Food for Thought by Daphne Oz

With 2012 upon us, let's once and for all give up the idea of "resolutions" that are made to be broken in the first month and adopt a new strategy for self-improvement. Rather than resolve to torture ourselves with unrealistic goals (plenty of my old lists of New Year's resolutions featured "run five miles every weekday" and "never eat bread again" — vows never to be kept) or vague platitudes — "live in the moment," anyone? — why not try something that may actually work: reasonable goals with real benchmarks for success whose fulfillment will actually (cue angel choir) make you happier.

Here are my three tips to creating a resolution list that, come 2013, will be a thing of your past, present and future.

1) Take inventory. Though 2011 may have been your very best year yet, every one of us is likely still on the path to ultimate happiness. As long as we're searching for our own individual answers to life's (many) questions, we are in a stage of growth. To keep growing, we need change — change in our attitude, change in our response and, ultimately, change in our situation.

Take inventory and see where it is in your life — workplace, relationship, self — that you feed anxiety, insecurity and fear. Then see where you derive comfort, security and fulfillment. Half the battle is knowing where to focus your energies.

Once you've realized where it is in life that you feel the most improvement is needed, commit to three actionable steps to sever ties, restructure the relationship to better suit your needs, or change your response so you can move beyond whatever is making you feel dissatisfied.

Then — and this is the much more important step — identify where it is in life that you are at your happiest, and commit to three actionable steps that will not only strengthen these areas but also allow you to devote more energy and time to supporting and growing their presence in your life.

2) Vocalize.

Once you tell someone else you have a goal, your commitment level has to change, because the structure is no longer just something you made up in the vacuum of your mind three glasses of Champagne into New Year's Eve. Tell someone you trust the goals you are working on for 2012, and ask him or her to follow up with you. Better yet, exchange goals and follow up with each other. The buddy system works, and what better way to strengthen a friendship than to share a year's journey of becoming better people?

3) Tempt your taste buds. Let 2012 be a year of "one new recipe a week." So many of us get comfortable with our three or four signature dishes, but when you think back to those things that you make over and over again, rarely are they ever your best showing. More importantly, a fear of getting into the kitchen — or the poor nutritional value of whatever it is we are creating once we get in there — has left many of us wanting in the health department.

It's what we do most of the time that counts, so the recipes we rely on regularly will ideally be health-supportive and delicious. But the most important thing is variety. Give yourself an opportunity to explore and travel in your kitchen. Test your boundaries; cook something you never have before. It not only will excite your taste buds but also just might help whittle your waistline in a real, sustainable manner by giving you an arsenal of new dishes in which you won't miss the extra fat and calories.

Happy new year!

Daphne Oz is a co-host of ABC's "The Chew." To find out more about Daphne Oz and read features by other Creators Syndicate columnists and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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