Many of us make health-related resolutions, such as to lose weight, stop smoking or join the neighbourhood health club.

While it is common to set high goals, experts say that setting smaller goals could do more for our health.

“Small steps are achievable and are easier to fit into your daily routine,” says James O. Hill, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. “They are less overwhelming than a big, sudden change.”

Here are 10 to try:

1.Weigh yourself once a month

Keep an eye on your weight and work on making sure you are not gaining extra kgs. Even if you gain just a kg or two every year, the excess weight adds up quickly.

2. Take more small steps

Use a pedometer to count your daily steps; then add 2,000, the equivalent of one extra mile. Keep adding steps, 1,000 to 2,000 each month or so, until you take 10,000 steps on most days.

3. Eat breakfast

Breakfast eaters tend to weigh less and have better diets overall for a filling and nutrition-packed breakfast, fresh healthy fruit smoothies or a good old fashioned oatmeal with fresh fruit slices with some nuts and plant-based milk.

4.Switch

 A meal with whole grains can be an excellent substitute for refined grains

5. Have at least one green salad every day.

Eating a salad with nuts and seeds is filling and may help you eat less during the meal. It also counts toward your five daily cups of vegetables and fruits.

6. Trim the fat.

Fat has a lot of calories, and calories count. Start using only 1 tsp of oil in your cooking. Use more healthy fat food such as Avocado fruit, raw seeds, nuts and olives instead of isolated extracted oil from the plants.

There are many hidden fats in processed food and fat free products. Anything packed, processed are high in Fat , salt and sugar.

7. Consider Calcium

By including two or three daily servings of spinach, kale, nuts and seeds already fulfilled the Daily Recommended Value.

Try to avoid dairy calcium since it can leach calcium from the bones in a longer run.

8. Downsize.

The smaller the bag, bottle or bowl, the less you will eat.

9. Lose just 5 to 10 per cent of your current weight.

The health benefits are huge-lower blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides.

10. Keep track of your eating.

Write down what you eat over the next couple of days and look for problem spots. Often, just writing things down can help you eat less.

Photo by Jennifer Burk on Unsplash