How’s 2021 Looking for your health? How to make this new year a better year

We have high hopes for 2021.  We’ve chalked up just about every bad thing that has happened to us as individuals, the country and the world as 2020 phenomena.  It’s great to be positive as we look to the new year. But as with every path forward in life, nothing comes easily. We did not miraculously wake up on New Year’s day to find the pandemic over, the political unrest solved or our own personal goals easily met.  All positive change takes patience, hope, time and work.

So how can we find a path to better health in the year to come, that is both realistic and meaningful?  Many of us let our health go during the pandemic. We stress ate, slacked on exercise and got behind with routine health care. For good reasons— it has not been an easy time. Others, took advantage of their time on hand to make positive changes to their health. Kudos to those who did that. Wherever you fall on this spectrum you want to make 2021 a better year. Sometimes it’s hard to know where to begin.

As physicians we will always say lifestyle is the cornerstone to good health. What does this mean? It means taking steps in your daily life to make healthy choices.  Choosing to eat a healthful diet, exercise regularly and prioritize sleep and self care.  These are essentials that will never steer your wrong. In a perfect world, we could all eat a generous amount of fruits and vegetables, lean proteins and whole grains all the time. We would all find the time for healthy cardio and weight bearing exercise each day and we would all find time to sleep adequately and feed our soul with mindfulness practices. If there is one thing we have learned from 2020, it is that life is not ideal.

So what is a simple and fail proof way to start your year off right? Taking the right vitamins can be a wonderful way to jump start your journey to better health .  But how do you know what vitamins to take? As doctors, we have been asked this so many times by so many patients. People are constantly bombarded by conflicting messages from the media, friends and other sources about what vitamins or supplements to take. The pandemic has made this even worse.  It turns out that there are medically sound and useful vitamins to take to improve your health. However, the vitamins and amounts are not the same for each person. We all have different diets, lifestyles and health concerns, thus need different nutrients to meet our individual needs.

So how do you figure out your nutritional needs? This is exactly the question that led us to create Vous Vitamin®. After decades of listening to our patients questions about vitamins and seeing the very real effects of vitamin deficiencies such as fatigue, thinning hair, trouble losing weight, migraines, low energy and more, we created Vous Vitamin® personalized vitamins to meet each person’s needs. Via our vitamin quiz you can answer simple questions about who you are, your habits and your health to get a daily personalized all in one vitamin (take two pills daily) to meet your exact vitamin needs.

Other personalized vitamin routines may recommend handfuls of expensive pills. It turns out that this is not necessary and can often be harmful (yes, taking too many or the wrong vitamins can be bad for you).  Taking a streamlined daily vitamin that provides you with the right amount of each nutrient your body needs not only makes sense, but it makes you more likely to stick with this simple health hack as your start your path to a better you in 2021.

Taking the right vitamins in a personalized vitamin is not only a simple way to start your health journey, it is an effective way to lean in to other health habits. We know that vitamins are essential to better immune health and we also know that taking the right vitamins can help curb craving for unhealthy foods, boost energy and in turn, give you the focus and motivation to make better diet and lifestyle choices. So while, as doctors, we agree that lifestyle is king when it comes to health— we could all use a little help sometimes. and 2021 is no exception.  As we look forward to a slightly better year ahead, let us allow ourselves the tools to enable ourselves to create that positive change.

Romy Block specializes in Endocrinology and Metabolism and is mother to three active adolescent boys. Arielle Levitan is a Doctor of Internal Medicine with a special interest in Preventive Medicine and Women’s Health.  She is a mother of three teenagers. As professional women with active family lives, they recognize that people often neglect their own health needs and are uncertain about what vitamins to take. Each person is different in her diet, exercise and health history, and will benefit from different nutrients.  After years of advising their patients about the proper vitamins to take,  Drs. Block and Levitan created Vous Vitamin® to provide people everywhere with quality vitamins that are suited to their individual needs. They are authors of the award winning The Vitamin Solution: Two Doctors Clear Confusion About Vitamins and Your Health (She Writes Press, 2015). Take your vitamin quiz now to get exactly the right vitamins for your needs.

The statements made in this article have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The products offered by Vous Vitamin® are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.

Nothing contained herein is intended to be a diagnosis or constitute medical advice.  The symptoms described in this Blog may be a result of a serious medical condition which requires medical treatment.  You should consult with your doctor if you are experiencing any of the symptoms mentioned in this Blog and before beginning any vitamin or supplement regimen.