resolution wall” about this time of year. According to her research, about 80% of Americans set but do not stick with their resolutions. The flip side of that is that 20% DO, and that, my friends, is statistically significant. Milkman states that starting a goal at a “fresh start” in life, i.e. a birthday, a job title change, the New Year, etc. does positively contribute to success. However, she also states that other “fresh start”, or simply disruptions in our newly formed habits from things like vacations, an evening out, a big assignment at work, can dismantle our success and trigger a “failure” alert in our brains.
However, what I’m here to encourage, is to, per Milkman’s suggestion, not look at at that as failure but simply as a hiccup and to resume your habit as quickly as you can. Our brain is a muscle and if we can “train” it to reset to positive habits, even after being knocked off course, those habits will only get easier over time!
So whether that habit might be:
Making more home cooked meals
Eating more whole foods
Regularly reading the KCFB newsletter
Making a month/annual contribution to a non-profit, such as KCFB
Working out and/or moving your body naturally, either before or after work
So remember, a hiccup or a brief lapse in your new, positive patterns isn’t a failure that warrants giving up, but simply a reality of changing into the latest version of who you want to be.
Recipe Round-Up
And you know that the FoodWIse team will be here to support any healthy goals you may have set this year! Whether food or exercise related, there are learning opportunities and a variety of resources FoodWIse can provide to support your positive changes.
When it comes to preparing new healthy recipes, you review a year’s worth of affordable recipes that reflect seasonality and also include pantry staples by visiting FoodWIse’s “Weekly Featured Recipe” page. If you would like to be added to the email list to receive these recipes weekly, reach out to nutrition educator, Jillian Frideres at jillian.friederes@wisc.edu.
Some of my favorites that are aligning with my continued goal of eating more whole a.k.a. unprocessed foods include: