The beginning of January is a magical time in the health world. Kale smoothies are more exciting than dessert. Running 26 miles looks fun. Salads are the norm. But sometime between the winter blizzards and the Valentine’s Day candy, the new year’s magic starts to wear off.

Many people have the desire and motivation to adopt a healthier lifestyle, they simply lack the way. That’s where building skillpower comes in. While deciding to make more nutritious food choices is an important step, just as important is coming up with a game plan for how do it. One great book that teaches this strategy is Disease Proof, by Dr. David Katz.

In this book, Katz not only addresses goals that are relevant to living healthier, but also the skills needed to make these goals a reality. For example, see this excerpt from chapter 9 about how to eat healthy outside of the home…

Each chapter features a different challenge, and then expands on how to adopt the skills that are relevant to healthy behavior change. For anyone that wants to live healthier, but doesn’t know how to begin or why they can’t seem to make it work, Dr. Katz’s book is a great place to start.

Another book filled with strategies for a healthier life is Slim by Design, by Dr. Brian Wansink. His approach to healthy eating is as follows:

“For 90 percent of us, the solution to mindless eating is not mindful eating–our lives are just too crazy and our willpower’s too wimpy. Instead, the solution is to tweak small things in our homes, favorite restaurants, supermarkets, workplaces, and schools so we mindlessly eat less and better instead of more.”

This book offers plenty of practical tips to make nutritious choices the easy, default choices. After all, Dr. Wansink is a firm believer that “it’s easier to change your eating environment than to change your mind.” In other words, it is easier to eat healthy foods when you stock your refrigerator with your favorite nutritious meals and ingredients, rather than with soda and junk food. Keeping yummy, nutrient rich food around the house is the key here, as Wansink warns that empty kitchens can make you fat because they cause you to eat elsewhere.

How are you planning to live healthier this year?

– Kelly