Now that we are well into 2010, think back to the original New Year’s goal(s) that you set for yourself. Did you set one gigantic looming goal or maybe a few smaller ones that led to a greater accomplishment? Earlier we wrote about the value of creating goals through small steps and how that can help you to reach your desired result.

If you feel that you’ve lost sight of the small steps, or even the larger overarching goal, it’s never too late to restart. Sticking with your goals can be difficult, especially with those that seem overwhelming. Below are a few tips that will help you to stay on track and stick to the goals you set for yourself, even if you felt that you have lost sight of them recently.

First, have you been realistic and honest with yourself? Losing 20 pounds in a month is not reasonable. Reflect on your goals. Are they achievable? Honesty is also critical. If you are keeping a food diary and not writing down those five handfuls of munchies that you are eating throughout the day, those will add up. At the end of the day, you will only be disappointing yourself.

Leading a healthier lifestyle, whether that is eating healthier foods, becoming more active, or losing weight, doesn’t have to be a chore. Make it fun! Everyone is different and we all like different foods and activities, so if you despise running, don’t force yourself to do it. If you do, you are destined to fail. Why would you want to keep doing something that you don’t enjoy? As you continue on your journey to a healthier lifestyle, try something new. Who knows, you may find new friends and an activity that you love!

Write your goals down. When we write things down, we tend to stick to them more strictly than when we simply say that we are going to do something. Put the exercise that you will do that day on your calendar. You can then schedule things around exercising, helping yourself to stick to that goal. A lot of us don’t feel like we have time to work out, but the truth is that anyone can make time for it. Set aside at least 20-30 minutes each day for you. Use this time to exercise or reflect upon your progress during the week.

Create a network of supporters by sharing your plans and goals with friends and family. To reach any goal, knowing that you have supporters to pick you back up when you’re feeling down or defeated can help you to stay on track, even after those bad days.

Keep an eye out for pitfalls. Stressful days at work or bad days in general often cause us to create excuses. Burning off stress by taking a brisk walk will make you feel much better in the long run than the candy bar that might be tempting you.

Lastly, reward yourself for accomplishments. Buy new gym clothes, cooking utensils, a massage or some sort of beauty treatment. You’ve worked hard to reach your goal and you deserve a reward!

The most important thing is to keep evaluating what is and what isn’t working for you. Continue to create new goals along the way, or break larger goals into smaller, more achievable ones. Taking these few ideas and putting them to work for you will help you stick to your goals and live a healthier lifestyle!

No matter how minor your progress towards a goal may seem, rewarding yourself for small accomplishments along the way will help you achieve big results!

How often have you ignored the small steps needed to reach your ultimate goal and instead focused on how far away the goal remains?

Small steps are those things that are not always obvious or that don’t receive praise. It might be avoiding a second helping at dinner, eating breakfast more often than you did the week before, walking for 15 minutes at lunch, or any other personal ideas. These small steps may not be your ultimate goal, but they are getting you there and should be celebrated!

Don’t focus only on numbers on the scale. Eating healthier and moving more can lower blood pressure, reduce stress and improve your mood even if you don’t see an immediate change on the scale or in your waistline.

Rewards should be personal -- include those things that motivate you and that fit into your life. You might want to reward yourself with time alone or a night out with friends and family. Think of ways you can reward your progress -- mix it up to prevent boredom.

If you want to reward yourself with a massage for reaching your goal of exercising four days a week, do it. If you prepared meals at home all week instead of your usual restaurant dining, celebrate with a Saturday night out at your favorite restaurant by months end. When you celebrate, try not to choose rewards that will hinder your progress. Remember all of your hard work so that you don’t overindulge.

Make a point to keep your “celebrations” even if you have to schedule them on the calendar. It may be that little bit of extra encouragement you need to push yourself ahead. You can write down the small steps you make and record when you’ve accomplished them. When you feel discouraged, look at that list and keep going!

Celebrate your hard work, make it fun and remember that behaviors are best shaped through small steps, not giant leaps.

Tracy Witmer, R.D.

Dairy Council of California

As the Nutrition and Fitness Challenge is well underway, we hope that participants have found ways to improve their health by eating better and exercising more. Recently we have been giving tips and advice on how to create nutritious, quick and easy meals.  Utilizing these steps and tips is only the beginning to a lasting lifestyle change for the better.

Many people will turn to a gym or fitness club, thinking that they will be inspired to go if they are paying a membership fee and/or monthly dues.  What people soon find out is that after a few weeks, motivation dwindles and they wind up not going very often or they stop going altogether. 

