How to succeed with your family health goals this year!

t’s the beginning of a new year, a time when you see delicious-sounding meal plans that promise to overhaul your family’s eating habits. So, you take that fabulous meal plan and drive to the store. Later, after five exhausting hours of shopping, prepping, and cooking, you vow never to do it again! No big surprise: following a whole new meal plan is too much for most single people; trying to do that for a family is like mission impossible. 

And yet we keep doing it: biting off more than we can chew by setting goals that we feel we “should” or “need” to achieve but are just unrealistic in the short-term.

What to do instead?! Take a cue from those who've succeeded and from behavior change experts: set bite-size, very easy, short-term goals.

Like athlete Hellah Sidibe, who has been running every day for over FOUR YEARS: rain or shine, cold or hot, no matter what! How did he do it? By setting an initial goal to run 10 minutes every day for two weeks. That’s it! After two weeks, he set a new goal, and that goal turned into months, then a year, until he became someone who runs every day for over four years. 

To set you up for success, check out some of the “bite-sized” goals below. Keep in mind: everyone has a different starting point; you’ll want to personalize these goals so they are bite-sized for you and your family. Then, as the starting goal becomes too easy, take on another "bite"!

• One new weekly recipe: Find a meal plan you like and choose one a week to try. Rotate recipe choice between family members so everyone gets a turn.
• Family Five: do five minutes of family movement every day: set a musical alarm reminder, and when it goes off, everybody moves in any way they want...as long as it doesn’t hurt others, of course!
• Share a grateful bite: share one good thing that happened or that you are grateful for each day. Family dinner or bedtime might be a good time to share. 

by Rana Parker, MPH, RDN