Find help with diet, exercise and mental health in 2022 with these resources

You may not be saying the word 'resolution,' but maybe it's floating in your mind.

Maybe it comes to the forefront when you reach for that last holiday cookie or ponder taking the stairs instead of the elevator. Or perhaps you need a little push to make a change in 2022.

The El Paso Times wants to help with that nudge toward living your best life. We've collected information and stories related to health — from healthy eating restaurants and exercise facilities to walking trails and addressing mental health — in a quick, easy-to-read guide.

Cheers to a better, happier you in the New Year.

When it comes to healthy eating, there are various approaches. You could start shopping for more nutritious ingredients, such as at Sprouts or Whole Foods stores, making sure to include more fresh vegetables and fruits in your daily diet. Both franchises also offer walk-up counters to order soups, salads, and freshly made sandwiches or sushi. Try the mozzarella, tomato and basil pesto bruschetta at Sprouts.

You could try ordering healthy prepared meals so that you eliminate the temptation to warm up cold pizza. In El Paso, there are a variety of small businesses that offer prepared meals, and some cater to a specific diet, such as keto, vegan or vegetarian lifestyles.

XCF Kitchen, Holistic Meals, Kitchen Express, and Grown Together are just some businesses devoted to prepared meals. To read our review of these places, click here.

You could try choosing more salads and new vegetarian options when you eat at fast-food restaurants. Taco Cabana, Carl's Jr., Burger King are just a few fast-food restaurants that offer vegetarian menu items.

And KFC just announced that it would start carrying Beyond Meat's plant-based chicken Jan. 10 across the United States. It will be available à la carte or in a combo. It will start at $7, depending on the location.

Want to know about these fast-food vegetarian options? Click here to read.

You could try to mix in restaurants with plant-based menus or a focus on healthy eating into your weekly jaunts outs. Here are some great options in El Paso.

Vegan restaurant Grown Together opened a new restaurant in August at 209 E. Mills Ave. in Downtown El Paso.

Initially, the business sold vegan meal prep as a side business until demand grew. Now Grown Together offers a dine-in option with menu options including Philly cheesesteaks, birria tacos and buffalo 'chicken' sandwiches.

To learn more about Grown Together, click here.

The restaurant, 201 E Main Drive, offers a plant-based menu that features sandwiches, burgers, cold-pressed juices and detox smoothies among other healthy items.

To learn more about what the restaurant offers, click here.

Lick it Up has been serving a small but great-tasting vegetarian menu Downtown since 2019. The restaurant is located inside the International building at 114 E. Mills Ave.

His amazing black bean and potato flautas were featured on Guy Fieri's "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives" on the Food Network.

To learn more this popular spot, click here.

In Central El Paso, you have to try Joe, Vinny & Bronson's Bohemian Café, at 824 N. Piedras. The quaint neighborhood café offers a full selection of vegetarian options, as well as a great selection of sandwiches, burgers, pitas, and other meat-friendly items.

To learn more about this hip place, click here.

Salata, a relatively new restaurant at 6450 Desert Blvd. North, offers built-to-order salads with 50 different toppings. The restaurant is at the West Towne Marketplace.

The small but very filling salad costs $7.50. People also can add protein, such as pesto chicken or spicy chipotle chicken, for an extra $3. Other options include shrimp and quinoa.

To learn more about dining at Salata, click here.

Eating a salad becomes an enjoyable experience if there are many toppings to choose from. The new Souper Salad, at 8900 Viscount Blvd., brings back great salads, plus an expanded menu with sandwiches, wraps, and online ordering.

In light of the pandemic, guests can serve themselves but are asked to wear gloves, which are provided. The salad bar also has a protective plastic guard.

To read more about this Souper Salad, click here to read.

Westsiders should include the Grove Brunch Café, at 7470 Cimarron Market, Building 7 Suite 200, on their eating out options. The Eggs Benedict alone is a reason to stop by.

However, the restaurant chef also is open to customizing orders to dietary needs because he says everything is from scratch. Most items range from $9 to $12.

To learn more about the restaurant's menu, click here.

Get your protein by indulging in some healthy, but tasty sushi and staying away from the deep-fried rolls, or eating them in moderation.

In El Paso, there are quite a few sushi places and one of the more long-standing ones is Sunny's, which opened its fourth location in 2019. The locations are 8838 Viscount Blvd., 910 E Redd Road, Ste F, 7460 Cimarron Market, and 13855 Horizon Blvd, Horizon City.

To learn more about Sunny's, click here.

When it comes to fitness, El Paso has various options, from places to get the heart rate up to businesses to stretch and relax tired muscles. The most popular sites are franchise fitness gyms, like Planet Fitness and Gold's Gym.

Many of these gyms have regular cleaning and sanitization to keep people healthy in light of COVID.

To learn what major gyms have done in terms of safety precautions, click here.

One of the newest places to exercise is El Paso Fit Body Boot Camp on the East Side.

The center, which opened Oct. 30 at 1506 Lee Trevino Drive, offers a $25-a-week membership with seven classes a day available.

Expect an experience like personal training in a group setting with groups ranging from five to 10 or more people. The workouts are offered in 30-minute increments and are a combination of high-intensity interval training and active rest training to help the body burn up to twice the fat and calories than traditional workouts.

To learn more about this new gym, click here.

The exercise studio opened in 2019 at La Villita shopping center, 6801 N. Mesa.

The franchise is known for high-intensity interval fitness. It offers treadmills, water rowers, weights, abdominal dolly rollers and more.

To learn more about this fitness place, click here.

If you're not ready to sign a membership, maybe you want to start with some regular fun walking. After you walk around the block a few times, you'll want to start looking for some interesting paths.

El Paso has several exciting trails dotted with desert plants and lovely scenery to get you going. Scenic Drive is at the top of the list; it shuts down to traffic from 6-11 a.m. every Sunday so walkers, runners, cyclists, and skaters can enjoy a traffic-free adventure. Free.

Ascarate Park is also a nice place to walk and enjoy seeing ducks in the lake along the way. The Playa Drain, a 3.4-mile trail connecting Ascarate Park and Riverside Park, is an excellent path.

Once you're ready for a challenge, here are some hiking trails.

Taking time to relax and find your calm is just as important as eating well and exercising. Here is a place to find your zen.

And when you walk into Float + Calm, at 1875 Saul Kleinfeld Drive, Suite 108, you immediately feel a sense of serenity.

One of the newest health and wellness spas in El Paso, the business offers a floating pod with Epsom salts in a private room with its own shower, infrared sauna, and can schedule massages.

For more details about this special spa, click here.

Stretch Zone El Paso, which opened in 2018 at 1605 George Dieter Drive, Suite 306, is where to go if you have muscle tightness.

Customers lay on a table while a professional works on the various muscle groups. A visit can help improve range of motion, help with lower back pain, sciatica, muscular dystrophy, cerebral palsy, and Parkinson's disease, the owners say.

To learn more about the Stretch Zone, click here.

If your mental health has suffered during the COVID-19 pandemic, help is available.

City of El Paso Department of Public Health officials and their partners at the Emergence Health Network encourages residents experiencing mental health problems to seek support for themselves or their loved ones. The pandemic has fueled mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, and post-traumatic stress disorder.

To get help, call 211, visit EPStrong.org and click on the Mental Health button on the homepage or call Emergence Health Network's Crisis Counseling Program's 24-hour hotline at 915-779-1800.

María Cortés González may be reached at 915-546-6150; mcortes@elpasotimes.com; @EPTMaria on Twitter.

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