Are you on the wheel of New Year’s Resolutions?  Does this sound like you: you start one in January and never finish the goal, so you start over again the next January?  Why wait until the new year to start. As we look forward to the new year, you may be on the long list of others who want to:

• Lose Weight
• Get more Exercise
• Quit Smoking
• Learn Something New
• Spend more time with Friends and Family
• Enjoy Life more
• Get out of Debt
• Help Others
• Quit Drinking
• Get Organized

What about other, perhaps more pressing areas as we head into winter and look forward to a full and healthy 2023?  The following guide will help in some key areas of health many have concerns with this coming year.

Goals

Before we get into some of the key areas I believe are hot this year and the supplements for each, here is a quick reminder on the steps for setting and, more importantly, achieving your goal(s).

1. Define your goal

Don’t just say I want to lose weight.  Your definition could be I want to lose 50 pounds or fit into a size eight dress. Whatever your goal is, be as specific as you possibly can.

2. Outline the steps needed.

Once you have decided “where you want to go,” you need to figure out how you plan to get there.  This is just like taking a family vacation. If you live in Tampa, Florida, and want to go to New York City for vacation, you need to plan. If I am driving, I need a road map or other system to tell me how I will get there. If you currently smoke 20 cigarettes per day and want to stop smoking, you need to decide if you are slowly stopping cold turkey or tapering off them. You need to lay out your plan of attack.

3. Set a timeline

Once you have decided the steps you will take, you need to place them on a timeline.  My trip to NYC would include how long it will take me to drive to South Carolina and where and when I will stop for gas and food. It would also include where I intended to stay. Without a timeline, I may only drive a few hours and stop for the day, and then it would take me longer to get to NYC. But maybe I do want to go slow and see more sights. Your goal and your timeline to reach your goal are up to you. If you wish to stop smoking in 90 days, then you need to lay out the steps needed over the next 90 days to get you to your goal. This could include adding new habits, adding nutritional supplements, increasing activity, or whatever you come up with in your outlined steps.

4. Ask for Help

If you are having trouble setting up your “reasonable” timeline, consult someone who knows more about the subject than you do.  Asking for help can be used in all aspects of your goal, from helping to define it better, outlining the steps, setting your timeline, and showing you potential roadblocks.  I am sure someone who has been in your shoes before will help you get where you want to go.

5. Consider possible delays or roadblocks.

This part of goal setting often gets overlooked and is a major reason people never reach their intended goal.  Example: You want to lose 30 pounds in the next seven months. You forgot to include in your timeline and outline that your birthday, Thanksgiving, and New Year’s are during this period. Unless you commit to your program equally during each week, you need to account for these speed bumps. Or you may get sick and not be able to get the activity you are supposed to do for a week or two. There are many potential delays, and you need to be aware of what they are and how to prepare for them.  Many people have said, “I was doing great until…. we went on vacation…I got sick…my son moved back in with me…” The list is endless. Like a boy scout- be prepared.

6. Reward yourself

This should be a regular event. I practice what I preach now, but I still reward myself. (This is what I preach) I may tell people not to eat refined foods but may use sugar in my coffee or have a small piece of dessert once a week. Whatever it is, reward yourself for good behavior. You should build this into your outline and timeline. For every 4 pounds I lose, I can take one day off from activity. Or, if you smoked a pack of cigarettes per day, you could reward yourself with some treat equal to the amount of money you would have spent on that habit. At about 4 dollars a pack, that would be 28 dollars a week, 120 per month, and 1460 per year saved for your treat.

7. Write it all down

Writing your goals out may be the most important step. Write down exactly what you want to achieve and post it in a place where you will see it every day. This will help remind you of what you’re working toward. When you write, use positive terms. For example, instead of writing, “I will stop eating junk food,” re-word your goal more positively: “I will make healthy food choices.”  Write down everything mentioned above. Keep it close to your heart, and you will do great things with your health and life.

8. Set yourself in motion

The next step I recommend is to set yourself in motion. Too often, I run into people who “want” to change something in their life yet continue to do the same things daily.  For things to change in your life-You Must Change.  Setting yourself in motion means not just thinking about it or talking about it but doing it. I have been teaching my children to show me their actions-don’t tell me about them.  Too often, we get caught up in the “daily grind” and lose sight that we still are in the same place we were months ago. The burden/responsibility of your change is yours and no one else’s.  YOU have only yourself and your GOD to answer to. My phrase above says, “YOU must change,” not you should not and cannot rely on your friends, neighbors, or family members to get you to the finish line. The sooner you set yourself in motion, the quicker you will get where you want to go.

Let’s tackle some key health areas I am looking at for 2023 and beyond:

Supplements for Goal Help

Let’s face it, setting up goals and following them will take quite a bit of mental focus and energy.  Throw in that many of us want to “Learn something new” for our resolution, and we have a perfect leadoff for some great supplements.

• Sage (Sibelius^TM: Sage)- This is by far my favorite (not because I consult for the company that produces it), but because it is clinically studied, works fast (less than 1 hour), and you can feel it working. Studies show it helps improve memory, recognition, recall, focus, and attention speed.
• Bacopa (Synapsa®, BacoMind®)- Studies with bacopa show improvement in speed of visual information processing, learning rate, memory consolidation, retention of new information, and improvements in working memory.

Tip: Try both together

Weight

This is tricky, as I don’t want to endorse supplements that directly suppress your appetite or stimulate your metabolism.  Instead, we will focus on some of the underlying reasons for weight gain and the suggestions to help.  Stress is one of the key underlying causes of weight gain or the inability to lose weight.  A few key ingredients play a great role here:

Address the Stress

• Roman Chamomile (Sibelius^TM: Chamomile)- excellent for staying calm and helping with sleep. Also supports a healthy and calm digestive system.
• Caralluma (Slimaluma®)- helps suppress appetite and improve mood
• Saffron (Supresa)- patented for weight loss and mechanism via stress reduction. Research shows this decreased hunger and sugar cravings.

