New Year's Resolutions, Summer Life, and Health Living

        For so many people, New Year's seems like the ideal time to begin living a healthier life. New Year's Resolutions are made and abandoned a few weeks later. I believe that is because we start at the wrong time of year. It's cold and snowy (at least here in NY it is!) We have much less daylight. Fresh fruits and vegetables are at their highest prices and honestly, their worst flavors! So what is a person to do?

        I propose we start again tomorrow on June 1st. We are entering the weeks that have the most daylight. It is certainly easier to get up a bit earlier or move into the evening, when the weather cooperates. Fresh food is tastier and cheaper or you can grow it yourself!

        Daydream for a minute. You come home from work with several hours of daylight left. How would you like to spend your time outside? Walking? A bike ride? Play hoops? Play catch? The CDC is pushing in their diabetes prevention programs to avoid using the word exercise. Instead they want to encourage people to do "meaningful movement" for 30 minutes a day. Certainly with all that beautiful weather outside your door, you can find something meaningful to make you move. And if it's raining? How about putting on your favorite tunes and dancing!

         Food is so much better in the summer too. Grilling is a healthy way to cook! Try grilling fish, corn on the cob, pineapple, or zucchini. Check out local farmer's markets for the freshest fruits and vegetables. Don't recognize something they carry? Ask the farmer what it is and how to cook it. Wander the produce section of your grocery store looking for the weirdest fruits and vegetables. The biggest stores often have recipe cards right near the produce. And don't forget all the fresh herbs. Those are plants that can sneak some extra vitamins and micro-nutrients into your body besides adding flavor to your foods.

        Are you one who really doesn't like to try new foods? How about trying a new variety of your favorite. Tomatoes come large and small, They have orange, yellow, green and purple tomatoes, not just red. Try apples in different flavors. Grapes come in green, red, and purple. Buy a few of each and taste test them. I love mini-peppers and baby cucumbers. Cauliflower is traditionally white, but also comes in yellow and purple. Why should you try your favorite food in a different color? Because the colors are created by different micro-nutrients. By simply eating an unusual colored grape or tomato, you are expanding the kinds of vitamins you are putting in your body.

         So, let's start new tomorrow. Move more. Eat differently. Smile more. Let's make the last seven months of 2019 our healthiest time ever. Actually, start today! When I finish publishing this, I think I will go out and do some yard work. A little meaningful movement that will cause me to smile when I am done and for the next few weeks.