New Year's Resolutions: 3 Things You Can Do to Be Successful

So I've been thinking a lot lately about New Year's Resolutions, and why they so often fail.  I see it every year in the gym... As soon as January 2nd hits, that place turns into a mad house, a clusterfuck if you will.  A clusterfuck full of everyday, hardworking people who have been neglecting their health all year long, especially over the recent holiday season, and are now determined to get in shape and lose weight.  But this clusterfuck never lasts.  It slowly ebbs away as the winter months go on, finally reaching a low in the Spring and Summer when the weather is nice and people return to their normal lives.  Hey, at least it gives people something to focus on other than the harshness of post-holiday Winter.

Of course not everyone fails in their New Year's Resolutions; about 12% of us succeed, according to a 2007 study (1).  That's right... just 12% succeed...  88% fail.  This year, 9 out of 10 of us will fail with our resolutions.  And what do we want?  No surprise, weight loss tops the list (2).

Why the horrible success rate?  Why do we fail at our goals to begin with?  And how can we be successful?  After some serious reading and thinking, I've come up with the following:  three things you can do to succeed in your New Year's resolution this year!

What Christmas Cookies and Heroin Have in Common

First of all, Merry Christmas to everyone!  And if you don't celebrate Christmas, then you know what I mean... don't be all hypersensitive and get offended.  The way I see it, if someone said "Happy Hanukkah" to me, I wouldn't take offense, and I'd wish them a Happy Hanukkah back.  When someone wishes you a happy-anything, why would you inject negativity into the situation?  Besides, Christmas has become more than a Christian holiday; I don't really consider myself a Christian to be honest (at least not in the traditional sense), it's just a cultural thing to me, and it's a tradition in my family.  So that's my take.  Of course, this has nothing to do with today's post, but screw it, I needed to get that out there.  Stop being so sensitive.  I'm only disrespecting you if you take it that way. 

So today, I just want to briefly talk about something I read about on Whole Health Source about food and opioid receptors.  The opioid receptors, just like they sound, are the receptors in the brain that are hijacked when you take drugs like heroin.  They're responsible for the addictive nature of drugs.  This "reward" system is what calls at you to have a cigarette, snort some coke, or inject some heroin.  And the more you do it the more you want it.

But this wiring in your brain has a practical purpose; it's not there solely to make sure you end up living in a cardboard box with nothing but your dog and your needles.  Although it's pretty good at that too.  But it's there to encourage behaviors that promote your survival, so that you'll continue to do them.  Like eating food for example.  Obviously, eating is important for survival, so this reward system encourages us to eat foods high in calories and important nutrients.  Eating grass wouldn't get us anywhere; there's no calories for us in grass, and that's why you don't crave it.

How to Fix Cavities Naturally

If I polled 100 random people out on the street… if I asked them “Is it possible to reverse cavities?  No dentist, no fillings, do you think you can heal cavities with food and supplements?”  I’d be willing to bet 99 of out of 100 would say no.  Maybe more.  Maybe 99.5 if there was a little person around.  In fact they’d probably think I was out of my mind for asking.  Many of us haven’t even thought about the prospect of healing cavities; why would we?  It’s been jammed into our heads from birth that when you have a cavity, you get a filling.  And that’s all there is to it.  I had several cavities as a kid.  Actually, “several” may be an understatement.  It was too many to count, but I do remember one specific visit to the dentist that revealed seven cavities.  SEVEN!  And now I’ve got a mouth full of fillings made of mercury and heavy metals... definitely not something I'd prefer to have permanently situated in my mouth.  But as anyone who’s ever had a cavity knows, there’s not typically any pain associated with them.  Sure they can develop into something worse, like an infection, but there’s no pressing reason to get a filling.  I would have appreciated it if someone suggested to me that I could try a more natural approach.

So that’s why I’m writing this article, and that’s why this information is so important.  It IS possible to heal your teeth naturally.  And not only is it possible, it’s surprisingly easy.  I’m not sure exactly why this information has disappeared over time; I assume it has something to do with the fact that it would ruin the dental industry.  But this is something you need to know.  This is something everyone needs to know.  You have options.  You CAN re-mineralize your teeth, and here are the people that proved it...

Why It's So Important to Avoid Holiday Weight Gain

It's that time again, folks.  The best time of the year.  Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years... the holiday season.  There's just nothing like it... turkey dinners, Christmas trees, the snow, the gift of giving, the time spent with family.  I look forward to it every year.  But step inside the psyche of any health-conscious person this time of year, and you may find a war zone:

"I love apple pie, but I don't want any.  I don't want it.  It goes right to my butt.  God, look at it... it's gawking at me.  Ahhh okay I'll have a slice.  ONE slice.  Just one slice and I'll stop.  This is the year I keep my weight under control during the holidays.  Oh god that was good.  Shit girl, give me another.  This is better than sex, oh my god.  The apple pie god.  I love him, he who created apple pie.  Screw butt fat, whatever.  Men like big butts anyway... they cannot lie."

Right?  We all know the holiday season presents a problem.  Excessively yummy food + great people + alcohol = weight gain.  It happens every year... and come the New Year?  Resolutions abound.  Gyms explode with new members, we eat less, and we try to right the wrongs of the past few months.  But, as anyone who has done this probably knows, that weight doesn't come off with the same ease at which it was put on, and rarely does it stay off.

And that's the point of this post.  I want to explain to you why that weight won't stay off, and why, consequently, it's so important to prevent the weight gain to begin with.  Saddle up partner...