The SMART Way to Set Your Health Goals


easy to make. Knowing how to stick with those resolutions and exactly what to do to make the changes you want are much harder. For example, a friend of mine decided


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he would eat better. Proudly he told me how he made a dish of chicken and rice and ate that instead of corn chips with salsa or ice cream for dinner. My response was, “Well, that’s a good start. What about the vegetables?” My friend took my sug- gestion well and added vegetables to his meal the next day. Had he simply tried to make improvements in his diet without consulting with someone with appropriate knowledge his changes would not have gotten him the result he wanted. There are several things we must con-


sider when making resolutions or health goals. The first thing is that have to be SMART. What this means is that the goal must be Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Reasonable and Trackable.


hat’s that? You want to do better with your health this year? Resolutions to do better are


A Specific goal would be something


like, "I want to lose 10 pounds", as op- posed to, "I want to lose weight". After all, if you lose one pound you have lost weight, but maybe not enough to impact your health. Measurable means that you have a way to assess your progress. If you want to be fit, what does that mean? Maybe it means you can climb a flight of stairs with ease or you can comfortably walk a mile. Attainable means just that. While walking a mile each day may be attainable for one person, it might not be attainable for someone who can hardly get out of their chair. For that person, an at- tainable goal might be to be able to walk down their hall and back. Reasonable is similar to attainable in that it needs to be something you can achieve, however, it is more than that. If you want to lose 50 pounds over the next year, that is cer- tainly an attainable goal. If you want to lose 50 pounds this month, then the goal is no longer reasonable. Trackablity and timed goal setting is critical so you can plan how to achieve your goal, but also so


Elizabeth Bozeman, MD


www.RobinhoodIntegrativeHealth.com Elizabeth Bozeman, MD


Dr. Elizabeth Bozeman is a Board Certified Family Physician. She is also board Certified in Preventive, Holistic and Integrative Health. She trained at the Mayo Clinic and has been practicing for 15 years. She has a passion for helping people get better using a more natural and holistic approach. She helps patients with balancing hormones, thyroid function, fatigue and offers prolotherapy for musculoskeletal injuries.


336.768.3335 16 NaturalTriad.com


you can measure your progress along the way. If you want to be able to walk a mile by this time next year, you would measure how far you can walk now so you can get an idea of how much more you need to be able to walk each week or month in order to be able to walk a mile by next time next year. Then, by measuring how far you walk, you can see if you are mov- ing toward your goal and if your goal is reasonable.


When it comes to setting your SMART health goals, it is wise to work with some- one who can help you by assessing where you are now and by making reasonable suggestions for how to get to your goal. So if your goal is to eat better (which is not a SMART goal because it is not specific, measurable or trackable) you want to out- line for yourself, with someone else’s help, what that means and how you will know you are eating better. Often, like my friend, it helps to take steps towards your goal. First he chose more nutrient dense foods for dinner. Then he was able to improve his dinner by adding important missing foods (vegetables). Had he worked out his SMART goal for eating, it would have in- cluded that he would eat 3 -5 ounces of high quality protein, a half a cup of nutri- ent dense, whole grains and a cup or more of freshly cooked vegetable every day for dinner.


Making plans to improve your health and life are commendable. They become achievable when they are SMART goals and you have a plan, along with proper support in place to help you meet your goals.


Written by Susan Sykes, DC, Dr. the owner and founder of Advance Chiroprac- tic & Health Center with locations in Clem- mons and Greensboro. Dr. Sykes uses a comprehensive and gentle approach in treating her patients, in order to stimulate and utilize the body’s natural healing re- sources. See ad on page 12.


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