The beginning of a New Year is both a time to reflect on the past and plan for the future. Most of the resolutions we make each year are health related. That’s the good news. The bad news is that many of the resolutions we make in January never make it to February. Starting a new habit doesn’t require will power. It requires a strategy. A strategy will help to ensure that you’ll be successful. Along with having a strategy, you’ll want to choose your new behavior carefully. That is, keep it simple. Don’t overtax yourself with too many changes at one time. There’s no rush. You’re the timekeeper and it’s your schedule that you’re following. Next, commit to at least 30 days. New habits are not formed overnight. Then learn all you can about your new behavior. Know how it will benefit you. Finally, be very specific about what you intend to do. A good goal will show you how to accomplish it. It’s not enough to say that you want to reduce stress. You’ll need to concentrate on exactly what you plan to do to reduce stress. It should be a measurable action that you take.

Listed below are 12 habits of healthy people. Choose just one for each month. Make a commitment to work on that one new habit for at least 30 days. Once you’ve established the habit, move on to another one.

1. Food – Healthy people don’t diet. However, they do pay attention to what they eat and how they eat. As a general rule, meals that are lean on meat and rich in vegetables are healthy choices. Make sure that you eat at least 2 to 3 servings of fish a week. Try a meatless day. Beans and other legumes are excellent sources of protein and are a lot healthier than meat. Keep portion sizes small. Cut back on sugar wherever you can. Watch your salt intake. Experiment with spices. And most importantly, take time to enjoy what you eat.
2. Water – Drinking enough water is something that almost all of us can improve on. It may come as a shock to know that we should be consuming (in ounces) at least half our body weight in water each day. For someone weighing 120 lbs that’s 60 ounces or nearly 8 cups of water daily. For someone weighing 160 lbs, that’s 80 ounces or 10 cups of water daily. Getting enough water each day helps keep our skin healthy and more resistant to disease. Also, water is good for the bowels by flushing out toxins from our bodies. When we’re not getting enough water each day, we can become tired, lethargic and irritable.
3. Exercise – This does not mean joining a gym. However, there’s nothing wrong with that. Adding movement to your routine is an excellent means of staying fit and healthy. Just going out for a 20 to 30 minute walk each day has proven benefits to the cardio-pulmonary system.
4. Rest – Most of us don’t sleep enough. This is a primary area where we skimp to accommodate getting more out of each day. Stop and think for a moment. In the grand scheme of things, just how important are those things that we do that take us away from getting enough sleep each night. Sleep is the time when the body repairs itself. Not getting enough sleep is a major reason for making us less resistant to disease.
5. Dental Hygiene – The results of good dental hygiene is not just white teeth. Practicing good dental hygiene will not only allow you to keep your teeth thereby allowing you to eat properly but it also protects you against diseases by controlling bacteria, plaque, tartar and other elements that can actually enter your blood stream and cause illness. Brush and floss daily for best results.
6. Get Outdoors – Get some sun but don’t overdo it. Too much sun without proper protection can do a lot of harm. Ten to twenty minutes of sun each day can go a long way to improve sleeping habits, improve your mood and increase vitamin D levels. People who live a longest come from sunny climates.
7. Connect with Others – This is a personal connection, a live connection with real people; not a virtual connection. We are social creatures. We absolutely need the company of others. People who maintain contact with others whether through church, family, community or volunteer work tend to live longer healthier lives.
8. Take up a Hobby – Engage in activities not related to work. This is an excellent form of relaxation which is a fundamental component of good health.
9. Have Goals – Healthy people tend to know the “what” and “why” of their actions at any given time. People who have goals have something that they can work for. Having goals is highly motivating and motivated people tend to be more successful at accomplishing the goals they set for themselves.
10. Establish Routines – As long as you’re not obsessive-compulsive about it, routines can go a long way to incorporate a degree of predictability and consistency in our lives. Predictability and consistency give us security and comfort and can actually help us reduce stress.
11. Be Forgiving – Forgiving involves both being positive and understanding. Healthy people focus this ability on others as well as on themselves.
12. Laugh – There’s a lot of truth in the old adage, “laughter is the best medicine.” Scientific studies have found that laughter is responsible for chemical changes in the brain that, among other things, acts to strengthen the immune system.