new year, new, healthier you? As 2023 approaches, you may be feeling pressured to improve your health and wellness routine, wondering where to start. Lucky for us, health expert and entrepreneur Ayesha Curry has a solution to help jumpstart your health routine for the new year. The two-time New York Times bestselling author and chef partnered with MyFitnessPal, a comprehensive nutrition and fitness tracking app that helps members achieve their unique health goals, to kick off 2023 with an invitation to join their free two-week Jumpstart Your Health Challenge.
“The start of a new year marks an opportunity to reset and create intentions for the next 12 months. Many people make resolutions about their health. Whether it’s about weight, nutrition or fitness, MyFitnessPal recognizes that everyone’s health goals are different, and we have the tools to help navigate every journey,” explained Tricia Han, CEO of MyFitnessPal. “The Jumpstart, Your Health Challenge, shares tips and advice over two weeks – small adjustments that can add up to big changes.”
Curry takes on the challenge by lending her tips, tricks and recipes to help members build healthy habits and achieve their personal health goals. Along with insights from nutrition and fitness experts and the best advice from more than 200 million MyFitnessPal members, Curry shares how small daily changes can translate into significant and meaningful health transformations – whether your goal is to lose weight, gain weight, build muscle or change your eating habits.
“Over the years and as a busy mom of three, I’ve always looked to MyFitnessPal as a partner in my health journey to track my food, fitness and hydration goals. I’m so excited to partner with MyFitnessPal on the Jumpstart Your Health Challenge to share some tips and recipes that work for me,” Curry shared. “I committed to a 14-day challenge to gain more lean muscle and eat plant-based protein. I hope everyone will take time in the new year to prioritize self-care – whatever their goals – and join me in this free challenge.”
Kari is no stranger to the MyFitnessPal app, as she has used it for years, making the partnership feel organic. “What I love about this particular activation that we’re doing is that it’s a simple plan. We started the 14-day JumpstartYourHealth challenge on January 2nd. What’s interesting is taking small steps to make big changes. With a new year coming up, we often create these big lofty goals for ourselves and almost always fall short. This challenge makes it easier for you to change your health and well-being,” he told ESSENCE.
From fitness to food, MyFitnessPal has gathered the best tips and habits that have proven successful for many members. It shares that knowledge with anyone who is ready to start their health journey in the new year. With the app, you can log your food and hydration and meal prep, which takes the stress out of creating consistent, nutritious meals.
Meal prep tips and recipes include some from Curry, such as a tropical post-workout smoothie, a naked turkey and smashed avocado burger or roast chicken with mango corn salsa.
“With recipes incorporated, some of our favorites were developed by the MyFitnessPal team and me. We focus on recipes that really work and are easy to make; I put my spin on them to make them flavorful. Sometimes health and wellness tends to be very granola, making it very rewarding to be consistent with your journey. But with this, everything is delicious,” he said.
One of her favorite easy and convenient meal prep meals takes less than 15 minutes to prepare. “I love anything in a salad cup. I’ll make cups of Asian-style chicken salad or ground turkey; I would take what would normally go in a taco, put it in a salad cup, and put all the ingredients in there. And I love that you can make it in a big batch and keep it in the fridge for a week,” she reveals.
Do not worry; Kari plans to be more mindful of her health outside of food this year, inspiring us to do the same. “We call it a challenge, but it’s just implementing a way to take into account your health and well-being for 14 days. We will allow you to track your hydration on the app, you will be able to track your fitness and your steps, you will be able to track your weight, whatever you like whether you’re trying to lose or maintain you will be able to access a database of recipes and exercises this. And as long as you do something every day, that’s the challenge. The challenges are approachable and won’t overwhelm you or stress you out because you didn’t accomplish all the challenges you wanted to do. We’ve made it very, very simple,” he said.
Curry has struggled with feeling like he’s not achieving his goals as well because he’s too hard on himself because of high expectations, “What I’ve realized is that when I’m hard on myself, I’m almost accomplishing nothing, like in all aspects of my health and well-being. , I’m just in a state of constant stress. So I have taken more than 80/20 life. Enjoying my life, but being careful and aware when I can get what I put into my body, but not skipping the celebration because I’m very strict about my health and well-being,” she said.
He continued, “So for me, the app, the app makes it easy to keep track of it. And often, what you find is when you’re tracking what you’re putting into your body, like when you’re physically writing it down or typing it into an iPhone or a computer you, you start looking at what you’re putting into your body. You realize that you’re becoming more careful with logging what you’re doing. You want to put better things into your body.”
When asked why people should prioritize their health for January 2023? He replied, “Your health is your wealth. If your body is not in shape, you will not be able to do everything you want. You cannot pour from an empty cup.” For self-care, Curry’s favorite practices are meditation and prayer. “Take a moment to go inside to find a quiet space. And whether it’s like five minutes or 15 minutes, just have that time each day to just reflect and be grateful for a moment. I also love a good bath when I can shower and find peace and quiet. Even though sometimes it results in kids running in and out and driving me crazy, I try to make it happen. Food is also my life. What I eat and how I eat is a form of self-care, and I love putting good food into my body. I love making meals feel meaningful and worthwhile,” she says.
For more information about MyFitnessPal, visit www.myfitnesspal.com or download via the App Store and Google Play.
