5 Easy & Healthy Habits to Start Now for BIG Results.
A few healthy habits that are easy to try (and simple to love) that will leave you feeling amazing!
What will healthy habits do for me?
What is the most important thing that you are going through personally right now?
Whatever it is that your focus is on is important. It means something to you and for good reason, I’m sure. Maybe you want to fall in love, create a successful business, or create a less stressful home environment. Maybe it’s simply to help others.
You are the one facing this right now and in order to do your best you must be your best, but we aren’t here to add more hard work to your plate. Rather, to make life smoother.
There is one thing to think about that will significantly increase your success rate. And that’s your HEALTH. How?
The impact that eating healthy has on the quality of our lives is greatly underestimated. One small shift, such as taking control of your health, will have a positive impact that spreads into ALL other areas of your life.
If you are feeling energetic, in a great mood, having great sleep, and more, wouldn’t this put you into such a strong position to tackle whatever it is that you are facing? Your goals would be met much sooner and you would feel much stronger to handle difficult situations.
We all know we should eat our vegetables in order to be strong and healthy, yet it is still a scarce habit for some to even eat greens at all. I think that the motivation isn’t strong until we actually feel how INSANELY GREAT it feels to be healthy. Try these 5 tips just to see how great of an impact they have on your life.
When told to do something, a lot of the time we aren’t motivated until we have a strong why behind it. So find your why, your motivation to be here and commit to change, and let’s get started!
The word is starting to spread about healthy eating and since you’re here, that probably means you are intrigued in seeing what a healthy lifestyle can do for you.
A healthy lifestyle can lead to:
Losing weight & gaining confidence
Getting rid of back pain, heartburn, high cholesterol, etc.
Gaining more energy to reach your goals!
Having a higher quality of sleep
etc.
This list could go on for a while, but finding your own personal reason will be everything to help get you started.
(If you want more motivation check out these 9 Scientific Benefits of Following a Plant-Based Diet).
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It's like you say to yourself hey man look, I know you want to eat that pizza and it’ll be really good…but I can’t let you eat that pizza man cuz if you eat that pizza, you’re gonna feel like crap…and I just love you too much to let you eat that.”
So why don’t these major health benefits motivate us enough? With the perks that healthy habits lead to, it makes you wonder what exactly would hold us back from living that life.
Why adopting healthy habits is necessary.
A lot of us have been raised on similar diets of processed foods and heavy meat intake and to most this is just the normal way of eating which we don’t often stop to question. When we start to feel overweight or unhealthy, then we might turn to the latest fad diet to make things better.
However, about 80% of people that go on a diet and lose weight will gain the same (or more) weight back according to WebMD.
This is daunting and could be why becoming healthy can be so intimidating. You aren’t alone and instead of making it complex I’ve broken it down to 5 tips that are an easy way to start making lasting changes.
How to make healthy habits that last.
Heavily processed foods loaded with added sugars have shown to be like a drug: addictive and lead to health risks.
So the fact that we crave these foods and steer away from the healthy vegetables is no surprise.
We have been trained to want it, but that’s the great part because it means we can train ourselves to crave healthy food and reap the benefits!
“The truth is that we can learn to condition our minds, bodies, and emotions to link pain or pleasure to whatever we choose. By changing what we link pain and pleasure to, we will instantly change our behaviours.”
-Tony Robbins, Awaken the Giant Within.
Once you start changing your diet your body will actually crave fresh whole foods over greasy junk because your body will begin to learn that those foods actually make it feel better. I’m sure it won’t be begging for the return of heartburn and grogginess so give yourself a chance to change your tastebuds and cravings.
You are already ahead of the game because the only reason you are here is that you aren’t ready to give up.
Even if it is just a small little fire inside of you, there is something pushing you to keep going and that takes strength and courage.
There is something in you that has linked enough pain to what it would mean to not reach your health goals whether that be from watching family members get sick, not being able to run with your kids, or feeling uncomfortable enjoying the beach in your bikini.
This is important to harness those thoughts to motivate you to reach your goals.
Bravo to you for listening to that little voice that is being drowned by the sometimes louder one telling you to give up. Continue moving forward, even if everything you have tried has not worked because you will find your way (and I hope these habits will help you start).
Healthy habits and no more diets?!
How hard would it be for you to believe me if I said that you could toss diets into the past?
And right out the door after diets will be counting calories and shying away from foods that you love.
There is a much easier way and once you start to learn the tricks of the trade, you will feel as if you have discovered a whole new world and a wild new you.
I promise (and I don’t promise lightly).
This starter guide will give you some basic tools to navigate the overwhelming world of health out there. I hope it will take a lot of the confusion out of the picture.
If you are still reading, then your desire to better yourself is clear and strong. Keep that desire fueled and don't give up because your new life and health is just around the corner. It is so okay to be at the stage you are at so give yourself a big old pat on the back and let’s get started.
I am here to help you find your new healthy life and these 5 simple and easy healthy habits will help get you there!
5 Easy and Healthy Habits to Start Now:
Form a healthy game plan before you go grocery shopping.
