New Year, New You, New Habits
Blog post by Lindsay Mustard, Holistic Nutritionist
We see this plastered on every billboard, used as a marketing campaign by a handful of companies and said by the majority of our friends throughout the holiday season. “New Year, New Me!”
They usually say things like, “My New Year’s resolutions are to work out five times a week, cut out sugar and start meditating for 10 minutes everyday.” And while these are all great goals, most of which will never come to fruition because when the time comes to workout, to meditate or to skip on the chocolate, the resistance is still too high. Humans are creatures of habit, which means that the longer we have had a habit, the deeper ingrained it is in us and the harder it is to give up. Take brushing your teeth for example, as a kid, our parents forced us to brush our teeth before bed. Now, as an adult, you naturally brush your teeth before bed without giving it much thought. It is programmed in us to perform the habit without conscious thought. This year, and every year going forward, we want to change the way in which you approach and perform your habits.
Habits can be defined as “a settled or regular tendency or practice, especially one that is hard to give it.” For a habit to be executed, there are three elements required; a cue, a response and a reward. The cue could be a craving, the sight of a chocolate bar sitting on your counter or a commercial on television advertising a new chocolate dessert at your favourite restaurant. The response would be you consciously choosing to act on the cue and eat the chocolate. The reward, well, you already know what it is, the chocolate, and the rush of serotonin, a feel-good neurotransmitter that helps to boost your mood. Whether we know it or not, we have these cycles ingrained within us for most things in our life; drinking coffee, eating dessert or unhealthy food, sleeping in, brushing our teeth, exercise, reading a book or watching television before bed. Habits are unique to each individual. But this year, we want to change the way in which you approach your new year’s goals.
Instead of choosing specific goals such as working out 5 times a week, let’s use an overlying theme goal. “I want to improve my health.” Using an umbrella term will free you from thinking that you are tethered to working out 5 times a week, and instead will broaden the goal to affect everything from what you put into your morning coffee, choosing to take the stairs instead of the elevator, parking further away from stores to encourage you to walk more, opting for a vegetable based meal instead of fast food...etc. By expanding the goal, we allow ourselves to be set up for success in every situation and scenario we are put in. Dinner out with friends? No problem. You might look at the menu before, tailor your day of eating so you get more vegetables and fibre earlier on, drink more water throughout the day because you will have a glass of wine and walk instead of driving to the restaurant. Do you see how taking one goal and turning it into a health theme, evoked a ripple-like response in all of our other actions?
We challenge you to take this approach with your New Year’s resolutions and goals. When it comes to choosing healthier foods, you know you can always count on Zazubean Chocolate to be your dependable low to no sugar chocolate resource. We know that adjusting your habits is hard, so we’re here to help curb the craving and offer a more nutritious and delicious option to help you improve your habits. No one should ever have to live without chocolate - a world without chocolate, now where’s the fun in that!