Some New Year's resolutions to break

Have you broken all of your New Year's resolutions yet? I try not to make them but I can understand why people start diets at the beginning of January. After all the delicious sweets of the previous couple of weeks even I am ready for plain, naked vegetables.

As soon as I finish the Christmas fudge I might consider revising my eating habits. I am not all that fond of cold food therefore salads are rarely appealing.

It seems that every women's magazine sports a new diet plan every month. I suppose if they offer enough variety then people might find one they think will actually work. Most diets feature lots of leafy greens. I am sure that leaves are considered healthy eating and as an occasional thing they are tolerable.

But they are cold. Greens are even worse cooked. One has to grow up with cooked greens as a diet staple to consider them to be delicious.

I did not. Cooked greens remind me of slimy algae or perhaps the blob that took over my dinner plate.

In addition to revising my diet I should go along with the crowd and resolve to exercise more. I would prefer to do this by becoming a tour guide someplace where it was warm outside most of the year. At this time it is not one of my options as I live in a northern state and the weather forecast is calling for single digit temperatures in the near future.

The fact of the matter is that I will not revise my diet or exercise patterns no matter how much I ought to. Good intentions will get me nowhere. No amount of low-calorie food or strenuous exercise will restore my body to what it was when I was 20.

That is something all the diet and exercise articles fail to mention.

Yes, it is better for us to eat right and exercise but those of us over 30 (way over 30) do not have a prayer of ever having rock-hard abs. The only six-pack we will ever have will not apply to our stomachs.

Genetics plays a part in how we look and feel. Life lived plays a part in our appearance and health. Even gravity makes a difference. Diet and exercise can improve health but no matter how "good" I am I will never be tall and skinny. I will never again have the energy and unbridled optimism I had when I was young.

Neither will most of us.

So why do we insist on trying? We are setting ourselves up for failure, which is often assuaged by curling up on the couch with a bag or other container of the most unhealthy food ever devised.

Perhaps this year we should make different resolutions. What would happen if we made much-needed donations to the local Humane Society in January instead of at Christmas? Homeless animals don't disappear once the holidays are over.

People are still in need after the holidays, too. In fact, the holidays and their aftermath are stressful for some people. Just because I had a wonderful Christmas doesn't mean everybody did.

Or maybe we should resolve to be kinder; to smile instead of growl; to shrug off a perceived slight instead of holding a grudge; to quietly fix problems instead of complaining about it.

No matter what the popular culture implies; a person's worth is not measured by their appearance. It's what's inside of us that counts.

If reshaping our bodies is next to impossible then reshaping our souls isn't likely to be any easier. Perhaps we should simply resolve to work on that one thing we do that drives our mates crazy. It might not help us fit into smaller clothes or help us live longer, healthier lives but it will make us easier to live with. It might be a resolution we can actually keep.[[In-content Ad]]