It’s been nearly two weeks since those last minute resolutions were blurted out as the clock struck 12am on the 1st January, much like Cinderella leaving the ball… It’s interesting to read that NY’s resolutions are more popular than you’d expect ,if the American numbers are to be believed, as approximately 60% of the adults make them.
Most commonly chosen resolutions are:
Lose weight
Get Fit
Dry January
Be nicer
Meat free for January (Veganuary)
Consume less and be more socially conscious
Sadly the stats also suggest that more than 50% of those making the NY’s resolutions will have given up within the first 2 weeks of the year.
Getting fit and coincidentally losing weigh, go hand in hand and we all know the obvious benefits, but what are the benefits of going dry (no alcohol) and going vegan. Many of you will have tried to abstain from alcohol for January or even February ( shortest month), but in doing so, what are the benefits for the body.
Dry January:
Having spent much of December celebrating, when occasions permitted, not drinking in January will allow the body to recalibrate and that will generally men you will experience some of the following:
better/deeper sleeping pattern
improvement in decision making
reduction in calorie intake/weight loss
improved eating pattern
better hydration/less dehydration, drink more water to substitute the alcohol
better skin appearance/less puffy
physical improvements internally for you: Liver, heart
reduction in cancer risk.
Veganuary
Taking up the Vegan challenge for January requires a little more thought than not putting any booze in your mouth. Unfortunately many of the products in the shops have some form of meat/dairy addictive included, so for this who really want to be hardcore about it, it will require a bit of label reading along with the odd vegan cook book.
This year up to 500,000 have indicated that they are will to change their lifestyles, a vast increase on numbers from just a few years back. You may be wondering ,why go to such lengths?
Nutritionist have long espoused the benefits;
lower cholesterol
Vegan based diet richer in certain nutrients and higher in fibre and antioxidants
less fat will lead to weight loss
lower blood sugar levels, improvement in kidney function
linked to lower heart disease
offers great protection in the development of type 2 diabetics and has assisted in curing the disease altogether
reduce the pain associated with arthritis
improved skin/complexion, vegetables and nuts provide natural antioxidants.
environment benefits as meat farming causes many damaging effect on the planet.
It’s easy to sound out all the benefits, but changing your diet may mean the loss of vitamins, so you have to ensure you are getting the adequate vitamins through other courses; namely iron, zinc, vitamin d, calcium and omega3 fatty acids. Many vegans are also known to suffer from a lack of Vitamin B-12.
Summary:
Whether you made a resolution or not, what is important is making a change that can have life improving benefits. It will require a few lifestyle tweaks to keep it going, but like anything that’s worth doing, it’s always tough at the start.
Brett:
I've accidentally stumbled into a dry January having removing all the temptations out of sight. One obvious benefit has been my sleep… sadly the same can't be said for my wrinkles .
David:
I try and have one or two veggie dishes a week, it does make a difference especially to weight loss. I enjoy having a few beers at the weekend, the next day now hurts so going to reduce that down a tad this year.
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