Every New Year people make resolutions about improving their health and fitness. Dorset Society has teamed up with Barbara Cox, founder of BC Nutrition and Anna Langridge, founder of Wellbody Health & Fitness to bring you some key pointers to find a healthier and happier you for 2017.

To be successful, you need to understand what’s good or bad for you. The following 12-step process simplifies what you need to do and how to do it.

Step 1 - Set goals by deciding what you want to achieve. Goals do not always have to be about your weight, it’s also important to think about your shape and health. Write down your goals and place them somewhere in the house where you can review them on a regular basis.

Step 2 - Take weekly body measurements to ensure you’re staying on track. The best areas to measure are waist, hips, and thighs. Always measure at the same point.

Step 3 – Before you do anything else, it’s essential to cleanse the body. There’s no need for fancy products and complex diets, all we need to do is help our bodies along by following some simple steps. The key areas to focus on are steering clear of chemicals, drink plenty of water and try juicing and sprouting.

Our body handles toxins by neutralising them, transforming them into something harmless or eliminating them all together. We try to cough up toxins that we breathe, while those landing on our skin may be washed away by sweat. Toxins in our food are dealt with by the liver, gallbladder and colon, while those that dare to enter us in liquid form may be partially flushed out by the liver, kidneys and bladder. There’s no need for fancy products and complex diets all we need to do is help our bodies along by following these simple, common-sense tips.

:: Steer clear of chemicals

:: Buy organic food whenever possible and where budget allows. Growing your own window-sill tomatoes and herbs works well.

:: Avoid artificial sweeteners (most contain aspartame - a chemical closely linked to cancer).

:: Choose produce free from artificial additives: we’re natural beings – we’re not meant to consume man-made chemicals.

:: Drink plenty of clean water: The majority of people ignore their body’s cry for water and often think they’re hungry when they really need to fill their stomach with a glass of clean water! Aim to drink around 2 litres a day if you suffer from heartburn, rheumatoid joint pain, back pain, migraine, high-blood pressure or weight problems.

:: Try juicing and sprouting: Fresh juice is great for cleansing because it helps flush the digestive system and restore important nutrients to the body. Juicing is especially good for cleansing the liver. Make sure you’re getting plenty of green stuff in the juice. As alkalising your body enables it to do its best natural detoxing. Sprouting seeds is another great way of providing high quantities of essential nutrients. It’s easy and cheap and adds variety to salads, stir-fries and sandwich toppings.

Breakfast smoothie

Smoothies are a quick and delicious way to help you get your 5 a day. You can use a whole variety of weird and wonderful fruits (like guava, lychees or persimmon) or more familiar ones such as bananas, mangos and melons. Just remember that the greater the variety of fruit you use, the greater the range of essential nutrients you’ll be feeding your body’s vital biochemical processes.

Smoothies are great for any time of the day and you only need a basic blender.

Ingredients (single servings)

1 banana

30g raspberries

30g blueberries

Handful baby spinach

100ml almond milk

Optional: 1 tsp powdered barley grass

½ avocado

1 tsp bee pollen granules

Step 4 – Have a good cupboard clear out by removing all the tempting snacks and junk food from the house. If it’s not to hand you’re more likely to stay on track.

Step 5 - Menu plan the week and get prepared a few days before. Eat more variety of food and always strive to eat your five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, after all they are the best source of vitamins and minerals. A healthy selection you could start with are: carrots, cherries, watercress, strawberries, asparagus, pineapple or kale.

Step 6 – Now go shopping. Being organized when you go shopping is the key to success. Write your shopping list before you go and stick to it! Have the willpower to avoid the aisles with the junk food deals. Learn the supermarket layout and avoid aisles that lower your resistance.

Get to grips with food labelling:

There are guidelines to tell you if a food is high in fat, saturated fat, salt or sugar, or not. These are:

Total fat - High: more than 17.5g of fat per 100g Low: 3g of fat or less per 100g

Saturated fat - High: more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g Low: 1.5g of saturated fat or less per 100g

Sugars - High: more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g Low: 5g of total sugars or less per 100g

Salt - High: more than 1.5g of salt per 100g (or 0.6g sodium) Low: 0.3g of salt or less per 100g (or 0.1g sodium)

For example, if you are trying to cut down on saturated fat, limit your consumption of foods that have more than 5g of saturated fat per 100g.

Step 7 – Avoid portion distortion (when you overload your plate) and go for portion control.

A guideline on portions is:

Soup – serving the size of a cricket ball

Rice – serving the size of a lightbulb

Jacket potato – serving the size of a computer mouse

Nuts – serving the size of a golf ball

Fish – serving the size of a deck of cards

Berries – serving the size of a cricket ball.

Step 8 - Schedule your workouts and allow yourself some flexibility while still meeting your minimum target.

Step 9 - Work out at the correct intensity and duration for your age group, level of fitness and lifestyle. A 60+ year old retired person should work out for longer at a lower intensity eg tennis and swimming. Whereas a busy 30-year-old mum should do shorter workouts but at a higher intensity eg HIIT or Short, fast run.

Step 10. Choose types of exercise that you enjoy and make sure it’s varied. Try and incorporate it into your social life so that you are motivated by other people, eg join a sports club, find a training partner or get the family involved in weekend cycling.

Step 11. Get family and friends to support you by telling them about your resolutions. When you are accountable, you tend to attain a higher success rate. Want to be more private about it? Then hire a trainer and be answerable to them each week.

Step 12. Enjoy the new you and believe you will succeed and you can accomplish anything you set your mind to!