Here we are again, bringing another year to a close. In preparing to write this last blog of 2011, an article in the January 2012 O The Oprah Magazine caught my attention: "Dr. Oz's 28-Day Plan to Renew Your Body, Mind and Soul." In his interview with Oprah, Dr. Oz states that "People change based on what they feel, not what they know. Which means that understanding all that advice doesn't matter if there's no deep profound, visceral awareness of why it is important." We at Dr. Grandma's strive to provide you with data about why eating healthy and exercising is important. If you don't feel that deep profound, visceral awareness of why eating healthy foods and exercising is important, review our blogs, I Can't Afford to Be Sick or Injured and Reduce Your Diabetes Risk -- Just Do It!-- they are intended to have a visceral impact on you -- enough to give you to the motivation to take steps for improving your health and reducing your risk of diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Once you have decided that you will lead a healthier lifestyle in 2012, you might find it most helpful to look back on the health and fitness goals you set for 2011 - or if you didn't set any - think about how you generally did in health and fitness areas. In either case, focus on your successes. Did you manage to lose weight, or not gain any weight? Did you exercise more? Did you eat healthier? Look at your successes and give yourself a pat on the back, say to yourself "job well done!" (or whatever phrase you will find motivational) and take a moment to really feel good about it. Did you manage to accomplish these successes without the deep visceral impact? If so good for you. If not -- or to make your successes even bigger -- take a few minutes to identify why health and well being are important to you. And please note, if you believe that you are too busy to work in healthy eating and exercise, remind yourself that if you get sick, you won't be able to do whatever keeps you so busy.

In the O article, Dr. Oz makes an excellent point that making decisions wears you down. He states that the more decisions we make in a day, the more likely we are to make bad decision, especially as it gets later in the day. The solution? Plan ahead - either in the morning of each day or the night before plan what you are going to eat the next day and plan when and what exercise you are going to do. You can even turn a little free time on Sunday afternoon into a planning session for the entire week. You may find that planning other things - such as clothing for each day - will help your week go so much smoother and you will get more done while feeling more relaxed.

In my blogs Winning the Exercise Head Game and Gaining Perspective, I give you a few ideas about how to achieve your health and fitness goals. As I state, it doesn’t matter that you aren’t successful in the beginning; don’t give up and keep trying. Praise each little success you have and stick with it. See yourself on the other side of each challenge; see yourself where you want to be. The results will be phenomenal. As I noted in my blog, The Fountain of Youth Discovered research indicates exercising changes your body at the cellular level, helping you to think better, live longer and be more active. What could be better than that?

Happy New Years from Dr. Grandma's!