One thing that is on trend when New Year has just begun is resolution-making. That said, guess what is the highest grossing resolution made every new year? Healthy eating, of course. Healthy living resolutions, new diet plans, weight loss goals and goals like switching to natural and organic living are some resolutions, thousands of people end up making.

In short, healthy eating is a great resolution. To be fair and gentle to the body that encases your spirit and soul and houses your priceless mind, it is one of the best decisions you could make any time of the year. Resolutions are always about getting better in life, after all. And if something can make it easier, why not try it? Here we are with 6 resolutions that you will definitely have to make under the resolution to eat healthy.

More Power to Water

About 70% of your body is water. There is no shortcut to hydration – you gotta drink it all. An average human needs 8 glasses of water a day, and it is more if you are overweight. Some people need more water than others. So understand your body’s need, drink to its health. Drinking enough water fixes a lot of things in your body, starting with proper metabolism.

Occasions you must not miss drinking a glass or two of water are when you wake up, after working out or exercising, and well, to put it subtly – throughout the day. Proper hydration runs your body functions well, keeps your skin and hair healthy, ensures glowing and youthful skin, and keeps fatigue at bay.

Fibre, The Fighter

If there is something you can add more to your plate without feeling guilty, it’s fibre-rich food. Fibre-rich meals stay in for longer, keep you fuller and makes you eat lesser, without compromising on nutrition. Fibre-rich foods are almost always the healthiest. Load on complex carbs like whole grains, fruits and veggies. Get innovative with salads. Snack on nuts and seeds because they are also full of other good stuff like trace minerals, essential fatty acids and proteins.

Say Yes to Fats and Proteins

Fats and oils have been convicted for quite a long time that people trying to stay fit and lose weight steer clear of them. Omitting fat-rich foods also compromises on protein intake. But recent researches have well established that eggs, natural oils, butter and ghee are actually good for you. While you must stay away from hydrogenated oils and refined oils, the good fats like unrefined natural oils, butter and eggs can give your body the right boost it needs without pushing it into obesity. Further, it enables the proper functioning of our body by fixing hormonal imbalances and metabolic dysfunctions.

That leads us to talk about the real villain.

Sugar, The Sucker

Literally and practically, it is the truth. Sugar makes you fat. Sugar sucks out health from your body. Sugar makes you sick. Sugar, not good old fats. Years of funded research and false conclusions have made people underestimate sugar for its villainy. Fats were blamed while sugar slowly carved the path to most of the metabolic disorders and lifestyle diseases like cardiac problems, diabetes and obesity.

Not to mention how addictive sugar is, especially if you are an emotional eater. The comforting nature of sugar puts you on a high that when falling low can only be rocketed again by sugar. And a lot of goodies come with sugar. Too many goodies to ignore. And when it’s festival time, it goes overboard.

One thing I will always wonder about is, why desserts or sweetmeats had to be linked to happiness. However, I have also found by personal experience that keeping off sugars for a week can really subdue the craving for it. Are you game?

Say No to Processed and Refined

It is tempting how easy the shelves of processed and refined food stuffs make our life easier. One can be easily drawn into the unhealthy habit of picking canned and ready-to-cook things, considering how hectic life is getting. When you buy processed and refined foods, you are also buying diseases in the form of bad fats and hidden carbs.

The cons of such foods are that they will be devoid of natural nutrients and fortified with lab-created nutrients. It is a no-brainer that natural nutrients are always better and healthier than artificially prepared nutrients used to fortify. It is just a matter of time before our body unlearns the assimilation of natural nutrients. Let’s also silently remember the presence of harmful preservatives used in processed foods. As for refined oils – they are plain bad. Good natural oils are heated at high temperatures to refine them for purity, with antioxidants added to prevent rancidity. The result is oil rich in fatty acids broken into unhealthy fats. It is a widely known fact that heating a lot destroys all goodness from natural vegetable oils. So, imagine what refining at high temperatures can do to them!

Introduce Natural & Healthy Alternatives

While making these switches, it is only natural to find a few voids in your regular meals and snacks. But since you are really serious about your resolution to eat healthy, we can introduce some healthy natural alternatives to the voids created.

         Pure raw honey is unbeatable when it comes to sweet cravings. Sweeten your baking with natural stevia leaves if you are going completely calorie-free. There are some other choices like monk fruit extracts. However, if you are just getting rid of the white table sugar which is a simple sugar readily hiking your blood sugar levels, as well as a refined, bleached product, you could introduce palm sugar, brown sugar and jaggery into your desserts and beverages. Honey is also a great sweetener, especially in baking. These natural sugars will also supplement you with healthy minerals including Iron, Zinc, Magnesium etc.

         Replace milk chocolates with healthy, antioxidant-rich dark chocolates. Choose the fibre-rich alternatives for all meals. Eat brown rice instead of white, choose whole grain flours and ditch the refined flours. Use cold-pressed vegetable oils like coconut oil, olive oil and sunflower oil instead of their filtered, refined variants. Slather pure butter and ghee rather than vegetable shortening and margarine. Load on organic poultry and dairy because proteins are simply healthy, filling and repairing. And these are just a few tips.

It takes just a short while to get used to the switches but it is a fact that healthy eating can also be yummy if you do it right! However, a little cheating occasionally will not sabotage your resolution. But it helps to remember why you had resolved to sign up for healthy eating in the first place! And don’t forget to get your daily dose of detox drinks!