Living healthy has become more difficult. There are so many processed foods and things taste delicious that most of us struggle to stay healthy. It’s not just food either. Our lives have become so work-focused and about making money that we just don’t have time to exercise or to relax. A healthy life is a balanced life. Follow these steps by Five Ways to Wellbeing:
Change your thinking. The first step is to change the way you think about health and what healthy living is. It is not the same thing to everyone. For some people, it is exercising in the gym everyday and for others, it is being vegetarian and for others, it is simply keeping things in moderation. You need to decide what healthy looks like to you and make changes to your thinking and your lifestyle that fits with that picture.
Do some research. Once you have the idea of health that works for your lifestyle and your idea of what you need to be healthy, you should do some research. Find recipes for the foods that you want to eat and find exercise routines that suit your lifestyle and the time that you have available. Follow health blogs and take away from them what you need. You can even go and see a dietician or your doctor to give you some starting pointers.
Change your habits. The next step is to change your eating, exercise, sleeping, and relaxing behaviors. Healthy food, exercise, time to relax, and enough sleep are the main elements of a healthy lifestyle. Adjust your habits and behaviors according to your goals and what you need to do to live your idea of a healthy lifestyle. Changing habits can be very difficult in the beginning but if you stick with it, you will be very happy with the results. The general belief is that it takes us 21 days or three weeks to break a habit and create a new habit.
Take it one day at a time. A very important thing to remember when you are changing habits and trying to create a new lifestyle for yourself is that you need to take it one day at a time. For some people it works to just stop all bad habits and start new ones the next day. For most of us mere mortals, however, it works better to start with one thing and build on it. Over time, your new habits will be established and you will be comfortable in your new lifestyle. Baby steps are a good rule to follow when you want to make long-lasting changes in your life.
Don’t give up. Some days it will get really tough and you may feel like all these changes are just too much to handle. This is normal and to be expected. On such days, you need to just breathe and give yourself a break. It also works well if you have someone who can support you and help you through these days. A friend or family member who can motivate you and remind you why you want to change things can help a lot on this journey of changing your lifestyle.
Lifestyle changes take time and they are usually accompanied by discomfort and testing your resilience. You will become a stronger person when you get through these changes. Making changes to live a healthier lifestyle is great and we all can probably benefit from such changes.
We want to hear from you what changes you have made and if these steps helped you. We would also love to help through the tough days. So, write to us and share your story.
