With the new year just days away, many are starting to make their new years resolutions of "doing better" this year. The most common of these resolutions, of course, is to make healthier living choices. This may be new exercise goals, ways to decrease stress and the forever popular goal of losing (or gaining) weight.

As we have seen at HeCares Integrative Health, New Years resolutions involving health are often short lived. For instance this is the time when the most unused gym memberships are purchased. Why is this? In our opinion people try to do too much too quickly. This often leads to injury or plain fatigue. The plans people set out for themselves are too demanding, with unfair expectations, especially when these expectations are coupled with other goals involving career and family. We have seen health related goals fail time and time again, making diet and lifestyle changes the most common of new years goals because the same people are making them every year.

At Integrative Sports Medicine we work with many patients on making healthy life style changes for long term health. When it comes to weight, digestive disorders and digestive disease we include TCM Dietetics with both dietary consultations and acupuncture. Dietetics focuses on a patients weaknesses and strengths, first adding healthy alternatives to build a strong foundation. Once we have achieved a foundation of proper education, instillation of good habits and often healing of the digestive system, we can then build with more and more advanced ideas and modalities.

One cannot run a marathon on a whim, or start training while injured, it takes months maybe years to work up to such a feat. Diet is the same. How long does the average person spend jumping from fad diet to fad diet taking out all carbs or replacing meals with some powder without results that stay? Two years? Five, ten, or more? Its time people consider not dieting, but changing there perspective on diet. It takes consistency, time and not just incorporation but adaptation to become sustainable. This is especially true if an unhealthy diet has been your lifestyle for years or even decades. Make HeCares part of your life resolution and together we can make a difference.

Happy New Years from our Team to your family.