Summary of ZOE Science And Nutrition Podcast Episode: How to make New Year’s resolutions stick
— Description —
New Year's resolutions have a long history, dating back to the Babylonians Setting micro habits is recommended to avoid the pressure of maintaining lofty resolutions Neuroplasticity plays a crucial role in changing habits, and making specific, realistic, and measurable goals is advised for sustained change
Micro changes in diet and health habits can significantly impact overall well-being Cutting down on alcohol consumption is more sustainable than abruptly stopping, and understanding the reasons for drinking is important Listeners are encouraged to join a personalized health program with a discount and provide feedback for future episodes
Tara Swart and Sarah Berry discuss the effectiveness of New Year's resolutions and share tools and techniques to help achieve goals Jonathan Wolff suggests setting two or three micro habits to avoid pressure and emphasizes the importance of sustainability in health habits Understanding neuroplasticity and the four-step process for changing habits is crucial for achieving resolutions
Making continuous small micro-changes, adding healthy food, prioritizing sleep, and considering the time and rate of eating are recommended for sustained change Cutting down on alcohol consumption and understanding the reasons for drinking are highlighted Listeners are invited to join a personalized health program with a discount and provide feedback for future episodes.
How to make New Year’s resolutions stick
Key Takeaways
- New Year's resolutions have a long history, dating back to the Babylonians.
- Setting micro habits is recommended to avoid the pressure of maintaining lofty resolutions.
- Neuroplasticity plays a crucial role in changing habits, and understanding this capacity is essential for achieving resolutions.
- Making specific, realistic, and measurable goals is advised for sustained change.
- Micro changes in diet and health habits can have a significant impact on overall well-being.
- Cutting down on alcohol consumption is more sustainable than abruptly stopping, and understanding the reasons for drinking is important.
- Listeners are encouraged to join a personalized health program with a discount and provide feedback for future episodes.
Science-backed methods for achieving resolutions
- New Year's resolutions date back to the Babylonians, who made promises to their gods at the start of each year.
- Tara Swart and Sarah Berry discuss the effectiveness of New Year's resolutions and share tools and techniques to help achieve goals.
- Tara confirms that there are scientifically based methods to help succeed in adapting new habits.
Ditch Lofty Resolutions for Micro Habits
- Jonathan Wolff suggests setting two or three micro habits, small things that are easy to sustain for the first quarter of the year, to avoid the pressure of maintaining them all year.
- Tara Swart and Sarah Berry share their experiences of setting ambitious New Year's resolutions and failing to sustain them, emphasizing the importance of sustainability in health habits.
- Jonathan Wolff advises making specific, realistic, and measurable goals, such as attaching a number to weight loss and focusing on small, specific habits to achieve them, rather than vague and lofty resolutions.
Harness Neuroplasticity for Habit Change
- Neuroplasticity is the brain's ability to grow and change throughout life at any age, any stage, any mindset. Understanding this capacity is crucial for achieving resolutions.
- Changing a habit involves physically overwriting pathways in the brain. It's like building a brick wall, manual labor for the brain, and understanding this can help people get over the difficult period.
- The four-step process for changing a habit: raised awareness, focused attention, deliberate practice, and accountability. It's important to notice stressors and environments that trigger the habit.
- Calorie-restricted weight loss diets are not sustainable and often lead to weight regain. Adding healthy food is better than taking out unhealthy food for sustained weight change.
- It's important to make micro changes for a macro impact on health. Navigating the holiday season in a healthier way can prevent the need for drastic measures in January.
- Overindulging for one day won't change thoughtful behaviors, but overindulging for a week can lead to self-perceived failure. It's crucial to avoid guilt and self-loathing when trying to change a habit.
Be Kinder to Yourself
- It's important to not beat yourself up and start again. That's a really big learning that I've had over the last decade or so.
- We're obviously much kinder to our children and our pets than we are to ourselves. We don't give ourselves that same break that we might give to our children.
- There are so many things out there like it takes two weeks or 42 days or 66 days or whatever, but none of those are true because basically it depends what it is.
- If it's something like improving your emotional intelligence or your intuition, that's gonna take at least nine months.
- Changing a habit is basically learning something new for your brain.
- There is quite good evidence to show if you've got a goal, if you've got a target that you've got to meet, then you're more likely to be able to follow any of these resolutions.
Micro Targets Over Lofty Goals
- Setting micro targets alongside the micro changes could work just as well as a health scare or a wedding dress as a motivator. In the absence of a big motivator, it's easier to achieve micro habits than lofty goals.
- Tara's top tips include making continuous small micro-changes, adding healthy food instead of cutting out unhealthy food, prioritizing sleep, and considering the time and rate of eating. Jonathan emphasizes breaking things down into bite-sized chunks, actively doing things, and creating conditions for success in the brain.
- Jonathan and Tara discuss the importance of enjoying food and making gradual changes, such as reducing sugar intake step by step to retrain the brain. This exemplifies the effectiveness of micro changes.
Cutting Down, Not Cutting Out: A Better Approach
- Tara Swart emphasizes that simply stopping alcohol consumption is not sustainable in the long term. Cutting down on alcohol is a better approach, especially considering the potential health benefits of certain types of alcoholic drinks in low amounts.
- Jonathan Wolff warns about the potential rebound effect of doing dry January and suggests using it as a starting point for overall reduction in alcohol consumption, rather than overcompensating later.
- Sarah Berry and Jonathan Wolff agree on the negative impact of alcohol, with Jonathan suggesting getting polyphenols from red grape juice instead.
Challenge Your Reasons for Drinking
- Jonathan Wolff emphasizes the importance of understanding why you drink alcohol and suggests that if it's for social reasons or as a reward, it's okay. But if it's due to negative emotions like depression or boredom, it's not a good reason for doing anything.
- Tara Swart discusses the concept of neuroplasticity and how our brain can still change, offering real science on how to do this.
- Sarah Berry provides tips on health and diet, emphasizing the importance of giving yourself a reward for achieving your micro goal.
- Sarah Berry invites listeners to join Zoe for a personalized program to improve health and achieve micro goals, offering a 10% discount at joinzoe.com/podcast. She also encourages feedback and questions for future episodes.
- Jonathan Wolff signs off the podcast, mentioning the production team and inviting listeners to tune in next time.