Healthy Habits No Doctor Would Argue With
Feeling overloaded with advice on what you should be eating, how you should be exercising and how best to “hack” your life!? The self-help and wellness industry has exploded in recent years, and while this trend towards greater interest in our wellbeing is a good thing, the fads are often conflicting, confusing and some are just downright unhealthy.
So, in response, I offer this simple list that no doctor, nutritionist or health expert would argue with. Some, if not all of these, are obvious, but that’s the point. Bringing yourself into wellbeing is actually about simplifying, rather than over complicating. It may take some effort and patience to make these regular habits, but if you are able to incorporate a few of these simple ideas into your life you are guaranteed positive effects.
- Start the day slowly. The first hour after waking can be a golden time. You’ve just arisen from a place deep within yourself, your mind is clear and a new day is ahead of you. Before the noise and bustle of email, social media and news pulls you away from this internal state, take a few minutes each morning to sit in silence and notice your breath, or stretch your body and enjoy some water, tea or even coffee.
QUICK TIP: observe nature during this time if possible.
- Substitute all soda and sweet drinks for water or herbal tea. Drinking soda is literally pouring toxins and empty calories into your body with ZERO benefits outside of the momentary high you get from the sugar boost (which is followed by a drop in energy and mood until you feed the sugar addiction again). And it is an addiction, so you may need to ease off slowly, but this is #1 for your health and absolutely worth the effort. QUICK TIP: Try sparkling water instead!
- Move every day. Movement is key to boosting your mood, keeping yourself at a healthy weight, and building muscle tone. Any movement is good, so pick something that is easy for you to do regularly and that you enjoy. Sitting for too long is not good for your health so if you have a job that requires a lot of sitting, try to take regular movement or stretching breaks (try my Chair Yoga class to learn how to use your chair for this). Even a 10-minute run up the road and back, or dancing in your kitchen while you make dinner will bring you amazing and dare I say, instant benefits.
QUICK TIP: Find an exercise or movement practice that you love, or at least like, and it will be much easier to make it a habit.
- Incorporate fruits and veggies into as many meals as possible, ideally all of them. Food is meant to be fuel to bring you energy to do all your good work in the world. If you are eating fast food, junk, or empty carbs, your food is not serving you, in fact it is making you more tired. When you boost your meals with fresh produce you will quickly notice the benefits. One key is to find recipes that you love, so you can enjoy your veggies and not just eat them because you have to. The more veggies and fruit you eat, the less you’ll crave foods with low nutritional value.
QUICK TIP: make it a habit to spend 10 minutes each morning preparing a plate of fresh fruits and/or veggies to snack on throughout the day. - Spend time in nature. We are part of the natural world and are meant to interact and connect with it. Whether it’s gardening, going for a walk, or just looking at a tree or bird or the clouds, find some way to interact with nature. Even in cities, you can always find a tree, a flower, a patch of grass, a squirrel.
QUICK TIP: do not let a day go by without going outside, even briefly.
These are the first five habits, check back soon for part 2 of this article where I’ll cover the next five and get more into how we can change our unhealthy habits into positive ones. In the meantime, get started with these five and send me a message to let me know how this goes for you.