2017 is here, bringing a fresh start and new beginnings. After all of the wonderful holiday parties, dinners and goodies, many are ready to think “diet.”

But, don’t you just hate diets?! I do too! Just the word brings dread, a grimace and a roll of the eyes! Die-ts are so….restrictive…and…imprisoning. The word alone sounds painful, and well, you can see the 3-letter word built right into it! Yet, it’s a quite popular way to lose weight, “get back on track” or “be healthier.” In fact, this year, according to the Statistic Brain Research Institute, it’s the TOP resolution of the year.

A new year comes and we “buck up,” thinking, “This time, this die-t is going to work.” You and I both know what happens. We make it for a few days, maybe few weeks, a month or two at most, and then we’re back to the same old, same old. Nothing really changed, except we feel like we failed, yet again…at another die-t! It simply keeps setting us up for failure. Forbes magazine reports on research in the Journal of Clinical Psychology that shows in fact only about 8-9% of people are successful in keeping their New Year’s resolutions.

Maybe what’s worse is “healthy” has gotten a bad rap, taking on an image that often makes us believe that healthy food is going to be entirely boring and tasteless, making us deprived and miserable. Without a shift and change in our perspective and thinking, we will continue doing and perceiving healthy as we always have and no lasting changes will be made. We’ll just continue experiencing the same results. This would a definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results.

When we want real change, it must begin from within. True motivation begins with a new mindset. A timeless proverb says, “As we think, so we will become.” And it’s TRUE!

Beliefs → Thoughts → Habits → ultimately, our Future and Destiny

We must get a fresh taste and perspective on “healthy” (no pun intended), so we can get the results we really want.

SO, how about a new approach?! What if the diet-thing dies forever, and it transitions into a lifestyle? A regular part of life. A new habit.  A new way of living. A daily thing. A totally new beginning. The new normal.

When we get free to stop thinking and focusing on what we can’t have, we can start concentrating and looking at what our body actually needs for wellness, healing, prevention and our other health goals. Then, you get to enjoy the often very quick results and effects of a (re)nourished body, which helps to naturally push out the things that are more harmful to our bodies and even the foods that sabotage our health goals. A new lifestyle mindset and achievable goals and will set you up for success.

Stop and think for a few minutes:

What are your perceptions and perspectives on health?

What mindset is holding you back from giving up die-ting?

What belief(s) are hindering you from moving into choosing healthy as a daily lifestyle?

What belief(s) will keep you pressing forward into a lifestyle of health?

Now, how do your resolutions need tweaking?

Be sure to pass the perspective on to a friend!