A New Year, A New You!

How many times have you heard that in the last week? How many times have you said that to yourself in the last couple weeks? The new year always seems to bring those pesky resolutions. Come on, you know you have made a new year’s resolution in the past.

Everyone uses the new year to start fresh and do things that they feel they need to accomplish. Lofty goals are set, only to be unachieved! Below is some history on the New Year’s Resolution, some current data, and an example of the success rates.

The History of New Year's Resolutions

The tradition of the New Year's Resolutions goes all the way back to 153 B.C. Janus, a mythical king of early Rome was placed at the head of the calendar.

With two faces, Janus could look back on past events and forward to the future. Janus became the ancient symbol for resolutions and many Romans looked for forgiveness from their enemies and also exchanged gifts before the beginning of each year.

The New Year has not always begun on January 1, and it doesn't begin on that date everywhere today. It begins on that date only for cultures that use a 365-day solar calendar. January 1 became the beginning of the New Year in 46 B.C., when Julius Caesar developed a calendar that would more accurately reflect the seasons than previous calendars had.

The Romans named the first month of the year after Janus, the god of beginnings and the guardian of doors and entrances. He was always depicted with two faces, one on the front of his head and one on the back. Thus he could look backward and forward at the same time. At midnight on December 31, the Romans imagined Janus looking back at the old year and forward to the new. The Romans began a tradition of exchanging gifts on New Year's Eve by giving one another branches from sacred trees for good fortune. Later, nuts or coins imprinted with the god Janus became more common New Year's gifts.

In the Middle Ages, Christians changed New Year's Day to December 25, the birth of Jesus. Then they changed it to March 25, a holiday called the Annunciation. In the sixteenth century, Pope Gregory XIII revised the Julian calendar, and the celebration of the New Year was returned to January 1.

The Julian and Gregorian calendars are solar calendars. Some cultures have lunar calendars, however. A year in a lunar calendar is less than 365 days because the months are based on the phases of the moon. The Chinese use a lunar calendar. Their new year begins at the time of the first full moon (over the Far East) after the sun enters Aquarius- sometime between January 19 and February 21.

Although the date for New Year's Day is not the same in every culture, it is always a time for celebration and for customs to ensure good luck in the coming year.

www.goalsguy.com


A New Year's resolution is a commitment that an individual makes to a project or the reforming of a habit, often a lifestyle change that is generally interpreted as advantageous. The name comes from the fact that these commitments normally go into effect on New Year's Day and remain until fulfilled or abandoned. More socio-centric examples include resolutions to donate to the poor more often, to become more assertive, or to become more economically or environmentally responsible. People may act similarly during the Christian fasting period of Lent, though the motive behind this holiday is more of sacrifice than of responsibility. The new year resolution is one example of the rolling forecast-method of planning. According to this method, plans are established at regular short or medium-term time intervals, when only a rough long-term plan exists.

There are religious parallels to this secular tradition. For example, in Judaism's holiest holiday, Yom Kippur, one is to reflect upon one's wrongdoings over the year and both seek and offer forgiveness. The concept, regardless of creed, is to reflect upon self-improvement annually.

Recent research shows that while 52% of participants in a resolution study were confident of success with their goals, only 12% actually achieved their goals. Men achieved their goal 22% more often when they engaged in goal setting, a system where small measurable goals are used (lose a pound a week, instead of saying "lose weight"), while women succeeded 10% more when they made their goals public and got support from their friends.[

www.wikipedia.com
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Some of the top NYR!

http://www.usa.gov/Citizen/Topics/New_Years_Resolutions.shtml
http://www.webmd.com/balance/features/new-years-resolutions-in-one-year-out-other

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A New Year’s Resolution is an ancient tradition, full of mythical and religious lore. It has long been a practice and will likely continue to be a practice. Personally, I do not make New Year’s Resolutions because they seem to largely be based on negative motivators.

Now, my history with WW will prove otherwise. The year that I finally reached goal, I joined on January 4th! While I didn’t start 2009 at goal, I did recommit on January 3rd! So, maybe I am into NYR more than I would like to admit.

The goal of achieving and maintain those resolutions is to not go cold tofurkey (turkey), and to not make your resolutions too lofty that you will give up easily. For many, the resolution practice every January 1 is a great motivator and a great tool to make healthy changes. These changes can stick, if you want them to! You have that choice.

So, what is your resolution(s) this year? Are you getting back on plan after a hiatus? Are you deciding to finally give into the new program and follow the new WW guidelines? Are you resolving to drink more water, exercise more, use that oil in your cooking, attend more meetings, post on the message boards…the list could go on and on?

Personally, I have been off program much of the last 16 months. Once I left, I thought, here is my chance! I can go crazy. That is what I did. The foods I chose to allow into my body were not always healthy and certainly sent my weight to crazy high numbers. I will not go further, as a prior post goes into the numbers. The key, I have felt like crap.

I decided this past Saturday to do a fruit and veggie detox. This is basically eating no animal products and just fruits and veggies. I felt like crap all day. I was so tired and loopy. Okay, maybe the fast had nothing to do with me being loopy. I am most days! I tried this once before and it didn’t have near the effect that it had this go around. I ate a sweet potato, avocado, fruit smoothie (may have bent the rules for that), a fresh squeezed juice in the am, salad, olive oil as dressing, sautéed veggies…it tasted so good! I continued this as much as possible Sunday and did have some bread at dinner. That was basically it that wasn’t on the detox.

Sunday, I was so warm and I felt clammy. I didn’t feel too good. I could tell that my liver was cleansing, as sweating and body heat are a sign that the liver is impure. I also started Garden of Life’s Perfect Cleanse yesterday. It is a 3 step evening process that is all natural and herbal. 3 pills before dinner, fiber drink after dinner, and 3 pills before bed. The fiber drink is nasty! I will be honest. But, it will help get rid of the last year and a half, cleanse my body, and allow my body to function at it’s tiptop shape. Today, I feel great!

I am even going to bring in a bowl to keep fruit on my desk! This re-embrace of healthy eating feels very good. I truly do love eating healthy foods and I love that I can enjoy food again and not feel bad afterwards!

Happy New Year!

Here it is, 2009! Can you believe it? 2008 was our year to be great. What can you do to be fine in 2009?

Fine could be the epitome of hot and sexy, as in “She’s so fine!”

Or

Fine could be fine with where you are on your journey, no matter where you are

Or

Fine could be accepting that you need to make some adjustments to your habits and attitudes and being okay with that.

So, what are you going to do this year to be fine in 2009?