This article by Choose Health Founder Brooke Mills was published in the February 2023 issue of Greet Bedford.  
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Each year, on New Year's Eve, there are immense feelings of celebration, new beginnings, and reflection. Resolutions are an incredible way to remember what is truly important in your life and reflect on the year prior. If living through a global pandemic has taught us anything, it's that we shouldn't take celebrations, gatherings, toilet paper, or our health and wellness for granted. As 2023 moves onward, I encourage you to reflect on what you valued last year and create attainable resolutions that feed your soul! Further, create a plan on how your resolutions are going to stick around longer than Valentine's Day - but rather until next year.
While reflecting and setting your goals, reflect on areas of your life, including budgeting and fiscal goals, mental health, physical health goals, mindfulness, and attitude, fueling foods, daily habits, sleep schedules, and alcohol or substance use. Consider exercising your brain, partner or family bonding, volunteer efforts, learning a new skill, getting outside more or decreasing your screen time. Areas of your lite are ready for some extra attention and are waiting for you to take action today!
Once you have established what actions and modifications you want to take in your life, keep it up! Here are some tips on how you can make sure your resolutions for 2023 stick!
Utilize a Planner - pick out a planner that makes you excited to open it up! Start by writing out daily goals, pauses for reflection, or encouraging quotes that align with your specific resolutions. If you're like me, you might like some checkboxes in your day - reorganize your goals into specific, measurable objectives scheduled out throughout your day. This will help you chip away at goals and check off all the boxes! If you're a digital calendar lover, set reminders throughout your day to help you reach goals and plan your days out hourly to maximize your time in a day.
Journal - journaling in and of itself could be a new resolution for you! We know the positive effects journaling provides to mental health, but what about physical health too? A study on 49 adults in New Zealand found that those who wrote for 20 minutes about their feelings on upsetting events healed faster after a biopsy than those who wrote about daily activities. Similarly, college students who wrote about stressful events were less likely to get sick compared to those who wrote about neutral topics. Women with breast cancer who wrote positively or expressively about their experience with the disease had fewer physical symptoms and fewer cancer-related medical appointments. But researchers also noted that writing about negative emotions may increase anxiety and depression levels.
Habit Trackers - ever heard of a habit tracker? Our phones can offer so much support in helping your goals become a reality, relying less on your memory throughout the day! Habit trackers can be downloaded on your phone and programmed with a time of day for reminders – set specifically for days of the week you want the reminder or even a special event coming up. (Again, if you're like me, you'll like all the checkboxes these apps offer!)
Wanting to change your morning routine? – Download "Routinery" from wherever you get apps on your phone. This app offers a specific time for your morning routine to start, with all the tasks your morning could consist of. The best part of this app is that it provides you with a pre-programmed timer that sets the time for you and continues until your morning or evening routine is over! Tasks you can include for a great morning include reading, affirmations, goal setting, journaling, meditation, prayer, visualization, workouts, stretching, meal preparations, making your bed!
Health and wellness - lastly, many resolutions revolve around health and wellness, rightfully so because it is our longevity and vital for survival! When it comes to lasting changes in these categories, consider adding things to your day - rather than removal of things you love. If you love watching a show or football every night, try adding in a daily walk or watching your enjoyable show while on the treadmill. If you love having coffee first thing in the morning and often forget to prioritize nutritious breakfasts, consider meal prepping high-protein breakfasts ready for you. Create daily step count goals and water intake goals for an easy step to add to your day that will impact you for life!
If you haven't realized it yet, "resolution" is just another way to say "goal." And both resolutions and goals are set to help you get more out of life. Maximize your life now by honestly reflecting on 2022 and making bold commitments to yourself for 2023. Put your plans in writing and offer yourself the support to help this be the year that your resolutions come to life I currently serve as Miss Bedford and will be competing for the title of Miss New Hampshire in April 2023. I am a doctorate student, graduating in 2023 and have received over $51,000 through the Miss America Organization. I have a passion for helping facilitate better health habits and educating our communities on all things health. I have started an organization called Choose Health - which you can visit here: www.choosehealthamerica.com

Let’s meal prep an easy breakfast you’ll be thankful for all week long… 
Recipe Below 👇🏼
✨Preheat oven to 375 degrees
✨Slice one large sweet potato into 1/4 inch thick slices (choice is yours to peel or not, but there’s so much fiber in those peels 😉)
✨Spray or lightly coat in oil of choosing
✨Toss in the oven for 14-20 minutes until sweet potatoes are fully cooked
✨ While cooking, whip together 6-7 eggs per dish and season with salt and pepper
✨ Chop and prep any veggies of choice and/or desired meat. I chose chicken apple sausage and mushrooms this week
✨ Throw all the goodies on your cooked sweet potatoes, top with goat cheese if desired and put back in the oven for 15-20 minutes or until the center isn’t wobbly!
Each dish lasts me about 4-5 days and is the perfect quick, easy, nutritious and delicious breakfast.

