Happy New Year! My resolutions for you (1)
Health & Fitness By KEMI ILORI
Tuesday, January 1, 2008

Many people will still be celebrating the New Year until the end of the month. The Roman emperor Julius Caesar officially declared January 1 to be a New Year in 46 B.C. The name JANUARY was derived from JANUS, the two-faced god worshipped by the Romans. New Year is the world's most popularly celebrated festival.

The Romans, to honour Janus-the god of doorways and beginnings-(from whom we get the month January as explained above), reviewed their deeds and vowed to improve the next year. We all begin with good intentions, but somehow these vows often seem to be overridden by some uncontrollable force or events. As people get older, they tend to be weary of making resolutions. Most resolutions usually go out of the window before the end of the first quarter of the year. What were your New Year resolutions last year?

Did you keep them and for how long? I had an unusual resolution last year, and that was that I would religiously keep a diary of events as we went through the year. I had found out that every year, I would start keeping a diary and before the month of March, I would have stopped writing in it. Do you know what; I kept my resolution. I kept a diary of events religiously for the whole of 2007!
Why do New Year resolutions fail? They usually fail because they are unrealistic, become irrelevant or get out of the person’s consciousness as the year goes by. Some resolutions are impractical because they do not have a direct bearing to the reality of the person’s life e.g. resolving to buy a new car when you have no money! Things happen by faith, luck, etc, but it is better to keep your resolutions real and simple.
What are the popular resolutions made by people? It has been discovered that most resolutions made are those that have to do with achieving a better appearance or image. These include resolutions like, dieting to loose weight, exercising to tone up muscles, getting a new car, house or look, etc.

The second most popular have to do with stopping bad habits for improved health. Such resolutions are to stop smoking, drinking, etc. The third in the series usually has to do with the peoples’ financial situation. Resolutions in this category include, resolving to pay off debts, save money, get a new job with better pay, start acquiring shares, etc. Others have to do with getting married or finding a life partner, take a trip, get involved in volunteer or religious activities, etc. People usually make resolution because they seem important to them at the time they are doing so. The funny side is that some people just make New Year resolutions just for the sake of doing so! Some practical resolutions include, trying to keep your house or office neater and more organized, trying to reduce stressful activities or events, adjusting your lifestyle to a healthier one. To me, the last is the most important and I have some tips for you for 2008.
Lifestyle resolutions for 2008: The first thing you need to realize is that not all good resolutions are immediately practicable. This is why the descriptive term "Lifestyle Adjustment" is used. You have to ADJUST! Adjustment is never easy, because human beings are creatures of habits. Habits once formed, are often difficult to break. When you weight the cost to benefit ratio; it is worth the effort.

1. SLEEP: Many of urban Nigerians do not get enough sleep. Many of Nigerians in general do not have the habit of observing siesta. To those who do, KUDOS. Even I omit siesta sometimes. I try to make up for it by finding a quite time for about 15minutes in the midst of whatever I’m doing. This year, I have resolved to make my siestas much more than my quite time. This is my wish for you as well. I had written
extensively about siesta last year. The bottomline is that human beings like other animals have an internal clock, the circadian rhythm which regulates our body and other functions. We operate a circle which mandates us to rest/ sleep sometime around midday to 2.00pm. It is one of the secretes of good health, mental agility and longevity.
2. DIET/ FOOD: I remember very well, an article by the late Dr Tai Solarin, entitled "May Your Road Be Rough"! It was meant to be a prayer for whoever read it. Well I have quite a couple of prayers for you where your diet is concerned in 2008. These are;
-May your sodium (salt, MSG, etc) be less.

-May your potassium be more (high in vegetables, fruits, caustic potash, fermented locust beans called iru or dawa, etc).
-May your water intake be more (this refers to ordinary room temperature water, not chilled cold one!)
-May your fibre be more (high in vegetables, fruits, certain foods like gari)
-May you white sugar be less (of course, we all now where loads of sugar is found in our foods. DO NOT use sweeteners like aspartame; that are worse. Try to use honey or other natural sweeteners).
-May your white flour foods be less. Since the global shift towards natural products and the diabetes explosion; white flour products are now being describes as "white toxins". Raw grains milled with the skin in situ are now generally encouraged. They generate a slower increase in blood sugar level and thereby less demand on your pancreas for insulin.

-May your fatty red meat be less.
-May your white meat and lean beef be more. White meat include, fish, chicken, etc.
-May your secondary injestion of oestrogen and antibiotic from food be less. These substances are used to breed animals that are not reared organically. Local bred chickens, goats, etc, are the meats of choice. Some cancers, especially those that feed on oestrogen, have been traced to the later category.
-May your local herbs and spices be more. We are blessed with a lot of herbs and spices which help to maintain us in peak form.

These include herbs like xylopia, ocimum, spring onions, alligator pepper, etc. These are used liberally in pepper-soups and some other local dishes. Local vegetables soups like bitter leaf, water leaf, spinach, etc, are a share treasure for your health. Find time to savour one of these dishes at least twice a week.
-May your nutrients be more. Don’t eat foodless food! These are foods that contain calories without the nutrients.
Next Week: Decompression/ Stress reducing activities, exercise, etc.