Nutrition Nook – Make Your Body Healthy Again in 2025 

By Janet Thompson 

During the election, you might’ve heard the slogan “Make America Healthy Again.” I have a trucker’s hat with that slogan on it, and people often stop me to say, “I love your hat!” While we were on vacation, I even had a radiologist tell me how happy he was that soon government officials will be taking steps to eliminate additives and unhealthy ingredients in our food, especially processed foods. I’m a huge proponent of reading all labels. If there’s more than five ingredients, or ingredients you don’t recognize, don’t buy it or eat it. Fresh is always best. 

Today, you might be contemplating starting 2025 with some resolutions or goals regarding your own health. I hope so because as your health goes, so goes many of your activities and quality of life. Good health doesn’t just happen. It takes diligence and work, but the rewards are life changing and life prolonging. Over the past months in this Nutrition Nook column, I’ve given you lots of ideas for improving your eating and exercise habits. But reading what to do and actually doing them, as you know, are two different things. 

I thought in this column, I would give you some of my ideas on goal setting for the New Year, and then you can pray about how to apply them to your life. Maybe it won’t be in the area of diet or health . . . maybe there’s some other area of life you would like to improve. My husband’s and my anniversary is December 19, which coincides nicely for writing goals for the upcoming year. We’ve made this a practice for going on 33 years. We review how we did with the past year’s goals as we set new ones for the upcoming year. It’s helped us maintain, spiritual, physical, and marital growth in our relationship and personal lives. 

Here are tips for achieving a healthier you that are applicable for any goal setting. 

1. Set Realistic Goals: Thirty-three years ago, my husband’s doctor wanted him to weigh 210 pounds on his 6 ft. 4 in. body. He hasn’t weighed 210 since he was a young man. He was able to achieve between 215 and 220 for a while, but with age, was up to 230 plus. Then this past year he had spinal surgery and dropped 17 pounds. I think 215 is healthy for him, but he’s happy at 220. So we’ll probably settle with somewhere in the middle and he’ll change some eating habits and exercise more to maintain a healthier weight. 210 is not a realistic goal for him.

Successful weight maintenance depends on a food intake you’re willing to maintain daily for a lifetime. Drastic diets that drop weight quickly are never maintainable unless you’re willing to eat that diet forever. So set a healthy attainable weight loss or maintenance goal you can live with daily. 

A good spiritual goal is reading your Bible daily. A devotional or online reading plan can help you stay consistent. Maybe it’s reading a Scripture a day, or I like to read the Bible in a year using The Christian Broadcasting Network (CBN) “Bible in a Year” plan. Daily Walk or YouVersion.com also has excellent Bible reading plans. I vary the translation every year to keep it fresh. In 2024, I listened to the Bible using the CBN audio app. If reading the Bible in a year seems overwhelming, remember realistic goals are more attainable than those that sound good but will be too difficult to maintain, so maybe just start with reading a Proverb a day. 

2. Set Measurable Goals: We have scales in our bathroom and I weigh myself every morning. For me, it’s important to know if I’m going up a few pounds because then I know I need to cut back right away. My husband likes to get on “occasionally,” but he does weigh himself so he’ll know if he’s staying between 215 and 220. You can also sense how you’re doing by how your clothes fit. Losing weight usually means you’ll be buying smaller sizes. If your clothes still fit or are getting snug and you’re trying to lose weight, you don’t need scales to tell you it’s time to adjust your diet.

One year I was writing a new book with a short deadline and even though I had set an annual goal to read the Bible in a year, I was only able to read half the Bible that year. So I read the second half the next year. Sometimes you need to adjust your goal and give yourself grace, but don’t give up entirely. 

3. Set Maintainable Goals: I prepare our meals so I know what my husband is eating, but if he wants to stay on the lower weight range, he needs to add exercise, also good for his heart. So we joined the gym since he’s not able to walk the mountain terrain where we live. That’s something he has agreed to do, but he has to go to the gym after he joins it. Are you laughing because so many people join a gym, especially at the beginning of a new year, pay the money, and after a few months, stop going. Setting a goal is only as good as your follow through.