As February comes to a close, here is an important message to carry through the rest of the year.  Know the signs and symptoms of a heart attack, it could save your life.  Heart attacks are the number one killer of women in the United States.  The way a heart attack presents can be different in men and women.
Thank you to Bedford Community TV for producing and airing my PSA, and thank you to Binnie Media for airing it on dozens of radio stations throughout New Hampshire.  

There are no surprises here, exercise is healthy for our bodies.  Every organ system benefits from movement... our brain and nervous system, our lungs, joints and muscles, lymphatic drainage and more.  But since February is American Heart Month, let’s spend a moment and look at some fun facts about heart health and exercise.

• Your heart beats about 100,000 times in one day and about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times.
• Your heart pumps about 1.5 gallons of blood every minute.
• There are 60,000 miles of blood vessels in your body
• Most heart attacks happen on Monday (eek!) 

A combination of aerobic and resistance training has been long known to help maintain and normalize blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels. But did you know that exercise can help reduce inflammation throughout the body which can be a contributor to heart disease? Exercise also lowers your risk of obesity and diabetes which science shows is tied closely to heart disease! According to John Hopkins Medicine as published at Hopkinsmedicine.org here are some additional benefits of exercise:

• Improves the muscles’ ability to pull oxygen out of the blood, reducing the need for the heart to pump more blood to the muscles.
• Reduces stress hormones that can put an extra burden on the heart.
• Works like a beta blocker to slow the heart rate and lower blood pressure.
• Increases high-density lipoprotein (HDL) or “good” cholesterol and helps control triglycerides.​
• One more heart benefit to exercising if you're having fun - laughter. Laughing reduces stress which is bad for your heart.  As a bonus, laughter also gives a boost to your immune system!
  

​If you haven't had your 30 minutes of exercise yet, it's not too late, get out there! You can do it! Come join me at 43 Degrees North Gym for a great workout, or meet a friend at your local gym, park or recreation center!

Thank you to Binnie Media for producing this Choose Health Public Service Announcement in your studios and for airing it throughout January on WNNH, WJYY, WEMJ, WFNQ, WTPL, WNHW, WXLF, WTHT, WFNK, WHXR, WBYA and WZLF.

​Goals were set last month with new revamped energy from ringing in the new year. Now, in February, have your goals become harder to stick to? Maybe finding it hard to maintain the goals you set forth with great intentions. Maybe you feel as though you fell off the bandwagon relating to your health goals- and now there’s no hope. What if I told you that resetting your intentions and resetting your routine is easier than the first time that you did it?
 
We make goals because we see how one act or habit, or lifestyle change can shift our lives in the direction we envision it. Here are a few steps in how to reenergize your goals, bring them new light, and help make them stick.
 
Revisit your written down goals – Take a new fresh pen and paper to your goals rewrite them and for each goal add WHY you want to make that goal happen. Are you trying to reach 8K steps a day to help minimize your risk of heart disease and other chronic illnesses so you can live longer and enjoy more beach days, stay feeling young, fit into some jeans better, or thrive with your grandchildren? Whatever your reason is, write it down with your goal, because your purpose is larger than your routine or many other obstacles you may face.
 
Reflect on what happened – What became difficult for you to maintain when facilitating change into your days? For me, there were unaccounted for stressors that I did not properly time manage, there for did not properly energy manage. When waking up at 5am to workout is my goal, but I found myself stressed doing work and awake at 11:14pm, it became difficult for me to manage my energy expenditures properly. I took time to reflect and create hard rules to help me maintain my goals…
 
Create some rules – After reflecting, you can probably think of a few things that derailed you and your aspirations to meet a goal. Now, just like if you were a teacher wanting a better functioning classroom environment, you create rules to follow. Create rules to maintain an environment for yourself to make things happen. My new hard rule: no screen time past 7pm, therefore no stressing about school, emails, or other obligations that can wait till morning. Maybe your hard rule is to eat at home more so healthier options are more available and easier or eating your lunch undistracted, so you have time for a lunch break walk.
 
Let’s spice it up now – Is there something on your mind that you feel you forgot or neglected when creating your goals? Something you heard a friend was incorporating into their routine that sounds appealing to you? ADD IT to your goals! New workout class came out in your town that you want to try? ADD IT to your goals! There’s never a better time than now to add goals to better yourself.
 
