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Keeping those Millennial resolutions….with the help of the Internet, of course… Written for CBC Ottawa's Radio Show, CBO Morning The champagne’s worn off. The Christmas tree’s at the dump. It’s mid January, and all you’ve gotten so far out of this new millennium thing is a few extra pounds, and the list of new year’s resolutions that you’re trying hard to forget about. Well, and I hate to be inspirational here, but it’s the year 2000, and if you’re going to make a go of any of those resolutions, this is the time, isn’t it? However, fear not. As per usual, there are a ton of resources to kick start that resolution on the Internet. Probably the most common New Year’s resolution is to eat less and exercise more, which is a heck of a lot harder than it sounds, especially if you lead a nice, sedentary computer-geek lifestyle like I do. I’ve come to the conclusion, over the years, that the best way to get going on fitness is to ease into it, rather than expecting to wake up the next morning and run 10K. An excellent website that can help you transform from a couch potato into a buff workout bunny is Asimba.com. Asimba, which is apparently named after a famous long distance runner and a mountain in Ethiopia, is an unique, free site that offers customized fitness and weightloss training programs and resources. Asimba originally started off specifically dedicated to running and fitness walking. The Y2K version of Asimba is more robust, with programs tailored for weightloss, and all sorts of sports, including snowboarding, biking, swimming, skiing, and even snowshoeing. What Asimba does for you is this: when you first visit the site, you choose the activity that you want to focus on. Then, you choose the level and goal you want to achieve with this activity. For example, you might want to sign up for a beginner walking program, as training for a 5K fun walk in the spring. When you’ve made your choice, Asimba sets you up with a customized training program for your level, and sends you daily e-mails, reminding you of what you need to do for the program that day. There’s even a free fitness and training log you can use to track your progress. External motivation! A new feature on Asimba is the weightloss program, which aims to help you lose a pound a week. It works the same way as the fitness training programs, only this time you get recipes and your fitness program in your inbox. If you’re looking to make lifestyle changes in the new year, you might also want to check out Canada’s Physical Activity Guide, which lives on the web at www.paguide.com. Canada’s Physical Activity Guide is, obviously, a guide designed to help Canadians get off the couch and get active. It’s got lots of good advice about how to get started, and it’s a joint initiate from Health Canada, and the Canadian Society for Exercise and Physiology, so you know it’s well-researched. You can read the entire guide online at paguide.com, or download it as a printable PDF, or even order a hard copy to be sent to your house. Check it out. As far as health resolutions go, another biggie for the year 2000 has got to be quitting smoking. If you’re looking to kick the habit, there are some sites out there for you as well. A good place to start, is, of course, the Canadian Cancer society. The Cancer society has a specific Tobacco and Cancer area on their website at www.cancer.ca/tobacco/index.htm. Here you can read about the adverse effects of smoking (to strengthen your resolve), and then download "One Step at a Time", their customized quitting smoking guide. Another good site for those wanting to "butt out" (sorry! I can’t help the bad puns!) in the year 2000 is Quitsmokingsupport.com. This site is a great web community for quitters, which includes information on everything from dealing with nicotine withdrawal to making health and fitness changes. There are also lots of useful interactive features, such as bulletin boards, quizzes, and mailing lists. If you’re looking for a more structured online program to quit smoking, you might also want to check out Quitnet, at quitnet.com. Quitnet is a comprehensive website project sponsored by the Boston School of Public Health. Quitnet works on a web community basis, which means that if you want to use the site to its full capacity, you need to register. Once you’ve registered, you can use quitnet’s "quit date wizard" to figure out exactly when you’re going to be smoke free. Then, quitnet will help you work towards that goal, with interactive tools, e-mail tips, and many more resources. Now, perhaps you’re like me this new year—you’ve chosen a more low-key sort of new year’s resolution, such as reading more books, watching less TV, and cutting down on the hours spent online. If you find that your eyes are going buggy after too much net time, perhaps it’s time to get rid of that Internet addiction as your new year’s resolution. And guess what, you’re going to have to go online to help yourself. (Ah, irony!) Take a look at the centre for online addiction, at www.netaddiction.com. If nothing else, this is an interesting site where you can test yourself for net addiction, set up some virtual clinic appointments, and check out the demographics of fellow Internet addicts. As far as that other addictive medium goes, there’s an interesting site out there called the Kill your TV Website at http://othello.localaccess.com/hardebeck/. This site has lots of information and reasons for you to give up the tube, and even invites surfers to try the ultimate challenge—give up TV for an entire month. Believe it or not, the comments from people who’ve made it are somewhat inspiring. As my new year’s resolution is to give up my nightly dose of Law and Order in favour of classic literature, I will finish off this article with a visit to the Modern Library’s 100 best novels of the 20th century list, at www.randomhouse.com/modernlibrary/100best/novels.html. According to the list, I should be reading Ulysses by James Joyce (#1 on the list) instead of watching Mike Logan track down more criminals on Law and Order. Hmmm….maybe it *would* be easier if I resolved to get fit instead… Sites discussed in this column:
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