A healthy lifestyle. What was the first thought that came into your head when you read that? Did you see the 5 A.M jogger you’ve passed on your way from a long night of partying? Did you see a green juice that makes up for lack of taste with its photogenic qualities? Did you see that B-word from the school drop off who’s never had a hair out of place? Did you see a gym? A plain old salad? A hike? A marathon? An aesthetically pleasing but completely uninteresting world? As with many things in life we tend to have an all or nothing approach when it comes to the concept of healthy living. Even though lack of balance is probably the biggest contributor to all our unhealthy tendencies. We tend to assume a healthy lifestyle requires large quantities of exercise with expensive equipment and fashion to suit. It requires nothing but whole, organic foods while completely eliminating processed, salt and sugars from the diet. Early mornings, no alcohol and Netflix being a waste of time.
With this common thought process comes an immediate lack of motivation to even try when it feels like we have to give up everything we enjoy and therefore, what’s the point of being healthy if we’re miserable? This is not the case. I’ve been on both sides of the spectrum and after years of extremes, I finally understand that living a healthy lifestyle does not have to completely transform your life or take away all the things you love.
The best way to create a healthy lifestyle is by creating SMALL, SUSTAINABLE HABITS over time. Just implementing one little thing over the course of a few weeks and then adding on, once you feel the habit has been established.
In the course of a year, you truly won’t believe how much this strategy could change your life. If you don’t believe it, just try it, especially if you’ve “tried everything and nothing works”. You have nothing to lose but everything to gain.
If patience is something you’re truly running out of, I would suggest starting with these three habits because in my experience, they’re the most fast acting for very little effort.
1.Just do a quick stretch
I’m almost resentful of my past self for wasting so many years not stretching. It takes very little effort to throw your hands towards the sky and hold them there for a few seconds, or to reach your hands down towards your toes.
In less than 5 minutes you can stretch out every muscle in your body. You can do it in front of the TV, while listening to a podcast, while you’re waiting for eggs to boil and then BOOM! Goodbye aches or pains that are clouding your productivity throughout the day, goodbye stiff neck and back pain that’s costing you a fortune in painkillers and days off from work.
There’s literally no excuse. You have the time and It doesn’t cost a penny. Stretching also tends to work fast, you’ll pretty quickly notice flexibility improvements if you stick to practicing every day.
2.Just walk
The most underrated, undervalued and overlooked form of exercising. A lot of stupid people don’t even consider it exercise. Don’t be friends with those people. The benefits of walking are astronomical, it improves cardiovascular health, improves brain function, respiratory function, sleep, improves mobility and can lead to weight loss if desired.
It doesn’t even have to be the suggested 10,000 steps, that’s just an arbitrary number. I do respect it as a set standard though and do think it should be aimed towards but as far as minor changes for big improvements, just implementing more walking into your life will alone demonstrate benefits.
Keep it simple, park a little further away from the supermarket, take the stairs, bring your favourite podcast for a walk, meet a friend for a park walk, walk to work and get an umbrella for the rain, listen to your favourite music and dance walk around your apartment, tis embarrassing but also very therapeutic and quarantine friendly!
3. Just drink a quick glass of water
Water? So insightful. So thought provoking. A truly original statement. The thing is I know you know, you know you know, the whole world is aware, drinking water is good for you. Yet, statistically speaking, we ain’t doing it. Why? Again, there’s no good excuse, it tastes like nothing, it’s free (hopefully), it’s easy and it doesn’t really take a lot of time.
Okay you’ll need to pee a lot more. Firstly, to compliment the previous point, more steps to the toilet isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Secondly, although it’s much better to consistently drink it throughout the day, you can potentially time it to facilitate toilet going urgency if needed. Thirdly, take the toilet breaks as a confirmation, you’re hydrating correctly and therefore, slaying life.
The reason why we always hear statistics about diets failing and people quitting the gym is because of that ‘all in’ approach. The changes we’re desperate to make have to be made sustainably in order to be consistent enough to show results. The best way to make sustainable habits is by keeping the changes small and building them up. This in turn leads to more satisfaction in your daily efforts and eventually increased motivation for more changes because you’ll be excited to see what other ways you can easily change your life for the better.
Remember, it may seem too slow and you may want an immediate outcome but we love stating how quick a year went by, so maybe by March 2023, you could be noticing that along with how much your health and daily life has improved.
-Google/Youtube if you don’t actually know how to stretch. -Make drinking water the first thing you do every morning, that’s when we’re the most dehydrated. -Keep a two litre bottle of water with you throughout the day and aim to finish it. -Read James Clear’s “Atomic Habits” -Keep some form of habit tracker, I’m a big fan of calender ‘X’
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