With the new year almost here, many may be considering making health changes.

Debra Hull, Diabetes Educator at SSM Health St. Francis in Maryville, said good health starts today.

“Don’t wait for January, don’t wait for a resolution, good health is a balanced lifestyle,” Hull said. “It can be frustrating to people who want to just fix things quickly and start a resolution, because resolutions usually mean an extreme change and a lot of people tend to fail at that. A lot of our activity is guided through habits, once the body gets used to doing something, you’re going to be drawn to continue to do that.”

Hull said to start out with new habits slowly and make small goals. Hull adds, when considering health, there are three big things to consider.

“The way we fuel our body or feed our body, it is the activity that we carry out and then it’s our stress level, the big three for good health in many avenues is making sure we’re staying on top of those three things,” Hull said. “Under that umbrella of stress, includes our time management. It is such a busy world today and we have to be very intentionally focused on what we want to get out of each day. So I encourage people to look at what you’re spending or wasting your time on everyday.”

Hull said it’s important to make health a priority.

“Do or do not, there is no failure. So you’re either going to choose to do it or not to do it. If you fail, that means you’ve chosen not to do it when it comes to eating healthy,” Hull said. “It’s a matter of making health a priority. It is possible, but you’ve got to be focused and make it a priority now, don’t wait until you have bad knees, don’t wait until you’re forced to because of a diagnosis.”

SSM Health St. Francis offers multiple health programs focused on community health. For more information, contact Debra Hull at (660) 562-7966.