In my family, we’re not much for New Year’s Resolutions.
Sure, we’ve tried different approaches over the years ... writing down our goals and posting them for everyone to see, penning the issues we need to work on and putting them in an envelope to review in six months’ time to check our progress ... we even tried writing out a family contract once.
Like most people, none of these approaches had any effect much past the middle of February.
But we have found one approach that seems successful when it comes to working on making changes.
We call it the one step approach.
In essence, the one step approach is a small change that we can stick to. For example, in working on trying to drink more water during the course of the day, that one step approach for me is to substitute a mug of water for that second cup of coffee in the morning. (I actually started that a few months ago ... who says resolutions have to wait for January?)
For my husband, whose goal is to increase his flexibility, his one step has been adding a manageable, five-minute stretching routine from YouTube during that bottom-of-the-hour endless commercial break in the early-morning news program he favors.
For my son, whose goal is to use his recently earned Movement Science degree training to launch an online fitness stream in 2024, the one-step has been progressively setting his alarm 15 minute earlier than his usual wake-up time, so he can get ready for his 8 a.m. streaming debut.
One step, a simple change, something that you can stick with.
It’s an approach that the health and fitness experts I spoke with for this issue also seemed to advocate.
For instance, personal trainer Walton Lamar Moore said that one step might be working on your balance in preparation for improving your overall strength and fitness. He cited endurance, relative strength and walking speed as the keys to staying healthy and active for as long as possible as one ages. “All of those can be improved with balance training. Once you are strong enough in your legs to start keeping your balance, then you can start walking and then, a lot of stuff can start happening.” Moore shared with Prime. To see all his observations on fitness and health span, and get his workout tips, take a look at this month’s feature on page 8.
When it comes to healthy eating, manager of healthy living and nutrition for the Massachusetts Councils on Aging, Tara Hammes talked about the half-cup approach. She said the easiest way to up the nutrients in any meal is to add a half cup of fruit or veggies to it, even if it’s a frozen boxed meal. “You don’t have to subscribe to ‘fresh is best,’ philosophy, I like to say canned, frozen, juiced or dried are all good options as well,” Hammes said. To get all her advice, including how to eat to beat inflammation, check out this month’s Three Big Questions on page 12.
Fans of Jonathan Evan’s column from the Herbarium will find it on hiatus this month, but I’m hopeful he will be filling his regular slot in February. Instead, this month Prime looked at the growing use of cannabis among elders – not necessarily for recreation, but to help with some chronic health conditions and complaints. Here cannabis consultant Leslie Laurie also advocated the one-step approach if you are trying cannabis for a condition, in this case to go low (dose) and slow. See her full advice on page 10.
I hope you enjoy this month’s content and that you find help and inspiration in the advice of our experts.
And remember, every change starts with just one step.
As always, thanks for reading,
Debbie Gardner
