Out with the Old. In with the New

Three habits to kick, and three habits to nurture in the new year.

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There are no shortcuts to good health. You’re in it for the long haul, so cultivating one good habit for a lifetime is worth a hundred miracle cures. Here are six suggestions on the best ways for you to change your ways.

Out with the Old

Kick the Soda Habit

Whether you call them sodas, cokes, or pop, one thing’s for sure: These beverages are bad for you. The biggest problem is the sugar. The CDC reports that 63 percent of young Americans and 49 percent of adults drink at least one sugar-sweetened beverage per day, adding an average of 145 calories to their daily intake. Drinking sodas and energy drinks is associated with obesity, and an increased risk of Type 2 diabetes, kidney disease, heart disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, tooth decay, cavities, and gout. What about diet sodas? Even with their calorie-free sugar substitutes, they still have many of the same adverse effects.

Cutting sodas out of your diet is easier than you think. If you need a caffeine boost, try coffee or tea. Even if you add some sugar, it will almost certainly be less than you were getting with your average 12-ounce can of soda.

Avoid Ultra-Processed Foods

Sodas and energy drinks are part of a category nutritionists call ultra-processed foods. These are highly artificial, manufactured products like candy, breakfast cereals, and frozen microwavable meals like Hot Pockets. What they have in common are things such as casein (a protein extracted from milk), hydrogenated oils, high-fructose corn syrup, and protein isolates, as well as high levels of salt, fat, and sugars. All of those additives add to your cancer risk. There is evidence that these products are easier to digest, meaning you absorb more calories quicker. This can make it harder to control your weight.

Nutritionists make a distinction between ultra-processed foods and fresh foods that are prepped for convenience, such as a container of fresh blueberries or mixed nuts, or healthfully preserved foods, such as frozen vegetables and canned tomatoes. Read the label, and avoid products with long lists of additives.

Put Down Your Phone

We all love our smartphones. They help us connect with each other. They’re windows to the world. They help us remember dates and details. We can’t go to a ball game or a concert without snapping a picture and sharing it with friends and strangers on the internet.

But these days, it’s easy to feel that you have too much of a good thing. Smartphone addiction is real, and in many cases, that’s because your apps are working as designed. You might have already guessed that from your weekly average screen time reports. Social media apps are designed to keep you engaged as long as possible. They don’t care if that engagement makes you mad, or sad, or happy. A friendship-ending, highly public fight sparked by a Facebook post is actually a win as far as Facebook is concerned. Other apps are designed to deliver a steady drip feed of dopamine, a chemical your brain associates with rewards, like a slot machine.

If you think your smartphone use is out of control, try deleting or putting time-blockers on the most problematic apps. Maybe you only need to access X on your laptop instead of on your phone. Or maybe you don’t need to access it at all. iPhones have features that can help you decrease your dependency, such as Focus settings which limit your notifications. On Android systems, the Digital Wellness settings can also be helpful. If that doesn’t work, consider getting a “dumb phone” — that is, an old-fashioned flip phone that will send and receive calls, and T9 text messages.

In with the New

Exercise with Friends

Sure, everyone wants to get fit for the new year. But how many gym memberships do you have to abandon before you think, maybe that’s not for me? Working out can seem like a chore, which is why so many people don’t stick with an exercise regime.

One way to motivate yourself to get moving is to find a tribe. Make exercising a social activity. Maybe you could join a group like the 901 Run Club, who welcome all levels of runners from beginners to marathon enthusiasts. The U.S. Masters Swimming, a national organization, meets at the Ric Nuber YMCA on Quince Rd. on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings and evenings. Memphis Rox is the largest nonprofit climbing gym in the world, and offers classes for all levels of climbing acumen. If you’re looking for group bike rides, the Memphis Hightailers organize events all year round, including the 63-mile Red, White, and Blue ride on July 5th.

If you’re more the sporting type, there are numerous clubs and leagues for adults. 901 Pickleball doesn’t require a membership, and organizes both lessons and tournaments. The Memphis Sports and Events Center and the Memphis Jewish Community Center both sponsor adult basketball leagues, and if you haven’t played on the courts at the new Tom Lee Park yet, you’re missing out.

Grab a Mocktail

Many people like to start off the year with Dry January. The theory is that your body needs time to replenish and recuperate after the excesses of the holiday season, and there’s every reason to believe that theory is correct. You can use this time to get acquainted with the mocktail. The latest trend among bartenders are tasty drinks without alcohol. Just because you’re not drinking tonight doesn’t mean you can’t have something fun to drink. That way you can break the ice without falling off the wagon.

If you like beer and wine, the good news is that de-alcoholizing technology has come a long way in recent years, thanks to improved filtration techniques. A de-alcoholized wine has all of the flavors produced by fermentation, but with the alcohol filtered out. Memphis’ Wiseacre Brewery produces Hop Zip, a sparkling water alternative with the craft beer flavor of wild hops.

Even if you’re not swearing off the sauce for January, you can still indulge with these mocktails. Medical guidelines consider one alcoholic drink per day for women and two drinks per day for men moderate, and reasonably safe drinking. Consider replacing your second round with an NA option, and stay under the limit.

Prioritize Sleep

Let’s face it, no one in America gets enough rest. Sleep is as important to your brain as food or water. It helps you to consolidate your daily experiences into new memories. It allows the body to remove the toxins that build up as waste products in your brain. According to the National Institute of Health, children and teens need 8-9 hours of sleep per day, while adults need 7-8 hours. Sleep deprivation is extremely common, and just trying to catch up with the sleep you missed during the week on the weekends usually doesn’t work as well as you hope it will.

The key is to build healthy sleeping habits. Getting plenty of exercise will help you sleep at night. Try to go to bed at the same time every night. Make your bedroom a sleep sanctuary. Don’t have a TV in your bedroom, and leave the smartphone on the bedside table. If you find yourself tossing and turning, get up and do something else for a few minutes, like read a book. But don’t look at your smartphone. Light from the smartphone screen can trick your body into believing it is still daylight, making it harder to go to sleep.

By following these six fairly simple steps, this time, the new year just might usher in a slightly optimized you (not a new you — you’re great!). It’s worth a try, isn’t it?