What's IN and What's OUT for 2024!
Hello, Friend! Happy Tuesday!
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Happy New Year! I’ve been seeing a bunch of the INs and OUTs lists lately, so I decided to make a nutrition/fitness themed one for 2024!
Picture me like this for this post:
Or like these guys:
If you know you know!
Some of these are “generic” and can apply to everyone, and some are more specific to me and my personal situations. Take from them what applies to you!
Here are my thoughts:
What’s IN for 2024:
Eating more sustainably. Think: locally sourced foods, more whole foods, and including more plant-based meals to reduce meat consumption.
Spend more time outside! Nature, walking, playing, and absorbing sunlight are all underrated.
Specific goals that really mean something to you.
Mocktails and less alcohol!
Here’s a mocktail recipe I’m excited to try: Mango Mule
Ingredients:
4-5 slices of cucumber
1 oz honey syrup
1.5 oz mango puree
1.5 oz fresh lime juice
1.5 oz ginger beer
IceInstructions: Muddle cucumber and honey syrup in the bottom of a cocktail shaker. Add the mango puree and lime juice and shake with ice vigorously. Strain into a copper mug. Top with ginger beer and stir.
More time spent with friends. I’m not always good at making the effort to reach out and make plans… I’d like to do more of that this year!
Increased use of Everything But The Bagel seasoning. Trust me on this one.
Mindful eating and paying attention to hunger/fullness cues. Making sure we’re not eating just because food is present/available.
Fitness practices that you actually enjoy! Make working out easier to do by picking activities that make you feel good and you actually like doing. Don’t just do something because you think it’s good for you. Forcing fitness makes consistency difficult.
Movement breaks during the day! I could have just as easily put “sedentary lifestyles” in the OUT section, but wanted to take the more positive route so phrased it differently and put it here. Let’s aim to move more in our days, even if it’s “just” getting up to get water or do 3 pushups, that’s great!
More sleep! This one isn’t really for me, I get ~8 hours of sleep almost every night and am damn proud of it. But everyone else probably needs to sleep more ; )
What’s OUT for 2024:
Fad or extreme diets. Ditch anything that requires elimination of any food or food group, with the exception of allergies, of course. Let’s move toward balance and mindfully including all foods we love.
“Using” food for emotional reasons. I’m totally guilty of this and it’ll likely be challenging to “fix” but I’m going to work on moving away from food as a response to emotions and instead aim to address problems or situations head on, or dig deeper into what I’m feeling, instead of eating about it.
Fasting and Ice Baths. There’s just not much science to back up the benefits of these. If you enjoy them, there’s no negative, but don’t force them if it’s not right for you!
Fitness for only aesthetic reasons. Let’s shift away from solely focusing on appearance as a result of our fitness and prioritize overall well-being. Listen, I think it’s all well and good to want to look a certain way or lose weight or have abs or whatever is important to you. But if we’re ONLY doing fitness for those reasons, that negates the overall benefits of fitness and makes it hard to continue when/if those motivating factors leave us.
Overly intense fitness plans. Say no to excessive workouts that may lead to burnout or injury. Again, consistency is where it’s at!
What do you think of these ideas? What’s IN or OUT in your 2024 plans?? Let me know in the comments or send me an email at sara@nutritionforlifeproject.com!
As always, thank you for reading!
xoxo,
Sara