What’s your New You new year’s resolution going to be for 2012? With the average person gaining 5lbs (2kg) over the four week Christmas period, the most common resolutions, such as healthy eating and fitness regimes, always top the list. If your new year’s resolution is to get back into healthy eating, then why not follow our New You ten commandments to get you on track?

Secrets of Success: The Ten Commandments

1. Never Skip Breakfast

This meal is essential to keep metabolism working and gives the body energy to burn. Try porridge and two dessert spoons of chopped nuts, or scrambled egg and salmon.

2. Drink Plenty of Water

A dehydrated body functions less efficiently. We advise aiming to drink three litres of water each day.

3. Limit Your Caffeine

Consuming one or two caffeinated drinks every day can boost energy and mental alertness. Don’t completely take it out of your body or it will go into shock! Try drinking fruit teas or red bush instead.

4. Eat Wheat and Dairy Free

Keeping a wheat and dairy free diet is often useful as many people are intolerant to them. In fact, these are the two most common allergenic foods in the UK, despite the fact that they are both eaten with such frequency. An intolerance is different to a full blown allergy as the food may actually be consumed, though it can often cause a lot of discomfort. This usually takes the form of constipation and/or diarrhoea, bloating, water retention with weight gain, itching, headaches and more! We tend to become intolerant to the foods we eat too much of, as the body is designed to eat a more varied diet. Try dropping wheat and dairy from your diet and see how you feel.

5. Don’t Skip Meals

Going without food for too long allows blood sugar levels to dip. We advise eating three small meals a day and two snacks.

6. Eat Slowly and with Awareness

Try to chew your food thoroughly as this will improve digestion and help you get more nourishment out of your food.

7. Don’t Overeat

Large meals can drain your energy. Eat until you are satisfied or eighty percent full. You’ll also find it easier to lose excess body fat if you eat this way.

8. Stock Up on Healthy Snacks

You need to be prepared to stock up on some portable foods! The number one reason that most people fail to follow through on their diet is because they either eat on the run, or they get hungry when there is no healthy food available. It’s a good idea to keep your desk drawer, car or locker, stocked up with healthy nuts and seeds, dried fruit, and some foil pouches or ring pull cans of tuna salmon or mackerel. This way, whenever you don’t have immediate access to purchase healthy food, you can make something nutritious, filling and healthy, that will sustain you all day. This is also a million times better for you than a sandwich and a packet of crisps. If you are hungry and you are not prepared with a snack, you are far more likely to reach for convenience food, such as a bag of crisps or a calorie loaded sandwich.

9. Be Realistic

Be realistic with your goals and with yourself. By not being realistic, you are setting yourself up to fail. Even with the best of intentions, you still have to work around your own timetable. If you know you are not a morning person or have very limited time in the morning, work out at a suitable time for you and stick to it! Also prepare yourself the night before.

10. Follow the 80:20 Rule

Perhaps you have followed diets in the past that revolve around sticking to the prescribed plan one hundred percent of the time. The problem is that it’s in our nature to veer off course after a while – usually out of frustration or boredom. This is where the all important 80:20 rule comes into play – you have to have a life! On average, use the 80:20 rule to treat yourself two or three times a week, perhaps taking into account any situations you may have coming up that might mean you can’t eat what your diet might suggest. When it’s someone’s birthday, eat a piece of cake! Make sure when you have a treat, that you are sitting down. Sit down, enjoy your treat and when you leave that table you are back on track. Don’t let one treat ruin the rest of your day!