If you are looking for ways to get a workout into your day, but don’t have the budget to join a gym, or the interest in working out at a gym, here are a few things you can do to create a fitness routine:

• Each day, take a brisk walk before dinner. Time yourself and try to do the same distance each week, but in less time. If you are on a shopping trip to the mall, do 2 or 3 full laps around the mall before you leave. At work, if you usually take the elevator, take the stairs. If they are short flights, walk up and down a few times throughout the day. Exercise during the day can also release positive endorphins which can help your mood and reduce stress.
• If you are already involved in a fitness routine, add some weight training to your current routine. Purchase dumbbells to take with you on your daily walk. This will make the walk slightly more difficult and make your heart work a little bit harder. If you don’t wish to purchase dumbbells, you can always clean out some milk jugs and add water or sand to achieve the desired weight. Purchase resistance bands and use them while doing sedentary tasks such as watching TV with your family.
• Rent fitness DVD’s or videos. The video stores carry a wide variety of videos and rotating through many different types of videos may keep it fresh and compelling for you. Also with online movie rental subscriptions you can have DVD’s delivered right to your home. Some services will even allow you to stream movies through your computer. With this service, if you find one you like, you can stream it over and over again.

Fitness doesn’t have to cost you an arm and a leg.  You don’t need an expensive gym membership to stay active throughout the week.  A little creativity and resourcefulness is all you need to get started on your journey to a healthier, more active lifestyle.  Take the above tips and see what else you can come up with.  If you have other tips for fitness on a budget, please share them on the MealsMatter Facebook Page!

We all take a different approach to grocery shopping. Some prefer to make multiple trips to the grocery store throughout the week and purchase a few things at a time. Others prefer to make a trip to the grocery store only once per week to pick up all of the necessary items. However you prefer to shop, creating a shopping list can be beneficial for many reasons.

First, groceries can add up and stores are filled with items that are very tempting. When you have a list with only the items that you need, you will be less likely to make expensive and unnecessary purchases, which will help you to stay within your shopping budget. Meals prepared at home are also less expensive than pre-packaged or take-out foods. Avoiding impulse purchases and making meals at home can help you to save hundreds throughout the year.

Through carrying a shopping list, you can not only save money but simply taking the time to make a shopping list can help with your meal planning. Making one trip to the grocery store a week can motivate you to plan the meals that you will be preparing throughout the week, without forgetting any important ingredients. Getting into the habit of creating a shopping list will make it easier to try new recipes since you will be able to easily add the ingredients to your list. As the week becomes hectic with work and family activities, you can feel assured that you already have the foods and ingredients that you need, without having to rush to the store before dinner to try a new recipe. Keep in mind that meals prepared at home are typically much healthier than restaurant meals. By making your meals at home, you will know exactly what you are eating and what it contains, which can affect our bodies.

Your shopping list is really the first step to healthy eating. What you put on your shopping list is what you will buy, and therefore is what you and your family will be eating. Take a look at your shopping list for the week or save your lists if you go shopping multiple times per week. What types of foods are you and your family eating? Similar to a Food Diary, you will be able to reflect on those foods and try to tweak your eating habits to start eating healthier. Are you purchasing lots of sugary, processed foods or are you purchasing a wide variety with fruits, vegetables, dairy and lean meats? Grocery shopping with a healthy list will help you to bring home foods that are better for your body.

An example of Meals Matter’s Shopping List is below.

Try it out today to save money, better plan meals, and start eating healthier!

For most of us our busy lives and hectic evening rountines make preparing healthy meals every day a challenge.  That means that quite often it’s easier to pick up dinner at a fast food restaurant on the way home from work or to eat the same thing over and over.  However, these eating patterns can lead to meals that are not nutritionally balanced or that contain loads of calories -- not to mention how quickly they can add up to big expenses in your monthly food budget. 

Although healthier options at fast food restaurants are becoming more common, there is still the temptation to choose items which may not be healthy at all.  What’s worse is that studies have shown that children who eat fast food on a regular basis tend to continue to eat fast food as they grow older, which can lead to obesity and health concerns later in life.  Changing eating habits to healthier options and portions consisting of fruits, vegetables, dairy and lean meats can take some planning but it's well worth the effort.

With little time to prepare healthy, nutritious meals for ourselves and our families, it's best to have a strategy that matches the foods you are likely to eat with the amount of time you are realistically going to spend preparing your meals.  The Food Personality Quiz on Meals Matter can help!   

