Healthy life and body require healthy habits

06 Sep Healthy life and body require healthy habits

Routine and feeling good here we come! But first we need to have healthy habits.

September, traditionally is the time of year to get back into the groove – the groove of eating a little more simply, drinking less alcohol and feeling amazing again.

In the nutrition world, the iconic Labour Day weekend in September is equivalent to New Year’s Day.

This is when many of my clients reach out to me to let me know that they’re ready for a reset, to get back into a routine or back “on track” to reaching their health or weight goals.

Creating new habits

If you too, have been summering hard or are just finding that you’ve reached your maximum level of indulgence, I invite you to take a look at where you want to focus your attention so you don’t feel overwhelmed by trying to change everything at once.

I’d suggest looking at your life and/or health and pick only one goal or one habit to implement, for now.

I know you probably want to change the world and have lofty ideas about all the things you want to weave into your life so you can get there A.S.A.P.  Honestly, that’s admirable and great news! That means you want more for your future self.

Before you go making any meaningful changes, I’d suggest starting with an objective internal review. Start by taking a look at what’s working in your life (or health quest) and what’s not. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Where do you want to go?
• What do you want to accomplish?
• How do you want to feel?
• Who do you want to become?

From there, determine the main area, idea or habit that will have the most amount of impact on your life. This process is akin to understanding what is priority. What one thing, thought, habit or practice will be the game changer?

Start there!

How to make new habits stick

My experience in nutrition and life coaching, along with having some understanding of how the human brain works, tells me too much, too fast just doesn’t work in the long run. Ok, it may for a while (usually about 2 weeks), but if it’s not sustainable as a lifestyle change or habit, it’s not going to stick and you’ll likely think you just can’t do it, that you’re not going to accomplish your goal EVER, it’s too hard, you don’t have enough willpower  or it’s not worth the effort and throw your vision of your best self out the window, like a brand new January gym membership that doesn’t work by February.

So here’s my suggestion, if you care to take it… Pick just one thing to focus on (for now) and make a habit.

I know it’s not a sexy, get fit fast solution but it works.

Making small changes consistently is where the magic is.  It works the same way you’d climb Mount Everest – one step at a time. Taking small steps, one after the other is what gets you to where you want to go. If you look at the parallel, we can consider it as the same as the lure to run up Everest so you can get there quicker vs. walking slowly and deliberating. Would the fast pace actually be sustainable? Would you even make the summit?

It may be achievable if you’re a conditioned and an experienced mountaineer. In this case, if you’ve already had many healthy habits in place and part of your daily life and took a break (or vacation), it’d be easier to slip back into the groove vs. starting from scratch (a beginner mountaineer) and making many changes all once. The vision I get here is a totally inexperienced, unconditioned and ill-prepared person wanting to summit Everest. I can’t imagine it going well at all. Or the possibility of success is greatly reduced.

Of course, you’re planning on making big changes in your life, you can stack new habits on top of each other over time, but commit just to one to start, so it becomes engrained and on auto-pilot before you add another. This is how and why my Art of Living From The Inside Out program works so well. The program teaches you to slowly add new habits one at a time to make them part of your routine and lifestyle so it doesn’t feel like you’re being deprived or on a diet that isn’t sustainable for the rest of your life.

The small steps become habit, part of your life, your routine without thinking about them so it doesn’t seem so drastic.

Take a look at what you think you’d benefit most from and start there. That is to say, set yourself up for success, start with something easy so you get a win and build your confidence.

Habits to support your health & wellness goals

Here are some ideas if you need some inspiration:

• Eat more whole foods
• Eliminate sugar
• Eliminate processed foods
• Reduce or eliminate alcohol
• Reduce caffeine consumption
• Eat balanced meals
• Have more veggies or eat veggies at every meal
• Eat on a regular schedule
• Drink adequate amount of water (2L approx)
• Meal prep
• Grocery shopping
• Movement or exercise
• Mindset practices
• Self-care practices
• Work on sleep quality or establish a sleep routine
• Stress management strategies
• Set a daily/weekly/monthly routine
• Establish a morning routine
• Create a bedtime routine
• Schedule to work on your goals or chase your dreams
• Have more sex (yes, this is a factor of health & well-being too)
• Get outside more or daily
• Connect more with loved ones, like-minded or new people
• Practice a hobby regularly
• Find a new hobby
• Add more joy to your life
• Create something

Remember it’s not a race to reach the summit, the goal is to get to the summit. Enjoy the process and the step-by-step journey.

I’d love to hear what you’re committing to. Comment below to make yourself accountable to the changes you want to make.

If you’d rather have a structured plan to follow, my 4 week online Complete Cleanse Program may be worth exploring.  I walk you through what to add and eliminate from your body, home and life in small easy steps over weeks.