Small Realistic Ways to a Healthier You

Photo by Arifur Rahman on Unsplash

Why is it so hard to change an unhealthy behavior? Why is it so difficult to stay healthy? Why is it so hard to eat healthy? These are a few of the many health related questions we often ask ourselves. With no doubts, these questions are deeply rooted to our numerous failed endeavors. Often times we've decided to kick away those unhealthy habits, make those healthy choices, maintain a healthy lifestyle but many a times, we fail, slowly or swiftly, we fail. And for many of us, we end up like a loop, to the beginning. Just that this time we're resting comfortably on the sofa of 'why is it so hard?' and all we do about it is think.

You see, our lives are too busy and full of stress that the approach to these shouldn't be with the intention of overhauling our entire lifestyle in just one day. Big jumps like these are more difficult to achieve and are unsustainable. But you see, focusing on little, baby steps, day-to-day changes can be more achievable and sustainable in the long run.

So what are these little things you can do?

1. For every hour you sit, get up and walk briskly for 4-5 minutes.

Physical inactivity isn't good for our health. The stay-at-home situation forces the sedentary lifestyle on many of us, thus, we tend to lie or sit all day which isn't good for the muscle mass in our butt, heart, and our entire body. "When you sit all day, basically what happens is your glutes shut down," Dan Giordano, D.P.T., C.S.C.S., and co-founder of Bespoke Treatments Physical Therapy, tells SELF. Physical exercise is extremely important for your health and I understand that for some of you who aren't used to it, you may find it difficult to enroll in a plan, but walking briskly for 4-5 mins in or around your home for every hour you spend sitting is much more doable and supposing you do 30-40 minutes every day, you'd have ended up surpassing the minimum recommendation of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity per week.

2. If you wish to go for something more systematic and planned out, you could do that in little bits each day. 30 minutes of exercising each day could work wonders.

3. Anything to steal for yourself, a few extra steps each day will cumulatively amount to something. Take the stairs instead of the elevator, you don't need to drive to that store just a few blocks away from you, choose the leg over the wheel for that nearby destination. You can decide to park far away from your work place. Go for a walk during your break time. These little things can be a great way to fit exercise into your routine without much planning and thinking.

4. While you commit to the above, keep expectations about your weight realistic. This keeps you going and doesn't wreck the process.

5. What you eat.

photo by nadine-primeau

Sometimes the stress and business of life leaves us with little or no time to make healthy choices concerning our meals. More often than not, we fuel ourselves with junk food in the form of sugary drinks, refined carbs (empty carbs),... you can list them. These, we know, are far from healthy eating which carry along with them the risk of obesity, heart diseases and many more deleterious effects. Yes we are busy but yes we can, with proper time management, and a healthy eating plan, work out something for a healthy meal which is absolutely worth it.

A pile of refine carbs and proteins with a little of vegetables will only add more calories but have little nutritional benefits, but replacing some of the starch and protein of your meal with more of non-starchy vegetables, unprocessed carbs which are low but adequate in calories, gives you the added benefits of fibers, minerals, vitamins, other nutrients and even water.

Add some fruits to your meal, they are a great source of vitamins and minerals which are essential for your health. And also to add, seafood contains a high-quality protein that includes all of the essential amino acids for human health, making it a complete protein source. You may want to replace your red meat with fatty fish.

6. Don't skip breakfast. Eating a healthy breakfast can put you in shape for the day.

7. Drink a glass of water with every meal.

Water is important for optimal health and performance. When consumed before meals may even suppress your appetite which is helpful for weight loss. There are lots of benefits from drinking water, ranging from improving digestion, to burning calories to optimal brain function to increasing energy and more. Endeavor to drink as often as you can.

8. Your sleep

Getting enough sleep each day is very vital for optimal functioning. Perhaps your daily tasks deprives you of adequate sleep, but abandoning your task to add a whole chunk of 3-4hrs to your sleep time may not be ideal or satisfying but trying to go to bed 10 minutes earlier each night while striving to achieve your to-do list can get you close to the recommended 7-9 hours a day while still achieving your tasks.

9. Relieve yourself of accumulated stress, relax the mind and body each day by spending a few minutes meditating, praying, or taking deep breaths. Research has proven that meditation is an effective way to reduce stress and improve your overall health.

Simplicity in our approach to life and the things we want to change, many times proves more efficient, reproducible and sustainable. Some very seemingly difficult things may require a simple approach. Don't give up on healthy living!

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