Possible Killer New Year's Resolutions

The tradition of New Year resolutions gives everyone the opportunity to change bad habits or create new good ones. Unfortunately some good resolutions turn fatal and ruin the new year.

Thousands resolve to start a new diet either for health or weightloss reasons but then undertake an irresponsible diet or self-impose extreme limitations that harm their health or life. If a new diet is on your New Year resolution list, be responsible and learn about nutritional needs and pitfalls either from a nutritionist or reading books and articles.

One paticular diet that may not be safe is the Five Bite Diet. While it was written by Dr. Alwin Lewis, it is described as an Anorexic diet. This diet, as suggested by the author, replicates the amount of food ingested after bariatric surgery (a stomach staple surgery). However, many doctors have labeled it unsafe and not the same as a nutritional bariatric diet.

It is always a good idea to talk to your doctor before making substantial changes in your diet, especially if you have health problems like diabetes and high blood pressure that require special dietary needs. The doctor will advise you on the wisdom of dietary changes.

Resolving to exercise more has been popular for decades. Exercise can not only make you healthy and keep you healthy, it helps you to have a more stressfree life. The benefits of keeping a steady exercise regimine is triple-fold: physical well being, mental alertness and social relations.

Surprisingly, many people die or is seriously harmed from exercise. Sudden cardiac death and acute myocardial infarction are serious complications of exercise. So it is very important to get a physical before beginning an exercise program.

The elderly are more prone to fall-related injuries and can even die from an exercise accident. So do exercises that are safe for your physical limitations and have an exercise buddy to help in case of an accident. The YMCA and other sport gyms usually have exercise classes for individuals of all ages and fitness. Water exercise is another great choice for the elderly or physically limited.

It is also just as important to acquaint yourself with all exercise or sport equipment instructions and warnings. There are thousands of accidents that happen every year because of misuse when a little preparation would have prevented them. For example, a treadmill is thought of as a very safe piece of equipment. Yet, I know of a young woman that got beat up by one because she didn't check the settings before getting on. The previous user had it set at a high running speed, so when she pushed the Go button it flung her off. Thankfully, she didn't get any broken bones but she did get terribly bruised up. An elderly person probably wouldn't have gotten off so lucky.

Another common New Year's resolution is home improvements. While there is innumerous safe home improvement projects like replacing floor tile or painting, there are many improvements that should be left to the experienced. For instance, replacing an electric plugin can be done by many an unexperianced person just by following instructions. Yet, to rewire a room from instructions would be dangerous for an unexperianced person and whoever was in the house.

Another very healthy choice tops the list that can lead to sickness or death is quitting smoking. How? By wearing a nicotine patch and smoking a cigarette.