This reflection on the month of January and meeting intended goals is an opportunity you can utilize regularly. Hiccups happen, long weeks happen, sickness happens, your goals will wait but how long will you wait to work towards them and accomplish them. Set them with intention and know you have the determination, grit, and integrity to become the person you envision through your action steps.  

February is American Heart Month as proclaimed by President Biden, so let’s look at fun facts about heart health and how the Choose Health pillars build a happy, healthy heart.
EAT WELL: It is no surprise that limiting junk food, fried foods and soda is a smart first step for heart health.  You can also add healthy things to your plate, like more colors! The American Heart Association recommends including a fruit or vegetable in every meal or snack.  We wholeheartedly agree.
MOVE MORE: The heart is a muscle and exercise helps to keep it healthy. Your heart beats about 35 million times in a year. During an average lifetime, the human heart will beat more than 2.5 billion times!  A combination of aerobic and resistance training has been long known to help maintain and normalize blood pressure, heart rate and cholesterol levels.  Make a goal to get at least 30 minutes of movement daily.
THINK POSITIVE: Did you know that most heart attacks happen on Monday?  Stress hormones are hard on your body, especially your heart.  During American Heart Month make it a point to address stress in your life.  If you’ve never meditated, try using a “guided meditation” found online or download a free app like Mindvalley or Let’s Meditate.
SLEEP BETTER: Short sleep duration or poor sleep quality, is associated with high blood pressure, elevated cholesterol and atherosclerosis according to the American Heart Association.  Strive to get 7-9 hours of sleep per night, but if you’re young, you may need more.  Start tonight!
LIVE CLEAN:  Smoking is a major risk factor for cardiovascular disease.  When you breathe in smoke, your blood becomes contaminated with some of the 7,000 toxic chemicals found in cigarettes, which the FDA says can damage your heart and blood vessels.  Quitting smoking now will reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, blood clots and more.
For more heart healthy ideas, go to the American Heart Association at www.heart.org
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What do we have in common with chameleons? Yes, those lizards that live in the rain forests and deserts of Africa with color changing abilities to help them blend in with their habitats. Although we cannot change our skin color to match our environment, we also adapt to our environments. We can sweat, learn from others, build muscle, learn to crawl to walk, bruise and heal, and change our habits.
 
Adaptation. noun. a modification of an organism or its parts that makes it more fit for existence. Synonyms: transformation, adjustment.
 
Adaptation is the name of the game. This is how we interpret and react to the world, actions, people, and environment around us. We often take this daily encounter for granted. But what happens if you have suboptimal adaptation abilities?
 
Let’s look at one example of suboptimal adaptation: deficiency of balance and coordination. This means straining your ability to relate to your environment, maybe manifesting in difficulty driving, frequent clumsy accidents, and decreased energy. What if there was a way to heighten your adaptive potential and have it benefit you daily?
 
Research has also shown that correction or release of spinal tension, torsion, or restriction by chiropractic adjustments can improve the way we sense the environment, integrate information, and execute a response.  This results in an improvement of adaptive capacity, literally meaning how we relate to our environment.
 
One particularly powerful measurement that can be used to assess the adaptive capacity of the nervous system, and its response to chiropractic adjustment, is HRV (Heart Rate Variability).  HRV is a measurement of micro-variations between heartbeats.  HRV indicates high adaptive capacity and nervous system efficiency; low HRV is indicator of lower adaptive capacity and decreased nervous system efficiency.  HRV is a broad scale tool used by many fields as a window into how nervous system efficiency impacts physiology and health; for instance, research within the past few years has shown that high HRV is predictive of better prognosis after heart attack, better prognosis with fighting cancer, and improved cardiovascular health and athletic performance. 
 
Changing your daily habits and ensuring your spine is checked regularly can help you have a heightened experience of life and adapt better. Although our skin isn’t a vibrant purple or blending in with the color of rocks, we are able to adapt to a variety of our environments and its stressors because we can learn new ways to survive and thrive. We're able to use our brains and skills to respond to a changing environment. Our bodies are wildly capable when we give ourselves all the tools to be successful. 

Although about half of New Year's resolutions are forgotten by the second week of the year, people who actually make them are ten times more likely to achieve them.  In fact, a 2002 University of Scranton study found that 46% of the population who set goals for the new year are SUCCESSFUL in making positive changes.  My best tip, WRITE THEM DOWN ON PAPER!  Tune in to New Hampshire's WTPL 107.7FM, WEMJ 107.3 or WTSN 98.1FM (or live stream anywhere) on Saturday, January 7th or Sunday, January 8th at 9:30am EST to hear me discuss ways to create S.M.A.R.T. Goals for 2023!