New Year, New You! How To Set Healthy Goals for 2023

As the new year approaches, are you determined that this one will be different? Are you pledging to stick with your resolutions for a cleaner house and a healthier you?

NSF experts say a successful strategy is all about setting goals. Here they share cleaning, exercise and overall healthy living tips for 2023. Take your pick and decide what is achievable for you.

As the new year begins, you may be eager to ramp up your workout routine. And no doubt, if you’re getting back into the exercise groove or increasing your workouts, you’ll hear the buzz about nutrition drinks, energy bars and protein powders. But beware, warns John Travis, Technical Leader for NSF’s Certified for Sport^® program, who helps professional athletes and weekend workout warriors daily.

As with other dietary supplements, workout supplements are regulated like food and presumed to be safe unless found otherwise, so it’s a good idea to research their effects and ingredients and consult your physician before adding this boost to your regimen. Follow these tips to safely add supplements to your workouts:

• Some supplements contain unhealthy or illegal ingredients. Be sure to avoid supplements that claim to be an alternative to anabolic steroids, cause rapid weight loss, or treat or cure a disease or health condition.
• Look for high levels of caffeine by reading labels.
• To help ensure that a pre-workout doesn’t contain unsafe levels of banned or dangerous substances, look to see if it has been certified by an independent testing firm, such as NSF.

The beginning of the new year is a great time to get organized. The feeling of a clean, decluttered home will be worth all the effort. A consumer product expert and trained microbiologist, NSF’s Lisa Yakas is a mom of two and a germ buster in her own home. She offers these tips for a “new year, new you” complete house cleanup:

1. Plan your power clean with a checklist to help ensure that you won’t miss any specific areas of your home. Develop a timeline with the checklist and make sure you follow through.
2. Get smart and understand the difference between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting. Cleaning is the process of removing dust and dirt, dried food, or spills. Sanitizing removes or lowers the number of germs or bacteria on a surface to levels that are considered safer. And disinfecting uses chemicals to kill germs (both viruses and bacteria) and lowers the risk of getting sick.
3. Become a germ zapper and start by clearing off and sanitizing all kitchen surfaces, which carry the germiest aftermath of the holiday season. After you’ve wiped down and cleaned them, tackle your cabinets, oven, microwave and sink hardware, and sanitize your kitchen sink, cutting boards and utensils.
4. Go high-touch and focus on surfaces, such as doorknobs, tables, handles, light switches and countertops.
5. Do a potty patrol. Wipe down and disinfect the toilet, faucet and door handle in the bathroom, along with the countertop and sink.
6. Don’t forget to clean out-of-reach dust on floor baseboards, lampshades, lights, ceiling fans and windowsills.

So, don’t go it alone! Lean on your family and friends and get started with a healthier new you in the new year.