Set achievable goals for 2018... start now!


1. Ditch the term “New Year’s Resolution” (I think it’s doomed!).
2. Instead, create a vision of who you want to be and how you want your life to look. The term “create” is important here, it requires energy, it is not passive.
3. Turn that vision into a project and get clear on what action is required.
4. Make the action small enough for you to remain focused and committed to your vision. For example, if you want to write a book — commit to writing just one page a day.
5. Act like your vision has already come true, that you already feel the way you want to feel.
6. Be clear on the “WHY”. Emotionally connect with what it is you want to create. Ask yourself “How will I feel if I don’t achieve this?”
7. Invest in anyone or anything that can help you achieve this vision.
8. Connect more with your vision and disconnect more from your materialistic world (iphone, TV, laptop, etc)
9. Ditch pessimistic conversations — optimists open us up to see more opportunities. It’s not that you can’t, it is that you haven’t, just yet!


Linn Thorstensson Dip NT mNTOI, is a registered Nutritional Therapist with a special interest and clinical focus on mindful eating and healing the relationship we have between food, eating and our bodies FOR 2018 let go of dieting and shift your focus towards self-care.
Trust that your body will do the rest, if you take care of it in the best way possible.
That’s the message from Linn Thorstensson, a Fermoy based Nutritional Therapist, towards achieving the best you for 2018 “Anyone who has ever tried changing their diet and lifestyle knows that this can be an arduous endeavor. When you think about harnessing this desire to change, I would encourage you to ask yourself why you want to change? What is it in your current lifestyle that is not working for you? Then go deeper and ask yourself what is the desire behind your why?
Take weight loss as an example as the reason you want to change what you are currently eating and increasing the level of activity you are currently doing.
Ask yourself what it is you are hoping to achieve by losing weight? More energy? Better digestion? Feeling stronger? Or just a different body size?
Before you rush to jump on the January dieting bandwagon, I am inviting you to pause, and remind yourself of the fact that any type of diet have been shown to have any long-lasting effect for more than about 5% of the people who embark on them. In fact one of predictors of going on a diet is weight gain and regain.” Here are her top five tips for embarking on a successful, nourishing self-care plan:
We have an innate system guiding us to know when we need to eat, and when our bodies have had enough foods. However this is a delicate system, and for anyone who has spent a long time dieting it can take time to tune into these sensations again. But once you do, you can say goodbye to the “feast – famine / deprivation – binge cycle” which most of us who have ever dieted are all too familiar with.
There is no arguing with the science backing up the importance of consuming plenty of fruit and vegetables. Focusing on colour makes it fun and easy to increase your intake and variety. Both important factors to support our overall health and wellbeing.
With dieting the focus is always on eating to achieve a change in appearance. This desire can take on all kinds of extremes, most which are not healthy behaviours at all. When we eat from a place of self-care, we can evaluate our choices from a place of curiosity and kindness? Before, during and after your meal / snack ask yourself “How will this food feel in my body? How did this food feel in my body?” 4. Don’t forget about the satisfaction factor!
Food and eating can all too often get tarnished with words like “guilt” and “sin”. Or it is reduced to the simple act of fuelling. We should never feel guilty or ashamed of the vital act of feeding ourselves, nor do I believe food and eating should be bland and boring. Eat foods that you enjoy, that are nourishing to your specific body and needs, have fun trying new things and embrace the pleasure of eating. You will find that when you are having a satisfactory eating experience, it rarely leaves you wanting for more.
It is so easy to get caught up in the latest diet fashion fad. Though many of them do hold some grain of truth, if we are trying to follow someone else’s plan, it is all too easy to forget to listen to our own body’s unique needs, which are always changing.
By not boxing yourself into any labels, you have the freedom to explore, being creative and flexible, rather than being fixed on the illusion of perfection. Being rigid and strict, often backfires and there is no room for growth if we get stuck in a place of shame. Instead have fun exploring what works for YOU!
This year, make the resolution of taking care of YOU, because you are worthy and worth it!
*See straightforwardnutrition.com and follow Linn on social media.