A chocolate bar or a bag of chips from the vending machine? A quick bologna sandwich on white bread with mayo from the fridge?

This is it. The year you vow to lose weight, get fit, quit smoking or make other positive changes in your life. It seems easy enough—you’re motivated and know that what you’re planning to do is good for you.

You start the year with the best intentions. So why is it that if you’re like approximately 80 percent of Americans, you’ll give up on your goals by the second week in February?

One major problem with sticking to resolutions for more than a few days or a few weeks is that many people try to make changes that are not easy to live with. We aim too high only to set ourselves up for failure because those changes are not sustainable. For example, if we want to lose weight, we adopt an eating plan that makes us feel deprived. If getting fitter is our goal, we join a gym and start going five times a week, only to quickly burn out.

Fats have taken a back seat to sugar in the war on heart disease. The latest research indicates that large amounts of added sugar in your diet can significantly increase your risk of dying from heart disease. 

In a study published in the American Medical Association’s JAMA: Internal Medicine, individuals who got 17 to 21 percent of their calories from added sugar more than doubled their risk of developing heart disease. This is compared to those who got only 8 percent of their calories from added sugar.

If you learn to eat mindfully instead of mindlessly, you will also get more enjoyment from your food. You will start to appreciate a food's taste, smell, texture and how it feels in your body. Mindful eating also makes you more aware of the cues that you are hungry or full.

Here’s how you can learn to master the art of mindful eating.

Keep to a schedule. Avoid skipping meals or waiting too long to eat. Eating when you are too hungry increases the likelihood that you will overeat, and/or eat too quickly to enjoy it.

Einstein dietitian Caitlyn Crosby, RD, LDN, discusses what patients can expect during their first appointment with a registered dietitian.

If you're expecting a generic meal plan, you might be surprised. What you'll receive instead is a plan tailored to your specific needs, based on your eating, exercise and sleeping habits, as well as other overall health and nutritional factors.

Learn more in this video.

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