Our topic for January is Health and Wellbeing.
As we bid farewell to 2024, let us all give a long exhale. Followed by an equally long and hope-filled inhale. Our wish for our residents and community is that 2025 brings health, hope, and happiness.
Engaging in active practices proven to improve our mental and physical well-being is a great way to ensure we are on the right track for that wish.
A new year is a great time for us to examine our health, our lifestyles, and our relationships with community. It’s a good time to look for innovative fixes to systems or mindsets that do not serve us: from unrealistic parenting standards, to under prioritizing mental health, to feeling doubt around our future.
Creating community and gathering with friends is a wonderful way to maintain a positive outlook, find allies, and hold each other accountable to goals and resolutions.
New Years Resolutions! Keeping them simple and achievable is key. Here are 55 Achievable New Years Resolutions from our friends at Good HouseKeeping:
To make real change, it is the small consistent practices that will get us to our larger goals. We love the idea of thinking of resolutions as…ideas, versus an obstacle. This article has great ideas for simple, life fulfilling changes:
We would encourage you to pull out your phone or Chromebook and give these sites a look. In 2025 our hope is to deliver our newsletters via email as well, so all it will take is a simple click to access these resources.
RESIDENT PROFILE: ROBERT “BIP” DANIELS
This month we want to profile one of our valued Board Members, Robert “Bip” Daniels. Bip is a longtime advocate for our community. With a background in community development, planning, youth services, and housing, his experience is profoundly helpful as we steer UNPHC into the future. Bip is also a music aficionado, seasoned traveler, and knows where to find the best meals and the best live jazz in town. His intellect, compassion and skill sets keep us on track and pointed in the right direction. We are honored to have him as part of our UNPHC family and leadership.
JANUARY
RESOURCES
A few more resources for our UNPHC EdX topic of the month: Health & Wellbeing
A few more thoughts and resources as we step into 2025
David B. Reuben, MD, geriatrician:
“Most of what people can do to have a healthy 2025 is not much different than what they could do to have a healthy 2024: exercise; don’t smoke; drink alcohol in moderation, if at all; stay engaged; and keep your mind stimulated. “Be decent in every interaction and seek optimism every day. You may not find something to rejoice about but you may find something meaningful that may help others and yourself.”
Dana Ellis Hunnes, PhD, RD, dietitian:
“Eat a whole-food, plant-based diet as much as possible. The more whole, plant-based foods a person can eat, the healthier they are likely to be because of the high fiber content, antioxidants, anti-inflammatory
components and compounds in the foods, along with lower calorie intake and increased satiety. “And spend more time with people you care about. There is a lot of data to suggest that when we are alone,
our well-being goes down. So, try to spend time with people you love and enjoy spending time with.”
Quick recipe alert!
1 . Add 3⁄4 cups of old-fashioned rolled oats and 3⁄4 cups of your favorite milk into an airtight container, mix with a spoon and place it in the fridge overnight. That’s it!
2. The next morning, take it out of the fridge and top it with some berries and a drizzle of maple syrup. Enjoy!
Valentina Ogaryan, clinical director of the Simms/Mann UCLA Center for Integrative Oncology
“To me, healthy refers to body, spirit and mind. For the body, it’s best to eat whole foods and incorporate some type of physical activity on a routine basis. It’s also about giving yourself permission to indulge, in
moderation, foods that bring you joy. With the mind, it’s making sure to increase awareness of helpful versus unhelpful thoughts, to have access to social support and to give the mind some rest by unplugging from social media and becoming intentional about focusing on present-moment interactions.
“With the spirit and heart, it is finding and connecting to people, activities, hobbies, interests that nourish the soul – anything that brings connection and can foster meaning. It can be spending time with loved ones; connection through music, literature and art; prayer, meditation and connecting to spirituality; or community- based activities.”
