Happy New Year to all! Well I must admit, I am relieved that the holidays are over. Although there are many things about the season that I love, the FOOD that I can't enjoy is EVERYWHERE! Well meaning and kind people have offered some of my favorite foods in the form of chocolate, coffee, and gift cards to places where I can no longer eat. Learning to celebrate the holidays avoiding the traditional holiday foods, and the resulting explanations as to the avoidance, will be a new challenge for me.

So, traditionally the new year often makes us think of new year's resolutions. Of course we know (or perhaps some of us stay in denial about this fact) that very soon most of those resolutions will go out the window and we are back to living our lives, business as usual!! But we try, and we are well-intentioned. This year I do have some thoughts on how to make some improvements to my life. I'm excited to share that I am now enrolled in a Ph.D program studying Holistic Nutrition and Healing (holistic meaning viewing the whole person). In my quest for health and wellness answers, I continue to find that the foundation for disease and the breakdown of our health is directly linked to diet, nutrition, and lifestyle. Did you know that the top three killers in America (this is a 2003 statistic) are: heart disease, cancer, or diabetes? And did you know that all three of these are linked to DIET?? But even if we don't die from any of these, chronic illness is also on the rise, and many of us will live with poor quality of life instead! Again, much of the research shows that MOST (and I would bet this is true for all) chronic illnesses are also linked to diet. What an important consideration that is usually overlooked by the majority of Americans today! Fortunately, med schools are starting to include diet and nutrition as part of their programs, and physicians are starting to emphasize this more in their care of patients.

As part of the new year, I encourage you to set some goals (realistic ones!) for 2008. I would definitely include some health related goals, such as: exercising on a regular basis (I know, I know, a typical new year's "resolution") and be realistic about it (such as walking 15-30 mins a day 4-5 days a week -- you can do this!); eating more healthy foods (I'm going to talk about this a lot over the next few months); relaxation and meditation (start a yoga class, get some meditation CD's), research health and wholeness topics on a regular basis; do some volunteer work, take a class to learn new skills or start a hobby; build new healthy relationships or strengthen old ones, and there's so much more.

I wish you new year filled with health and wellness! I'll leave you with a quote that really gives food for thought (no pun intended): "If the doctors of today don't become the dieticians of tomorrow, then the dieticians of today will become the doctors of tomorrow."