Meals Matter’s Food Personality Quiz is an online tool that helps you solve the predicament of what to cook or ways to prepare meals that mesh with your lifestyle.  Each of us has a different Food Personality which affects how we prepare foods and the types of foods that we eat.  Do you prefer to only cook meals that contain less than 6 ingredients? Or, do you look forward to the days when you can spend plenty of time preparing a delicious meal for your family? The key to healthy eating is to know what your Food Personality is and to have ideas of nutritious and tasty meals that coincide with your cooking preferences. 

Your Food Personality is unique to you and the quiz is certain to provide you with ideas to use right away.  Take our Food Personality Quiztoday to get you and your family on the right track to healthy, nutritious eating!

Even a well-defined health goal can be fraught with barriers. For example, you get home from work and your intent is to take a 30 minute walk in the neighborhood. However, when you get home the house is so cold that you don’t want to change into your walking clothes. While you are waiting for the house to warm up, you sit down at the computer or TV and by the time your house or apartment has warmed up too much time as elapsed to take the walk and you now need to start preparing dinner.

How might you overcome this barrier? Have your walking clothes and shoes laid out on your bed before you leave for work. Have a space heater in your room that you can turn on while you change. Make sure your walking shoes are also nearby. This simple plan could be enough to get you walking after work more often.

Many of us want to cook healthy meals more often yet for a variety of reasons fall short of this goal. The first step is to examine the barriers that are holding you back. Is your kitchen usually messy and the prospect of cleaning it before you begin cooking a barrier? Or, is your dining room table piled high with clutter so you end up eating in front of the TV in spite of your desire to turn the TV off and eat at the table? Or, is the problem that you rarely have enough food in your pantry and you don’t have enough time to both shop and cook dinner? These are common issues.

A good place to start is conducting a family meeting to brainstorm solutions. Behaviors that could increase success include:

• Emptying the dishwasher before you go to work
• Having your children clean the kitchen before you get home
• Finding another place to store the incoming mail or recycle junk mail before lands in a pile on the kitchen counter. The public library has books on how to reduce clutter and organize your home. Treat yourself to a night at the library to research ideas that might work for you.
• Plan a few menus for the coming week and shop on the weekend. This will eliminate trips to the store. The time spent menu planning helps save time later in the week.

Achieving a healthier lifestyle is a worthy goal. Begin the New Year exploring ways to achieve your health goals. Planning small achievable goals, while anticipating and planning solutions for possible barriers, will help you achieve the results you desire.

Maureen Bligh, M.A., R.D.
Dairy Council of California

New Year's resolutions are easy to make, but so much harder to stick to. This year like most years, millions of Americans set a goal to improve their health in 2010. However, after new goals are set, motivation tends to dwindle after a couple of weeks. 

As we all are aware, exercise is good for many different reasons and is part of many New Year’s resolutions.  Regular physical activity can improve your immune system which will help fight off colds, reduce the risk of some diseases and cancers, boost your energy level, and even slow aging.  Staying active also has shown to assist in maintaining a healthy weight, decreasing stress and anxiety levels, and improving your mood.  With all of these benefits, why wouldn’t you want to work out more?

Exercise for weight loss in particular is not something that is easy and is certainly not going to happen overnight.  It’s a goal that must start small and increase over time.  Be sure that you take this into consideration with your own New Year’s resolution.  If your goal is to run a half-marathon, start small.  If you have not run at all in the last few months or even years, it will be best for your body (and your motivation) for you to start small and gradually increase the distance that you run. If your goal is to lose weight, one pound a week is realistic, whereas losing 10-15 in a few months is unrealistic and unhealthy. Having clear but incremental goals that lead to a larger end result can help encourage you and keep you focused.

Another thing to take into consideration when you are striving to reach your goal is that you can easily burn yourself out by doing the same activity everyday.  Try to alternate your activities, incorporate friends and enjoy the things that you do to be healthy and fit.  If you typically run or walk alone, ask friends to join you or try going to a fitness class.

Although we envision our resolutions coming to reality, there are often obstacles along the way, such as not having access to a gym or being too busy.  Our Fitness Planner takes this into consideration and will help you to identify whether or not you’re getting the ideal amount and type of physical activity for you, recommend activities that will help you to better reach your goals, and allow you to establish personal achievements for yourself.  Whether your goal this year is to get in better shape or simply live a healthier lifestyle, Meals Matter has resources that can help you along the way, so try out our Fitness Planner today.

Are you feeling stuck? You are not alone. As a dietitian and nutrition counselor, I talk daily with clients who want to improve their health but are frozen by frustration and disappointment with their perceived failures. These failures, however small, chip away at self-confidence and become a burden over time.