Know what to look for when choosing a product. Marketing is a tricky thing to avoid these days, but learning how to navigate it can help. Understanding food labels is a strong and easy skill to master that will make you a force to reckon with. After all, don’t you want to know what you are putting into that beautiful body of yours? One great way to avoid distracting food packaging is to check out your local farmer’s market!
Have recipes in mind. It’s 2020 and recipes are more abundant than ever. Search the web for your favorite vegetables turned into unique recipes or start to build a list on pinterest of easy and delicious plant-based meal ideas. Once you add the ingredients to your shopping list and hit the market, you will be able to avoid the temptations in each aisle if your focus is on that hearty vegetarian chili recipe you’ll be whipping up later.
Eat before you go. Obviously this is a rather fun rule to have, but still hard to remember sometimes. Even if it is a quick bite out the door, have something so that your stomach doesn’t take control of your grocery cart (and your credit card). Check out these 24 healthy vegan snack ideas!
Write a list. Writing a list will help you get through the store quickly, with purpose, and without distractions (such as potato chips stacked in a cool pyramid). Have you ever had to run to the store quickly to grab one thing and you were just in and out? Compare that to grabbing a cart and perusing through each aisle. A list gives you direction and keeps you on track so that you can leave with what you came for and not influenced by the effects of food packaging.
Simply put, eat your greens!
You don’t like the taste of kale? I’ve heard that before and I understand. Sometimes it’s the texture and sometimes the bitterness, but if you could do ONE thing to improve your health, eating more kale would be it. If you need to learn how to make kale taste good, that can be done. Find recipes that incorporate more greens without compromising the taste of your meal and know that there are several types of kale and other greens. Throw some in a tropical kale pineapple smoothie!
The benefits better be good… Oh, they are. Stocked with vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and disease-fighting properties, kale is one of the best favors you could do for your health. It is one of the most nutrient-dense foods on the planet! So, if nothing else, add greens in whenever you can. For more, check out these 10 health benefits of kale.
3. Don’t eliminate the foods you love!
Is this a trick? No, and the reason for this is because if you eliminate the foods you love then you will feel like you are being restricted and this is the means for a failed diet. Don’t do this! The point is to add in more healthy foods that will eventually crowd-out your old unhealthy choices. If you eat a salad and drink water before your meal for instance, you will have less craving and space left for the unhealthy foods.
Same foods, but different. If your favorites include pizza and burgers then don’t worry. All you need to do is adjust them. Try making them plant-based and I don’t mean making them taste like cardboard which is often what the vegan food stigma entails. Find good recipes that make you crave more and don’t stop until you find ones you love.
How to make a burger healthy? Swap out the white bun for a sprouted whole grain bun, or even for lettuce cups. Find a delicious plant-based patty or make one from scratch (try black bean or sweet potato). Even just adding avocado, more greens, or simply swapping the generic meat for a higher standard one. This is your health after all, invest in it!
4. Healthy habits that are fun!
Eat with chopsticks. This sounds silly, but I love to eat almost all of my meals with chopsticks. I even carry around a wooden set in my backpack! It makes me eat slower, which is great, but mostly I do it because I simply find joy in it.
Pretty plate please. When you go to a restaurant and the food arrives often it makes us ooh and aah with how beautiful and appetizing the chef has presented the meal. It has the power to influence the mood and appetite of a person while changing the taste of the dish. It is an art and if you take some time to plate your dish nicely at home, it will make your meal extra special and fun.
Play some tunes. Restaurants have techniques to make the dining experience more enjoyable and music is a simple tool to influence someone’s mood. Put on something relaxing or even something to sing along to in-between bites that will overall enhance your meal.
Cook with someone fun! Some of my favorite moments in the kitchen are when I am cooking and laughing with others. Throw some food around, try some new dishes and laugh when they fall apart. The kitchen is often the center of the home because it brings people together. Utilize that.
“I don’t have many failures. If I’m making a cake and it fails it becomes a pudding.”
5. Make your veggies taste better already.
Why you probably don’t like vegetables: If you are like me, you grew up hating most vegetables and never wanting to change your mind. Well there was most likely a reason for it. In our house, it was because they all came from a can. Those soft green beans and mushy spinach were enough to make me turn away.
Experiment. Whatever vegetables you hate, I urge you to try them a new way. The texture and taste can be completely transformed, so have an open mind. I have learned to crave those same greens that gave me a very different feeling before. I haven’t been able to train myself to like tomatoes yet, but I have found that mixed into guacamole makes them are delicious!
Use the internet. Information is so accessible these days so I encourage you to avoid the negative content and focus on the life changing tips and tools out there. I mentioned this earlier, but there are endless healthy plant-based recipes available that will not only change your perspective about eating more vegetables, but will make even meat lovers reach for more. Search around until you find some recipes that you love.
What tips do you have that help you eat healthy? Comment below!
This can be a lot of information for some or simply a reminder to others, but remember this is just to get started. There are many more tools and resources to guide you on your journey to better health.
If you feel empowered and ready to start this journey into a healthier lifestyle then feel free to call me for a free chat to see how you can completely transform your health in just 30 days or go all out and transform your life in 6 months.