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Jan. 12, 2010
By Milli Gilbaugh
NORTH LIBERTY LEADER
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| Milli Gilbaugh |
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Now, it's been over a week since you made those darned resolutions. How are you doing? Chances are, by now, you've regretted some of them and decided you've bitten off more than you can chew. It's never a good idea to make more than one commitment at a time - you're going to have enough on your plate dealing with just one major self-improvement project. I'm assuming here that your resolutions were in the category of self-improvement and that they are probably in the nature of making more healthy choices. And the biggest of these is probably something to do with your eating habits (that's why I used those food-related expressions in the first few sentences).
Aside from eating more of the foods that are good for you and less of the stuff that will probably clog your arteries and ruin your digestive system, chances are that you have resolved to lose weight. Almost everybody who makes food-related promises wants to lose weight. I don't think I've ever heard of anyone who resolved to eat more potato chips or consume at least one chocolate milkshake every day. Excess weight is, after all, America's most obvious health problem, if not its most serious one.
There are lots of different diets out there to choose from and you probably have heard glowing accounts of how fast the weight comes off and how good the allowed foods are - once you get used to them. Chances are that you'll try more than one diet during the next few months because you'll tire of the requirements and limitations of any of them. Take it from a woman who has been on a diet for most of her life - the only way to take off the pounds is by eating fewer calories than you burn up. There are diets that raise your metabolism so that you burn more calories and eat more of certain types of foods than you might expect, but you have to eat them all in the right proportions in order for it to work - no cheating and favoring just those foods you like best.
The other major resolution people make is to give up smoking. There are as many different methods for this as there are diets to lose weight. Most of them have a pretty low rate of success. Statistics seem to show that any method has only about a 20 percent chance of success with any given person. And, still, you have to find the right plan for you. A lot depends on the reason you smoke and the reason you want to quit. Sometimes it has little to do with addiction or even long-standing habit. Sometimes it's something as simple as the price of a pack of cigarettes. Sometimes it's a result of pressure in the workplace - when a business concern decides to coerce its employees into not smoking, they no longer provide a pleasant locale for employees to light up during coffee breaks and lunchtime. They may provide films, exercise programs, brochures, even counseling meant to help you stop smoking, but they do expect you to stop.
One thing I discovered in my many experiences related to giving up cigarettes is that nobody notices when you DON'T smoke. They only notice when you DO. I had quit for many months when my husband gave me an expensive gold lighter for Christmas. I had to tell him I had quit, but I don't think he quite believed me until he had watched me closely for several weeks and inspected all the ashtrays in the house every day.
Some people recommend that you tell everybody who will listen that you have quit smoking. This will help some of you by making you aware that it isn't just your business now and you don't want to disappoint your friends. Other people will find ways to sneak cigarettes when no one is looking, flush the butts and ashes down the toilet, and use lots of mouthwash and room freshener. Sneaking smokes becomes an end in itself and you'll end up smoking more than ever.
Some people quit because they are finally convinced that inhaling all that gunk is harmful to their health and they have decided to behave like responsible adults and give up that suicidal habit. Whatever the reason, and whatever the method, it's a good resolution. It's hard to follow through on and you'll probably suffer a few lapses before you actually give it up for good. One slip-up doesn't mean you've failed, however, so don't give up the struggle. If there's anything I've learned from battling the weight and giving up tobacco, it's that once you manage to do it, you know it was worth the fight.
The best weapon in my arsenal turned out to be something other than pills, patches, regimens, support from others, guilt, or a psychologist. My best weapon was the fact that I've always been supremely stubborn and refused to give up until I did it.
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