Get More Exercise

Getting more exercise is another topic that could be a blog on its own.  Here are a few supplements to help with some key areas which may impede your progress:

Pre-workout

• Adaptogens (Ashwagandha and Rhodiola are my workout favorites)-  these can help recovery, and muscle soreness, decrease fatigue, decrease exhaustion, improve joint function, and so much more.
• Antioxidants- Astaxanthin (AstaPure®), Curcumin (HydroCurc®), and Ubiquinol. Others are awesome for active lifestyle support, but these three have their unique benefits.  AstaPure® helps decrease muscle fatigue and is one of nature’s most potent antioxidants, HydroCurc® because of the reasons that follow below, and Ubiquinol because it is one of my favorite cardiovascular antioxidants as well as supporting energy production.

Energy Support

• Sage (Sibelius^TM: Sage)- Sibelius^TM: Sage doesn’t have any specific studies regarding workouts, but my personal experience taking this herb is that it energizes my brain and makes me feel like working out. Who doesn’t want more mental energy?
• Zynamite®- clinical proof that it provides energy boosts and supports muscle performance.
• Carnipure®- studies show it improves energy levels, decreases muscle fatigue and soreness, and helps to burn fat.

If you feel ambitious, all three together would be a great start to your workout.

Decrease Soreness

• PEA (Levagen®+)- PEA or Palmitoylethanolamide has a dual mechanism of action to help enhance muscle regeneration, and it is clinically proven for exercise-induced inflammation.
• Curcumin (HydroCurc®)- helps with exercise recovery, reduces lactic acid levels post-exercise, reduces joint pain and discomfort, and supports overall joint health.

Exercise: Outside the Box

Keep in mind this is a bare-bones blog to get you thinking.  One area that often gets overlooked is REST.  There are four stages of sleep, and one (Phase 3) is where your body “restores itself.”  This means heals and repairs.  I have a few favorite supplements for restorative sleep.

• Roman Chamomile (Sibelius^TM: Chamomile)- This unique Roman chamomile has been shown to improve sleep significantly and is now showing signs of supporting the body in its fight against inflammation (a 1-2 punch, so to speak)
• Saffron (affron®)- studies with affron® show it helps increase the time you spend in restorative sleep.

Stop Smoking

This one is challenging, but for simplicity’s sake, we will go back to managing the withdrawal part of stopping any habit: Address the stress!

As mentioned above, there are a few favorites here:

• Adaptogens (Ashwagandha (KSM-66®, Sensoril®), Holy Basil (Holixer®)- adaptogens help your body get or stay balanced when exposed to either physical or emotional stress. What is more stressful than “kicking the habit”?
• Roman Chamomile (Sibelius^TM: Chamomile)- excellent for staying calm and helping with sleep. This also possesses powerful respiratory support. Excellent for relaxation and calming from the withdrawal effects.
• Saffron (affron®)- clinical studies show that affron® improves mood, decreases stress, and helps improve restorative sleep.

Immune Support

We can all agree that we want to stay healthy and not come down with some illness, especially coming out of a pandemic.  Here are a few of my favorite immune support (not stimulant) supplements.  These are designed to be taken daily and not when you think you need help.

• ImmunoLin®- ImmunoLin® is my go-to supplement for gut and immune health support. With 40+ clinical studies, this has more than shown to be helpful in supporting your immune system and improving gut health.  Since we know that the gut plays an enormous role in immune health, having this one-two punch will go a long way.
• Wellmune®- is a patented beta glucan with science showing it primes your immune system and prepares it for action.
• BioGlena®- This is another beta-glucan ingredient new to the market and has similar effects on the immune system as that of Wellmune®

Digestive Support

While digestive support may not be on your radar for heading into the new year, it should be.  A weak digestive tract can lead to other more serious health issues. Look at it this way, if you eat the best diet and can’t digest those foods right or absorb too little or much of certain things, you will have other more serious issues. Here are my foundational digestive suggestions.

• Probiotics- Probiotics are “friendly” bacteria that are found in your digestive system. Probiotics serve two purposes: They finish the digestive process and help protect against pathogens (disease-causing bacteria, fungus, yeast, etc.) found in or on your food. Throw in the benefits to your immune system, and we have a winner.
• Enzymes- Digestive enzymes are used to help support the breakdown of your foods. The primary digestive enzymes are Protease (for proteins), Amylase (starches), Lipase (Fats), and Cellulase (Plant cell membrane).
• Immunoglobulins (ImmunoLin®)- Immunoglobulins are also known as antibodies and are made by the immune system in response to a foreign substance called an antigen. Common antigens include bacteria, viruses, funguses, animal dander, abnormal cells, and toxins. The job of an Immunoglobulin is to attach to antigens so the immune system can destroy them. When an immunoglobulin binds to the antigen, it prevents the antigen from finding its target and renders it inactive. ImmunoLin® is the only immunoglobulin product with high levels of IgG, the key immunoglobulin for gut and immune health support.

Conclusion

Much of this may seem overwhelming and, at times, redundant. You may notice several ingredients work for multiple areas of health.  Keep in mind that these are not drugs that focus on one specific area of health. They are natural and therefore contain multiple beneficial components making them more diverse in the areas of health they can address.  I suggest picking a few of the supplements that cross over into several areas and considering using these as part of your daily supplement program.