Reset for Renewal: Preparing Your Body for the New Year
ESTIMATED READ TIME: 7 minutesEvery year, millions of people hope for change. But hope alone doesn’t bring transformation. If you want different results in the coming year, you have to change your behavior.
As the famous quote (that's often misattributed to Albert Einstein) says, “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.” If we want a new outcome, we must be willing to create new rhythms.
The start of a new year is an opportunity for renewal: a time to pause, take inventory, and reset our physical, emotional, and spiritual health.
Scripture calls us to “Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so he may run who reads it.” (Habakkuk 2:2) This means setting clear, specific goals, tracking our progress, and continually realigning our daily actions with the values God has placed on our hearts.
7 Steps to Renew Your Body and Spirit
A true reset doesn’t happen by accident. Renewal comes from intention, structure, and choosing, day after day, to align your habits with the person God is shaping you to become.
These steps will help you create real, measurable momentum as you enter the new year:
1. Don’t Just Aim… Write It Down
Vague goals rarely lead to change. That’s why I encourage you to set SMART goals: those that are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.
One study found that people who wrote down their goals, created action steps, and sent weekly progress updates to someone were 42% more likely to achieve them compared to those who only thought about their goals.
In another hospital-based study, when doctors spent just seven minutes helping cardiac patients create SMART goals with a simple action plan—such as goals like eating better, reducing stress, or moving more—over half of patients (53%) followed through within three weeks (a percentage that doctors were very satisfied with).
Instead of just thinking about your goals, write them down and be specific.There is power in committing your intentions to paper. It builds accountability and sharpens your focus.
2. Track Your Progress: What Gets Measured Improves
One of my favorite sayings is: “Not just what’s expected, but what’s inspected.”
This year, don’t just make changes—monitor them. Tracking creates awareness, and awareness leads to transformation. For example, when you write down what you eat, how you move, and how you feel, you begin to see patterns that either create health or destroy it.
One of the simplest and most powerful ways to do this is through daily writing and journaling, which allows you to capture your habits, your progress, and the lessons you're learning along the way.
Because so many in the Biblio Diet community have experienced remarkable transformations, we’re launched a free 8-week guided study program. This companion will help you journal each day, track your goals, measure your habits, and build the kind of self-awareness that creates lasting change.
3. Set Clear Goals for Movement, Nutrition, and Lifestyle
God created your body to move, work, and thrive—not to stagnate. Look at your habits honestly. Ask yourself what needs to go, and what needs more room to grow?
Begin by setting goals for physical activity:
Steps per day (such as 8,000–12,000+)
Minutes walked per week
Total miles walked per month or even per year
Strength sessions per week
I also encourage you to set one “stretch goal” as well, meaning something that pushes you beyond your comfort zone, grows you, and reminds you that with strength and consistency, you can do hard things.
This could be completing a full 24-hour fast each week, cooking nearly all of your meals at home, walking 300,000 steps in a month, or removing every ultra-processed food from your home. If it feels challenging but doable with effort, it's like a good goal to pursue.
You can do the same type of goal setting for nutrition, too:
Increase protein (up to 1 gram per pound of ideal body weight if appropriate)
Add an extra serving of antioxidants daily
Incorporate more herbs, spices, and fermented foods
Reduce sugar, seed oils, snacking, or late-night eating
4. Harness the Power of Fasting
Fasting is a Biblical practice and one of the most powerful metabolic reset tools we have. You don’t need to start with long fasts either to reap the benefits. Shortening your "eating window" to 8 hours and then narrowing it further will still pay off.
Fasting might just seem like it's all about food and weight loss, but it's so much more than that; it strengthens discipline, detoxification, spiritual clarity, and metabolic health.
Studies show that even short-term fasting can increase human growth hormone significantly, enhance autophagy, and significantly improve insulin sensitivity and blood pressure, marking it as one of the most powerful tools for whole-body renewal.
Begin slowly:
Try 12-hour fasts at first (including the hours overnight)
Work toward 16-hour fasts a few days per week
Eventually, experiment with a 22-hour fast or even a full-day fast, as appropriate
Within your eating window, choose foods mindfully to make the most of every meal
5. Your Morning Routine Determines Your Day
How you start is how you finish. A consistent morning routine lays the foundation for a productive, peaceful, and purposeful day.
As Romans 12:2 tells us, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” Renewal begins in the mind long before it’s visible in the body, and there's no better time to set the stage for a great day than in the earliest hours.
Research has found that early-morning sunlight exposure helps regulate cortisol rhythms, which improves mood, increases energy, boosts metabolic health, and enhances resilience against stress throughout the day. Even five to ten minutes of Scripture, prayer, or quiet reflection can also reshape your mindset, calm your nervous system, and align your day with His truth.
Consider beginning your morning with:
Something faith-based (like prayer or Scripture reading)
Journaling, such as about your goals or a gratitude list
Time outside in sunlight
Light stretching or a short walk
Lemon water or herbal tea
These small practices build spiritual resilience and shape your mindset before the world starts demanding from you.
6. Strengthen Your Inner Dialogue (And Believe You Can Change)
Scripture reminds us, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Proverbs 18:21). The words we speak, internally and externally, shape our biology, our behaviors, and our destiny.
Begin replacing negative, limiting self-talk with God’s truth about who you are: strong, capable, disciplined, and created with purpose. When your inner narrative agrees with His Word, your actions begin to reflect it.
Lasting transformation happens when your identity shifts. Instead of saying, “I’m trying to be healthier,” begin declaring, “I am a healthy person stewarding the body God gave me.”
Identity drives behavior, so when you see yourself as someone who chooses nourishing foods, honors rhythms, moves with purpose, and walks closely with God, your daily habits begin to align naturally.
Here are some practical steps to begin speaking life over yourself:
Your mind listens to every word you speak, so instead of rehearsing past failures, begin rehearsing faith.
Practice affirmations rooted in Scripture, such as verses like “I can do all things through Christ” or “The joy of the Lord is my strength,” rewire your inner dialogue with truth.
When discouraging thoughts arise, interrupt them immediately and replace them with God’s promises.
With practice, this simple discipline reshapes your mindset, strengthens your confidence, and fuels the consistency needed for long-term change.
7. Create Rhythms, Not Just Goals
Goals give you direction, but rhythms transform your life. Instead of relying on motivation, build predictable routines—including around sunlight, meals, movement, fasting, and rest.
Morning and evening rhythms—like a consistent wake time, sunlight exposure early in the day, shared family meals, a nightly wind-down, or gratitude reflection—train your body and spirit to flourish. When you live by these types of rhythms, discipline becomes natural, not forced.
As the author James Clear wisely teaches, “You don’t rise to the level of your goals; you fall to the level of your systems.”
In other words, your outcomes are the result of your routines, not your intentions. The routines you build become the structure that carries you toward renewal long after motivation fades.
A Final Word as You Enter the New Year
Renewal isn’t about perfection but about direction. This year, choose the direction of discipline, restoration, and intentional living.
Write down your goals. Track your habits. Move your body. Eat the foods God created. Fast regularly. And begin each day with a mind and heart aligned to God’s purpose. I believe this can be your strongest, healthiest, most spiritually anchored year yet (and you should, too).
References:
https://artsandculture.google.com/story/who-really-said-these-5-famous-phrases/JAXh1xsiCEHOqw?hl=en
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC6796229/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35678263/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5990470/
https://psychiatry.arizona.edu/news/higher-dose-morning-light-will-change-your-life