How to Create a Lasting Healthy Lifestyle YOU Love

Lasting change doesn’t happen overnight.  New habits take time to establish, time to adjust what's not working, and guidance from within on what will work best for you.  The best way to get started creating a lasting healthy lifestyle is by using some pillars of health – movement, nutrition, sleep, stress management.  First lets talk about a simple method to help you implement these pillars.  B.J Fogg, author of Tiny Habits:  The Small Changes that Change Everything says “There are only three things we can do that will create lasting change: Have an epiphany, change our environment, or change our habits in tiny ways.” By creating small habits that you can attach to things you already do routinely in your day you will begin to create change to desire.  Don’t put pressure on yourself to do it all at once.  This is much more likely to get you started and to last.  

Love yourself with Movement -- You Got to Move It, Move It!!!
If you've never really found an exercise you love and stick with, take a moment to sit down and think about what activities you enjoy. Some people love going to the gym, while others prefer jogging in the park surrounded by nature. Plenty of people dance rather than lift weights, and just as many of them like swimming in the pool. Make a list of the things you enjoy doing, then start creating some tiny habits to get your started.  For example: “When I put my keys on the counter after getting home for work, I will put on my walking shoes or “When I turn on the water for the shower, I will do 2 pushups on the bathroom counter.”

Love Yourself with a Rainbow of Nutrition
Fad diets come and go for good reason -- they don't work. Your health will improve drastically when you focus on “Eating the Rainbow”, keeping portions reasonable, avoiding processed foods (that’s pretty much anything in a box) and giving your body what it needs.  Focusing on whole foods will have you feeling full of energy within no time.
 
Love Yourself with Restful Sleep
Sleep often falls last on our list. You can go through all those motions with exercise and eating right, and it won't make a difference until you let your body get the restorative rest it needs. Your body's cells are like the cleaning crew that comes out at night to get everything ready for the morning. Focus your intention on getting the 7-8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night to get the rest you need.  Here are a couple of tiny habits to help improve sleep: “After I put my shoes on in the morning, I will go outside to soak in the natural light.” Or “After I turn on the first light in the evening, I will put on my blue-light blocking glasses.”  Or how about “After I see it’s 8pm, I will put away electronics.”

Make Stress Your Friend
Got your attention didn’t I?  Kelly McGonigal is one of my “go-to” resources when it comes to stress.  She has a great Ted talk titled “How to Make Stress Your Friend that is worth your time.  You can view her talk here – bit.ly/stressyourfriendmcgonigal.  It really is unrealistic to think that we could have a completely stress-free life.  Instead, we can focus on ensuring we have tools in our toolbox to help us face the various stressors in our lives.  One of my other “go-to” resources for stress is heart rate variability, more specifically Heart Math.  Their research on heart activity has shown the different patterns, which accompany different emotional states, has distinct effects on not only emotional function, but also cognitive function   They have LOTS of great resources on heart rate variability and how to implement it into everyday life.  Here’s a link specifically to their “Stress Solutions” page.  Definitely worth checking out -- https://bit.ly/42xzqmN

As I always tell my clients we are all unique, what works for one won’t necessarily work for another.  This is a good thing!!  The key is to find your unique sweet spot in each of these pillars, it can be just what you need to feel your best every day.