Health Beat: Make Healthy Choices Now for '24
Manage Holiday Excess and Skipped Workouts: Swiftly Reclaim Your Routine
It’s a new year, which means it’s time to get serious about your health if you, like many others, gave yourself a free pass on healthy eating and exercise over the holidays.
Most people have heard that the best ways to prevent many chronic diseases are to eat healthy foods, be physically active, and avoid tobacco and excessive alcohol use.
The holidays can make it hard to stick to these healthy practices or to start new ones. But Jennifer Veler, MSN Class of 2019 and a registered nurse, says even if you stumbled during the holidays, it’s not too late to get back – and then stay – on track for 2024.
What’s the Best Strategy?
While stumbling a little during the holidays can come naturally, the best recommendation from Veler is to try to stay on track throughout the year, even during various holidays and personal events.
“I would encourage people not to get off track in the first place,” Veler says. “Pick healthy options when you’re out enjoying festivities or at family and friends’ houses, and try and work some sort of exercise into your week whether it’s walking from your car, taking the stairs up at work. And if you have kind of put that on the back burner, just get re-engaged.”
Veler, who is a recipient of the prestigious Travis Credit Union-NorthBay Health scholarship, worked to obtain her Master’s degree through the School of Nursing at Touro University California and is now the Critical Care Services Clinical Nurse Manager of the Intensive Care Unit at NorthBay Medical Center in Fairfield.
She also cautions that while eating in a healthy manner is an aspect of staying healthy, people should talk with their health care provider before embarking on a new diet or exercise program.
Touro Offers Online Resources
Touro University California offers tips and resources on how to improve your overall physical wellness. The resources are available not just to those who attend the University or work on campus, but to the community as well. They cover nutrition, exercise and fitness, and sleep.
The physical wellness tips and resources are contained in a Wellness Resource Guide that also covers emotional wellness, financial wellness, social wellness, spiritual wellness, occupational wellness, intellectual wellness, and environmental wellness.