Being healthy is not a destination, it is a lifestyle. You don’t magically wake up one day and find that all your healthy habits have finally paid off and you are now at peak health.
This is both good and bad. It’s bad because good health isn’t permanent and guaranteed but it’s good because good health doesn’t pop up after a long period of living a healthy lifestyle. Being healthy happens slowly and cumulatively. Your daily habits and small actions can either hamper and enhance your general wellbeing.
Here are 6 essential habits that will help you get on track and stay on track for your healthiest lifestyle.
1. Stock up on food that you enjoy
No matter how highly praised a certain ingredient is for your good health, chances are you’ll develop a negative association towards it and your healthy lifestyle efforts if you’re forcing it down.
For instance, you may detest spinach, but you probably know well and good just how nutritious it is for you. Instead of forcing yourself to eat healthy foods that you enjoy, find an appropriate replacement that you can enjoy or at the very least, tolerate. If spinach isn’t your thing find another dark leafy green like Kale, Watercress or Swiss Chard.
The logic behind this is to help make choosing healthy foods easier for you as opposed to dreading meal times. Stock up on what you like and you’ll soon find you look forward to your healthy meals.
2. Be consistent with supplements
Supplements are an excellent complement to healthy eating habits and can thoroughly plug any nutritional gaps in your system.
Supplements however are not magic health pills. To truly see they’re benefits you’ll have to take them daily and consistently for your body to accumulate and reflect its benefits. It can take up to 3 months of regular use to see the positive effects of the supplement you’re taking. Look at your supplement label and follow the serving suggestion regularly. You’ll make the most of your supplements and your body will thank you for it.
3. Make room for indulgences
Unless you’re following an extremely restrictive diet to manage a disease, there’s no reason why any person can’t enjoy an occasional indulgence.
Even those with the most iron will and discipline towards their diet can benefit from having an occasional treat or an indulgent meal. Too restrictive diets have been known to backfire on many people who end up overindulging while simultaneously being mentally stressful.
Instead, make room and let yourself enjoy it. You can indulge however you like, whether it be for one meal of the week, on weekends, or when you feel your mind and body just really need a break. Knowing that nothing is off the table makes following healthy habits a little easier than dealing with the thought of never having something you enjoy.
4. Prioritize rest as much as your prioritize exercise
We hear a lot about exercising regularly but did you know that rest is an integral and often overlooked part of a fitness regimen?
Prioritizing rest in the form of good sleep, days where your body doesn’t endure high-impact activity, and opting to stretch during the time you exercise can do wonders at solidifying your physical fitness.
This is because rest is the time your body takes to recover and rebuild itself into something stronger and fitter. Constantly doing strenuous exercises can leave you feeling overstrained, over fatigued and more prone to injury. Keep things balanced and mix in exercise with adequate rest and recover time.
5. Read food labels
Choosing whole foods is always a good starting point. However modern life doesn’t make it always so easy to constantly make a fresh meal from scratch. A healthy habit to help keep your body free of unnecessary chemicals and toxins found in packaged and processed foods is to learn how to read the label.
Make it a habit to turn over any food product you have and read the ingredients list.
A general rule of thumb to know that packaged food is healthy is:
- The ingredients list is short, meaning there’s minimal or zero additives, preservatives and artificial ingredients
- Ingredients such as MSG, trans fats, sodium nitrite, high fructose corn syrup, aspartame etc. aren’t present as they are all very damaging to your health.
6. Eating a healthy first meal of the day
No matter what dietary choices you make throughout the day, the first meal of your day is the most important as it’s the first thing your body will absorb after being in a fasted state. Whether it’s breakfast, brunch, or lunch, whatever your first meal of the day is, make sure it’s nutrient dense.
The logic here is to flood your body with all the essential macro and micronutrients it needs while your digestive system is still empty which will set the tone for how well and energized you feel for the rest of your day.
When it comes to supplements, a turmeric supplement will fit well into anybody’s healthy lifestyle. Jīvānām Nutrition’s Turmeric with Ginger capsules act as a powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant that gives your entire body a wide spectrum of benefits. Add this into your supplement routine for an easy and highly beneficial healthy habit.
