It’s the New Year! If you’re already despairing about resolutions, keep in mind that making small changes in behavior that fit easily into your lifestyle are good options for family health and weight loss over time. For one month, try choosing three small habits to focus on changing that you can apply to any situation, whether you’re at home, overseas, or travelling. Try setting up email or calendar reminders if that helps you, or put up tangible reminders such as sticky notes around your house. To get you started, here are some ideas:

• Keep unhealthy foods such as potato chips, cookies, etc. out of sight so they are less tempting.
• Put down your fork and knife between bites.
• Portion out “snackable” foods that come in large bags/containers into smaller one-serving containers, so you don’t keep dipping in.
• Choose water over soda.
• Keep fresh fruit on hand to replace fatty, high-calorie snacks.

For more help, Military OneSource has a Health and Wellness Coaching Program that can help you lose weight and improve your overall fitness. Finally, for more information on making healthy food choices for you and your family, visit HPRC’s Family Nutrition section.

Preventing obesity should begin at an early age, because children who are overweight often become obese as adults. And while many of us know that we need to eat right and exercise, there are also risk factors that we are born with that we can’t change. Now you can calculate your child’s risk of developing obesity with an online calculator.

The calculator was developed by a team of researchers who looked at a number of well-known biological and social risk factors for developing obesity. They were able to boil down their findings to six simple factors that provide a reasonably accurate probability of whether a child will develop obesity:

1)    The body mass indexes (BMIs) of both parents. (HPRC has a link to a calculator you can use to calculate BMI.)

2)    The number of people who live in the house.

3)    What kind of work the child’s mother does.

4)    Whether the mother smoked during her pregnancy.

5)    The birth weight of the child (in kilograms). (To convert pounds [lb] to kilograms [kg], multiply pounds by 0.45359237.)

Living a healthy lifestyle is beneficial for everyone, but tools like this can help you determine whether your child is particularly at risk for becoming an obese adult, so that you can make important health changes early in life. For ideas to help your family be physically active and healthy, check out this HPRC Healthy Tip as well as the family physical fitness and family nutrition sections of HPRC’s website.

Holiday parties provide opportunities to relax and enjoy good food and good times with family, friends, and colleagues. But they also can derail your weight and fitness goals. Buffet tables laden with calorie-rich treats and beverages can weaken the resolve of even the most committed folks. To keep yourself on track, remember these tips:

• Never go to a party hungry. Eat a protein-rich food before you go. Protein foods tell your brain that you’re satisfied and help you avoid overindulging. Low-fat milk or yogurt or a handful of nuts are great choices.
• Follow the MyPlate strategies for filling your party plate: Fill half your plate with fruits and vegetables then fill the rest with whole grains and lean protein such as fish or chicken.
• Choose wine over fancy mixed drinks or beer, and be sure to drink in moderation: one drink for women and two drinks for men. Sip slowly to make your drink last through the evening.
• If it’s a potluck, you really are in luck. Offer to bring a healthy salad or entrée, and fill your plate with your own delicious creation.
• Don’t waste your calories (and taste buds) on desserts that you don’t absolutely love. Choose your favorite and then share it with a friend. You’ll eat slower while you and your friend chat, and cherish the moment as much as the sweet!

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) just released its recommendations for obesity prevention in response to the rising obesity rates in the United States, a problem that affects the military. IOM has also developed an interesting graphic that shows where significant problems lie and how we can change our communities to help solve them. See the graphic and download the free report here.

Looking for programs to help manage your weight? The Human Performance Resource Center just posted its new “Fighting Weight Strategies” page, where we have compiled a list of programs and resources, arranged by service, for maintaining overall health and body weight. You can find these helpful resources by going to the Fighting Weight Strategies page of HPRC’s website.

Overall healthy food choices may help prevent long-term weight gain. A recent study in the New England Journal of Medicine found that potato chips, other forms of potatoes, sugary drinks, and both processed and unprocessed meats can contribute to long-term weight gain. Gradually including more vegetables, whole grains, fruits, nuts, and yogurt in one’s diet contributed to less weight gain. Other creeping changes that affect long-term weight gain are physical activity, watching TV, and sleep duration. Read more about the study details in an article from Medical News Today.

Body weight may be used as a measure of overall health by calculating your body mass index (BMI) and may also be used as an indicator of your health risks, particularly if you have more body fat than recommended. Read this answer from the American Council on Exercise to learn more about your ideal body weight. The Army’s Hooah 4 Health website also has online calculators for body mass index and optimal body weight.

KENS Channel 5 in San Antonio, TX has posted an article on their website that reports that, according to the military, the number of prospective recruits are just too fat to enlist, which is making it difficult to fill their ranks.

The article cites a non-profit group called Mission Readiness, made up of retired senior military leaders, who feel there is a solution to the problem.

The group has a three-point approach that would solve the obesity problem for prospective recruits:

1. Get the junk food and high-calorie beverages out of our schools.
2. Increase funding for the school lunch program.
3. Support the development, testing and deployment of proven public-health interventions.

Read the full article here.

It may be hard to avoid the convenience of fast food since it’s inexpensive, tasty, and well...convenient. But with that convenience often comes an overload of calories, fat, and sodium. To avoid these pitfalls, be mindful of your portion sizes.  For more tips on how to make healthier fast food choices, view this guide by Helpguide.org.

The Simple 7™ is an easy way to figure out how to achieve good health. This online resource, provided by the American Heart Association, lists seven steps that are crucial to our health. We list their steps for you below:

1. Don’t smoke.
2. Maintain a healthy weight.
3. Engage in physical activity.
4. Eat a healthy diet.
5. Manage your blood pressure.
6. Take charge of your cholesterol.
7. Keep your blood glucose at healthy levels.

With Life’s Simple 7™, you'll find out where you stand, how you're doing, and also get you your own personal heart score and health plan.