Keeping healthy is as much about what is in your mind as it is about your body. It should be noted that before you take up any new regime, you speak to your doctor. Although in most cases you will be encouraged to carry on and enjoy the new changes to your life, it is always better to check.
Here are some great tips to get you started on making a big difference in your life:
Drink More Water
This one will be in every post ever about getting yourself into a better healthy condition. And, rightfully so. Millions of us don’t drink enough water, even though we know we should. More than 60% of our bodies are made up of water, and yet somehow we don’t keep ourselves topped up properly. Water is the best thing to help your body carry out essential functions. It keeps your organs ticking over correctly and gets rid of toxins from the body too. We lose water all day through sweat, toilet breaks, and even breathing. So make sure you are drinking a minimum of 2ltrs a day.
Snoozing
Much like water we aren’t really getting enough quality sleep either. You can help improve this by implementing a healthy sleep routine. It should ideally start about an hour before you want to go to bed. Brushing your teeth, having a shower or bath, getting changed into your sleeping attire. This will all give signals to your brain that it is time to go to sleep. If you are still struggling, then consider listening to sleep stories or meditation music to help you drift off more easily.
Meditation
On the note of meditation, it should be something that we are all working into our daily routines too. There are a few mobile phone applications that can help you achieve a great healthy state of meditation over time so that it becomes easier to accomplish. Headspace and Calm both have beautiful guided meditation, and some of them deal with specific life topics. So they will help you gain clarity on the things in life that you might be struggling with right now.
Move
We all know that we should be keeping active. If you aren’t one for hitting the gym, then you might like to consider simply adding at least a 30-minute walk into your day. It increases blood flow, ups your endorphins, helps keep your joints supple, as well as helps burn off excess calories. You should try to pick something that you really enjoy. Starting with something slow like yoga, or pilates, walking, and swimming will get you enjoying begin more active, and after that, you might start challenging yourself to running and weights.
Dance
While this should come under the ‘move’ title dancing is just about moving more parts of your body to music that you love. You’ll be uplifted by the music that you choose, and your body will get the workout that it so deserves. All from the comfort of your own home – wearing what you like, and singing at the top of your lungs.
Fruit
Apples, oranges, bananas… you know the drill already. But the truth is some people just really don’t like the texture of apples, or the slick sensation of a banana. But they are just packed with vitamins and minerals that will aid your body in the dancing and moving that we just spoke about. Not only that, with the extra water you are drinking the healthy good stuff will be distributed around your body at a much higher speed. Try to pick up more exotic fruits to keep this one interesting.
- Dragonfruit
- Papaya
- Melons
- GRapefruit
- Mango
- Peaches
- Kiwi
If you are feeling adventurous or you have extra time, then make a big fruit salad and spend the day grazing it. Delicious and very hydrating.
Ditch Processed Foods
This one can be really difficult to do. Most of us are addicted to sugars and processed foods. We have been marketed these foods since we were children, and it can be a really difficult habit to break. Processed foods tend to have a really high salt and sugar content – so the quicker you can cut it out, the better. In general, the more ingredients a food has on the label (ending with ‘ite’ or ‘ate’), the more processed it is. These tend to be man-made. Try to go for a mix of fresh and cooked.
Starchy:
- Sweet potatoes
- Yams
- Pumpkin
Non-Starchy:
- Cucumber
- Mushrooms
- Sprouts
- Beans
- Tomatoes
Middle Ground:
- Beetroot
- Cauliflower
- Carrots
Try and get a good mix each day. It really pays off if you take some time and find some recipes that are either vegan or vegetarian – so you can maximize your intake in one sitting.
Veggies
If you don’t love the sweetness of fruit, then you might find vegetables are much more versatile and much tastier when you prefer savory foods. They pack a serious punch of goodies like vitamin A, potassium, and the good fiber that keeps you regular.
Get Work In On It
Your work might come with a lot of bonuses, but have a chat with your managers and see if there is room to add extra perks. Like a healthcare program. Many offices already have urine sampling and onsite medicals, so see if there are additional services that they can take advantage off. Jobfit Health Group is one such place. You should also encourage any team building things to be physical activity-based, so that you have to get out of the office and do something that might just make you sweat.
Grass
There are so many benefits to walking around barefoot, but the streets aren’t always the safest place to do it. If you have a patch of grass in the garden, try to put your feet in the grass every day. It is a very grounding experience. When your feet are flat on the floor, your posture changes, you might stand a little straighter. You are free to wiggle your toes around, in a way that you just can is shoes.
Plus, simply walking around in the woods, or nature in general can bring down our stress levels really quickly.
Love You
Living a healthy life isn’t going to work if you are giving yourself the love that you need. If you are always hard on yourself, putting yourself down, then you won’t be able to push into the positive mindset you need to make the changes that you want to. Ask yourself – how much do you love yourself on a scale of 1-10 right now? And how do you want to feel?
The best thing is to start thinking about what you are good at, how nice you are to people, the good things about being you. And every day, no matter what, remind yourself that you are worthy of the love that you give to others.
Bye Bye
It is time to say goodbye to the people and things in your life that have a negative impact on you. Some people don’t know that they are toxic, but they just are. They might be mean to you, or perhaps they have some personality traits that are really nasty – but never aimed at you, just everyone else. And you try to ignore them because you are friends (or family). And although it might hurt, you need to push the negative people out of your life as soon as you can. Or at least your exposure to them.
Breathe
We all know how to breathe… or do we? Our bodies automatically keep this process going for us. But actually, you would do well to spend ten minutes a day really focusing on your breathing and taking big meaningful breaths. Most of us take shallow breaths that actually don’t fill our lungs up beyond ⅓ – which is quite something! Take a big deep breath now, and you will feel your shoulder, stomach, and chest all move. Those are the types of breaths you should be trying to take.
Emotions
We are taught from a very young age – don’t cry. Hush, don’t be silly. Don’t be so loud! And as we grow up, those things stick with us. We become afraid of our own emotions and not adequately equipped to deal with them. But, you should be allowed to express and feel your feelings. Sad, happy, angry, lonely – whatever they are – you should accept them. We also focus on positive and negative emotions – and negative tends to feel wrong or shameful – but really feelings shouldn’t be put in either of those categories. And just accepted for what they are.
Getting healthy isn’t just about running 2.5 miles a day and drinking lemon water. Getting healthy is a mind, body, and soul thing. It all depends on what you want to work on, and how best you feel to do it. Give yourself time to explore and try different things out until you find what you enjoy and what works for you.
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