Whew, if you’d asked me the last time I’d blogged here, I would’ve said a couple months ago. It’s been quite some time, but I want to jump right in with a topic that’s near and dear to my heart: healthy habits that are EASY to implement.
Anyone who has trained with me knows that one of my favorite styles of training sessions is “Simple but Not Easy.” But there’s a lot to be said for things that are Simple AND Easy, especially when it comes to making daily healthy changes in your lifestyle.
1. Start Your Day with Water
As one of the first activities in your morning, take 10 big swallows of water. It’s about 10 ounces and will get you started on a hydrated day!
Any time I talk about increasing water consumption, I can see people’s eyes bug when I tell them I drink over a gallon a day. I didn’t start by drinking a gallon and I don’t guzzle it all at once. What I did was increase it gradually, often by taking 10 swallows of water. Very quickly, my body got used to feeling hydrated and it now cues me to drink much more than it used to.
2. Add a Serving of Vegetables to Dinner
Even if you already eat your veggies, but especially if you tend to skimp on them, try adding in a serving to dinner (or any meal, really).
Eating healthy food isn’t much of a challenge. But people love to turn it into a huge ordeal by trying to make Healthy Eating into Perfect Eating. Instead of taking away all the “bad” foods you think you should be avoiding, try adding in some of the “good” foods you think you should be focusing on.
If you’re running low on ideas for how to incorporate more veggies, I find Pinterest to be a good source of inspiration.
3. Go For a 10-15 Minute Walk
A quick, restorative walk can do wonders for not only your physical well-being but also your mental wellness!
It doesn’t need to be fast or far; a leisurely 10-15 minute walk will add about 1,000 steps to your daily step total.
4. Focus on Belly Breathing
One of my favorite times to really tune in and practice my belly breathing is right as I’m falling asleep. I simply make sure I’m breathing in through my nose, and try to breathe as deeply and fully down into my low belly, sides, and back, as I can.
I have every client practice belly breathing of some kind of another before they start their strength training.
No matter when you practice it, belly breathing is important. It’s diaphragmatic breathing, and it is integral to the proper function and alignment of the core musculature.
5. Give Yourself Positive Messages
Society and advertising in particular inundates us with negative messages — we’re too big, we can’t be happy unless we have [insert product here], we’re unorganized, we won’t be successful without [insert product here]. It’s everywhere! And it’s insidious and harmful. To counteract these messages, we have to be intentional in the way we speak to ourselves.
I love daily affirmations for this. It’s constant kindness and encouragement, aimed at someone I care about deeply: me! I’ll let you in on a little secret: to be successful in your healthy endeavors, you must believe that you have the ability to successful. Admonishing yourself for your shortcomings or classifying yourself as a failure sets the stage for a destructive self-fulfilling prophecy. Instead, choose kind words and positive messages to send yourself, and repeat them often!
There you have it: 5 Easy Healthy Habits that you can start immediately!
If you’ve got any of your own to add, I’d love to hear them, so feel free to leave a comment.