We find having a schedule works best for us, so our friends and family all know at 4 p.m. after my writing day on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, we can be found at the gym. We’re flexible to adjust those days if something comes up, but our goal is to go at least three times a week. I walk on the other days. 

Here’s my best recommendation for goal setting. Don’t say you’ll “try” to do something because that just gives you an escape clause for not committing to or achieving it. 

The Bible says, “All you need to say is simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’; anything beyond this comes from the evil one.” Matt. 5:37 

Let me give you a couple examples of why try doesn’t convey commitment: 

• Would you marry a spouse who says they will “try” to keep his or her marriage vows?
• Would you get on a plane with a pilot who says he or she will “try” to get you to your destination?
• Would you go into surgery with a surgeon who says he or she will “try” to pull you through alive?
• Would you get in a car when the mechanic said he “tried” to fix the brakes?

Okay, I think you get my point. Don’t set goals you’re going to “try” to maintain. If you don’t think you’re going to do them, then set something more doable. Now I know some of you are thinking, “Well isn’t that setting the bar too low?” Would you rather get over the bar and feel successful or give up because you keep coming in under the too overwhelming bar? Once you know you can do it, then by all means, set the next goal a little higher and go for it! 

4. Set Purposeful Goals: No one really follows through on something they don’t see as having value or purpose. So before you set any goals, determine why you’re setting them.

• Why do you want to lose weight?
• Why do you want to exercise more?
• Why do you want to eat healthier and what would that look like?
• Why do you want to take better care of your skin?
• Why do you want to drink more water and fewer soft drinks or alcohol or coffee?
• Why do you want to read your Bible more and spend less time in front of the TV or computer?
• Why do you want to spend more time with your children or spouse?
• Why do you want to pray more?

Nothing will happen for the long term until you can answer why doing it is meaningful to you. Not meaningful to your doctor, your spouse, or even your kids. They’ll all benefit and be the receptor of the blessings of your goals . . . but you must determine the importance if you’re going to keep at it even when it gets hard. 

I pray that whatever God puts on your heart for 2025, He will plant it so deep that nothing can uproot it until He has finished the work He planned in and for you. 

Happy Blessed New Year and New You! 

 

And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns. – Philippians 1:6 NLT 

 

We eat a vegetable or salad or both almost every night for dinner. A favorite is the following green bean recipe. You know you have a hit when guests are raving about your green beans! 

 

Janet’s Famous Green Beans 

½ cup sliced almonds 

1 lb. fresh green beans washed and stemmed 

2 cups fresh mushrooms washed and thinly sliced 

3 cloves garlic minced 

3 Tbsp. olive oil 

2 Tbsp. sesame oil 

3 Tbsp. soy sauce (can use low sodium or I use Coconut Aminos Seasoning from Trader Joe’s) 

 

Steam the green beans until tender, about 25 minutes. While green beans are cooking, toast the almonds in a frying pan stirring continually. Set the toasted almonds aside and in the same pan, heat the olive oil and sesame oil then add the garlic and mushrooms. Cook and stir about 3 minutes until the garlic browns and the mushrooms are cooked through. Add the drained steamed green beans and soy sauce or coconut aminos. Stir to combine. Top with the toasted almonds and serve. 

 

Janet Thompson, award-winning Christian speaker, freelance author, and author of 20 books, is also the founder, director, and God’s servant of Woman to Woman Mentoring Ministry and About His Work Ministries. Her passion and focus is mentoring the next generation. Her tag line is, “Sharing Life Experiences and God’s Faithfulness.” She has a BS in Food Administration, MBA, and Master of Arts in Christian Leadership. Check out her books and sign up for her free weekly online blog and monthly newsletter at womantowomanmentoring.com. Join her on www.facebook.com/Janetthompson.authorspeaker, LinkedIn, Pinterest, X, and Instagram.