We all know that we have to lead a healthier lifestyle, but that’s not always the easiest thing in the world. We’re all very busy, after all, and there are plenty of temptations everywhere.
It’s one thing to know that you should be healthier and another thing to actually do it. And if you put too much pressure on yourself to transform your life, then you’ll only end up failing. It’s too much. Instead, you should look at slowly transitioning to a healthier lifestyle. This is something I really started to look into when I was working through some of my thyroid imbalances. In this blog, I’m going to run through some of the best methods that I have and anyone can adopt that’ll eventually push you into a healthier lifestyle.
Find Your Cues
We all have bad habits that impact our quest to lead healthier lives. For me, it’s Friday night happy hour. For others, it might be a sweet treat to eat on your way home from work. It doesn’t really matter what they are — if you feel that they’re impacting your health, then they should go. But it turns out that saying goodbye to a bad habit can be more difficult than we realize. Rather than trying the willpower method — which likely will not work — opt for the better approach, which is to remove the cues that lead to the bad habits in the first place. If you can eliminate the cause, then you’ll find it much easier to put them behind you.
Think about why you indulge in this habit. For example, I am excited to see my friends and socialize on Friday evenings so instead of suggesting happy hour, now I suggest doing a workout together or going for a walk at the park. It fulfills my joy of seeing my friends in a healthier environment.
Focus On One Improvement
You can’t change everything all in one go. Trying to become the healthiest version of yourself overnight is like expecting to climb Everest and run a marathon on your first day of athletics. It’s not going to happen. It’s a cliche to say that all the best journeys begin with a single step, but it’s true. Rather than trying to overhaul your life, look at making just one improvement. It could be that you start cycling to work, or reduce the number of days you eat sugar or increase your water intake. They’ll eventually develop into more improvements, but for now, focus on just one.
Learn the Joy of Cooking
Experts say that healthy living is 80% food choices and 20% exercise. I have to say I agree with that. In 2021, it’s easier than ever to simply get a takeout meal delivered to your door, but if you’re eating them too regularly, then you’re not exactly riding the healthy train. One of the best ways to transition to a healthier lifestyle is to learn how to cook. Start with a delicious dish or something that interests you. I searched some fun recipes on Pinterest and ended up trying out how to make beef chuck in the oven, and then looked at adding more dishes to my repertoire. If you fall in love with cooking, and it can be hard not to once you’ve got the basics under your belt, then you’ll find that it’s much easier to avoid those meals that aren’t as good for you as you’d like.
Get a Hobby
If you can get fit without even realizing it, then you’ll be on the right path towards having a healthy lifestyle. All you need to do is find a hobby that you like. For example, I love going to yoga, and sometimes ill be a creature of habit and go to the same class every day but other times I’ll seek out some events that are offering free yoga or yoga for a donation to change up my scenery. Hiking and indoor rock climbing are great examples of hoppy sports as well, then you’ll find that you’re getting healthy while you’re having fun.
Make it Easy
Sometimes, we need to force ourselves to live healthily. We won’t always want to make a healthy meal or hit the gym. However, you can greatly improve the chances that you’ll do either of those things by making it as easy as possible for yourself. If your gym bag is packed and sitting by the front door, then you’ll find that you hit the gym more frequently. If you have a fridge stocked with delicious ingredients or quick healthy meals from Daily Harvest, then you’ll be more inclined to make a great meal. It’s all about removing the obvious barriers that hold you back. Truly, one of the simplest changes you can make!
A Friend Group
They say that everyone is the average of the five people they spend the most time with. And if you analyze your life, you’d probably find that this is true! You can’t change your friends, and you shouldn’t bail on them either, but could you look at adding a few more friends into your rotation? If you’ve got a healthy group of friends around you, then it’s much more likely that you’ll adopt the practices that lead to the healthiest version of yourself.
Those are some of my top tips to help with creating a healthier lifestyle for you. Summer might be here but getting healthy is always trending. What are some of your health tips?