I have good news: it’s not you -- it’s your goal that’s the problem! A haphazardly created goal is a recipe for disaster. A thoughtfully crafted plan, on the other hand, provides positive reinforcement and sets one up for success. Consider the three steps below for creating long-lasting, meaningful change.

Step 1: Have an attitude of gratitude. If negative reinforcement hasn’t worked for you in the past, consider a more compassionate approach. Though it may seem counterintuitive, developing a sense of appreciation can help break down barriers to change. To get started, think of a healthful habit you’ve established or challenges you’ve overcome—and give yourself a hearty pat on the back. Change is difficult! Incorporate gratitude into your daily routine: Start or end your day by thinking of things you are thankful for. Give thanks before meals. List the physical activities you enjoy and plan to do one each week.

Step 2: Clarify your intention. Unimportant goals will weigh you down. For example, do you feel you should lose weight because all your friends are dieting? Rate the importance of the change on a scale of one to ten. If it’s not a ten, keep digging through the "shoulds" until you find what’s truly important to you.

Step 3: Develop an action plan. A goal is a desired outcome, and an action plan will help you achieve it. A vague or overambitious plan sets you up for failure. Make your plan as specific and realistic as possible. Rather than "lose weight," you could aim to eat more low-calorie fruits and vegetables by “adding one serving of fruit or vegetable to lunch for the next week.”

Reevaluate and adjust your plan often, making sure to give yourself credit each step of the way.

Toby Morris, MS, RD is the owner of Intent Nutrition, http://www.intentnutrition.com/, a nutrition counseling and consulting company.

We may have all heard this riddle: "How do you eat an Elephant?" The answer is: "One bite at a time." How does this apply to taking small steps toward being healthy? When making changes to your diet and health, it is better to take small, manageable steps for lasting success.

Health experts agree that making changes in small steps leads to a greater chance of making those changes stick and achieving your overall goal. When goals are too vague or too broad they become difficult to achieve, often leading to disappointment.

Small steps can be simple too. It can be as easy as choosing a nutritious snack to get through an afternoon slump rather than a candy bar, or walking around the block after work. Over time, you can increase those changes to bigger ones and incorporate other changes along the way. All of these small steps will add up to a lifestyle change that can have big results. Here are some small changes you can make right now to help get you started.

• Eat breakfast in the morning. This will help you to avoid over eating later in the day.
• Walk around the block on your lunch break.
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator.
• Eat half of your dessert. Sharing with a friend can help you to achieve this.
• Schedule exercise two days a week - walk with a friend, use a DVD or take a class at a gym.
• Pack a healthy lunch instead of going out to eat.
• Bring a portion-controlled snack to work - yogurt, string cheese, baby carrots, raisins.

No matter what your small step is you must choose something that is meaningful to you. You must also be realistic about what you can commit to. If working out five nights a week isn't realistic, you will be frustrated and give up quickly. Make your goal realistic -- for example, I will decrease my stress level by walking for 15 minutes after work every Monday. You can increase the number of days you walk after you've established the habit.

Then, commit to your goal. If you are not determined to meet your goal, obstacles will be very difficult to overcome. Setting realistic and achievable goals is the first step to making changes.

The Personal Nutrition Planner can help you plan your nutrition goals. Good luck -- now start working on creating your goals!

Many of us form habits that stick with us for years. Do you regularly find yourself eating the same types of food or snacking late at night? These kinds of behaviors can quickly turn into daily routines that affect our overall health and well-being. While it is true that the activities we engage in and the foods that we eat are often influenced by work and family schedules, they shouldn’t prevent you from making small changes that can lead to a healthier and happier lifestyle.

Beginning with each New Year, many people turn to fad-diets for a quick fix, such as the low-carb or the grapefruit diet. To change a habit, there are not any quick fixes or short cuts. Individuals who attempt these types of drastic changes usually have a difficult time staying on track for an extended period of time or find themselves worn out from the strict guidelines that they have to follow. As a result, many who participate in these types of plans fail to maintain the long term weight loss or fitness goal that they had hoped to achieve.

Each year Meals Matter holds a Nutrition & Fitness Challenge in January. This year, starting on January 12, we will be holding this online event to help jump-start your motivation to achieve your health and wellness goals. As part of the Nutrition & Fitness Challenge, registered dietitians have come together to create 4 weeks full of activities and tasks designed to help you make the small steps toward achieving your overall goals.

When small steps are taken, they can lead to successful behavioral changes over time. This is when lasting results are seen and your goals are achieved. Registration for the Nutrition and Fitness Challenge 2010 has ended. We hope to see you for next year's Challenge 2011!