Many people have promised themselves healthy habits for 2023. Maybe that’s eating healthier or exercising more. But these resolutions can be difficult to keep when you don’t have the motivation.  Healthy food that tastes good is hard to find, and eating it is worse, but as long as you’re willing to try, there are ways around these issues. Here’s how to keep your New Year’s health resolutions.

To begin with, the struggle of eating healthier. The key to a healthy diet is not to take away, but to add. What this means is instead of avoiding food you like, eat what you want, but add food that’s good for you. If you find yourself upset with what you’ve eaten, go find healthy food in the fridge to follow. The most important thing is to maintain a healthy relationship with your food. You shouldn’t feel bad about what you eat, and if you do have issues with food, try to find some help. Your relationship with food is incredibly important to your mental health.

Vegetables are also a struggle. Most can agree that they don’t care for how vegetables taste. To make vegetables taste good, trial and error is required. A couple of things you can try are hiding vegetables in baked goods or smoothies, grilling them with tasty seasoning, and finding delicious dips to try with them. It might not seem like it, but vegetables are easily hidden in foods you’ll love. Try a Strawberry-Avocado smoothie or Chocolate Zucchini muffins! Another easy way to make vegetables taste good is to grill them with your choice of oils and spices. They come out as flavorful vessels for whatever you’d like to use them for. Experiment in the kitchen with dips! Try hummus or spinach & artichoke dip. Student Makenzie Pent, a creative writer says, ” Sometimes it’s as simple as ordering a side of vegetables whenever you are out to eat at a diner or frying them in a pan with an array of spices and sauces, or even making a smoothie with a large variety of vegetables and fruits.”

If your goal this year is to exercise more, try starting out with some simple activities instead of jumping straight in with a high-intensity workout. To get yourself used to the movement, start with something small. Go for a walk, try some stretching, or follow a yoga video on YouTube. Just like with food, you need to have a healthy relationship with exercise.

What’s important to keep in mind is that there is no right time to start. If you’re considering starting a healthy diet or exercising, you don’t have to wait for the next New Year’s or any other deadline. Follow your own pace and do what feels right. Remember to pay attention to your mental and physical health. Take rest days if you need to. Part of perusing a health journey is keeping your health intact. To anybody starting a health journey, I wish you the best of luck.