We would all love to reap the rewards of a healthy lifestyle, but just don’t have time for a drastic change. This blog will outline six healthy habits that can be easily incorporated into your day.
Don’t you wish that you could be that bit healthier… without the effort?
As easy as it is to have good intentions, sticking to them is another matter. So instead of embarking on another extreme overhaul to your life – diets, detoxes, new gym memberships. All in the effort to become a new, better version of yourself. Rather dig deeper, move towards the longer-term goals, sustainable change.
The problem with huge life changes is that they’re rarely sustainable. Going from couch potato to nightly gym enthusiast just isn’t realistic. Nor is that no carb, no alcohol, no fun detox you’ve just embarked on.
Sure you might maintain the initial enthusiasm for a few days or even weeks, but what happens when you inevitably stop? You just return to your TV-watching, crisp-eating habits of old. (Depending on which study you read, we last, on average, anywhere between seven days and five weeks before abandoning a new health regime.)
So what can you do if you want to be healthier and happier? The answer is not to dramatically change your life overnight, but to make small, healthier changes that you can easily adopt into your daily routine without much upset. And therefore be more likely to maintain.
To help you, here are six healthy habits that can be easily incorporated into your day.
How to create a healthy lifestyle around 6 easy steps
1) Change your mindset
If you want to change your life, you first need to change your attitude. Looking at the same old problems with the same old mindset is only going to lead to the same old results.
Instead, start to approach your life with a more resilient growth mindset. Be open to new experiences and embrace positive change. So exactly how can you change your mindset? If it was as simple as just flicking an internal switch, we’d all be doing it.I talk about it a lot more in my book Gorgeous!
As with many changes, it’s a case of small, do-able actions made consistently. And one positive way to start shifting your mindset is to practice morning affirmations. They’re quick and easy to adopt into your existing morning routine.
If you want to start practicing affirmations that work, read this article. It explains how to create affirmations that you genuinely believe in, and that will help you create the mindset you want.
2) Add protein to every meal
When we think about a healthy diet, the first foods that come to mind are fruit and vegetables. And, while they’re certainly important, there’s another less celebrated food group that has an essential role to play in both physical and mental wellbeing. And that’s protein.
A high protein diet can help you to maintain a healthy weight and even preserve muscle health with ageing. Not consuming enough protein, on the other hand, can lead to a number of undesirable symptoms, including:
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- Sugar cravings.
- Thinning hair.
- Exhaustion.
- Weak nails.
- Lower immunity.
- Swollen feet.
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Protein is also important for good mental health. Protein-rich foods (particularly turkey) have high concentrations of tryptophan, an important amino acid in the production of serotonin. And serotonin, as you probably know, is the ‘happy’ neurotransmitter, responsible for our feelings of happiness and wellbeing.
So make sure you include a source of protein with every meal. And luckily this is easier than you may imagine. Fish, cheese, Greek yoghurt, eggs, nuts and seeds, lentils, chickpeas, celery with peanut butter and even a glass of milk all contain protein. And of course as mentioned already, turkey.
Aim to get your protein from ‘real’ food, rather than processed snack bars. You’ll feel more energised and sustain higher levels of concentration throughout your day.
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How to create a healthy lifestyle around 6 easy steps
3) Eat more fat
And now for some good news: if you want to be healthy, you need to eat fat. Fats give your body the energy it needs to work properly. It also keeps your skin and hair healthy and helps you absorb vitamins A, D, E, and K.
Fats from your food also give your body essential fatty acids called linoleic and linolenic acid. Your body can’t make these fatty acids, and needs them for brain development, controlling inflammation, and blood clotting.
A quick way to ensure you’re getting enough good fats is to snack on a few nuts or add cheese and apple to your afternoon snack. When you do, you should see your concentration levels improve.
Other sources of good fats are avocados, dark chocolate, eggs, fatty fish, coconuts, extra virgin olive oil, and full-fat yoghurt.
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4) Drink more water
Are you drinking enough water every day? While the recommended daily intake varies according to factors like age and illnesses, the average adult man needs to consume 3.7 litres of water, and women should drink 2.7 litres every day.
But don’t worry – you can get about 20% of this intake from food. This leaves leaving men drinking 3 litres a day and women 2.1 litres.
And there’s plenty of good reason to ensure you’re getting enough water. Not only can it boost your productivity, but even just mild levels of dehydration have been shown to produce disruptions in mood and cognitive functioning.
Of course, you don’t need to down your daily volume in one. You can have a glass or bottle at your desk to sip from, with your hourly required intake clearly marked.
And when you hit your planned quota for the hour of the day, reward yourself, and fire up your dopamine reward centres with a positive habit.
Your reward could be a warm cup of tea or a walk outside, or something more personal to you. If you’d like to make this easier you can join my FREE 7 day water challenge here.
5) Get bored
Research from the University of Cambridge illustrated that taking time out to daydream will mean that you become more productive at work.
By allowing your mind to wander, you give it the opportunity to reorder your thoughts – filing away information and enabling you to tackle bigger problems later in the day.
Conversely, by filling every waking hour with activity or distractions, you don’t give you brain time to breathe. To process any input and form new connections and, as a result, come up with new ideas.
So, as strange as this may sound, if there aren’t natural breaks in your day when you have nothing scheduled, schedule them. Consciously make time to do nothing and allow your mind to wander and quieten.
6) Go outside
There are so many benefits of spending time outside every day – especially if you can spend that time in nature.
Aside from getting your essential dose of vitamin D, spending time surrounded by trees in particular (the Japanese call it ‘forest bathing’) has been shown to improve your health.
Some of the benefits that have been proven are lower concentrations of cortisol, lower pulse rate, lower blood pressure, greater parasympathetic nerve activity, and lower sympathetic nerve activity. Which basically means you’ll feel more rested and less inclined to stress after a ‘forest bath’.
So if you live or work near a park or woods, fantastic. Try to get out at lunchtime for a quick stroll. If not, it’s still worth escaping your desk and getting some exercise and air, away from the same four walls for a break. Just half an hour a day is enough to feel the benefits.
Try these six easy lifestyle changes:
So, if you want to make some quick and easy lifestyle changes that will benefit your physical and mental wellbeing, try adopting these into your daily routine:
- Change your mindset – 3 x morning affirmations.
- Add more protein every meal – add protein to every meal and snack.
- Drink more water – aim for 8 glasses of 250ml a day.
- Eat more fat – add nuts and cheese to your day.
- Be bored – daydream every day.
- Get outside – reduce stress and give yourself the chance to reframe.
Interested in A Gentle Reset?
If you’re not feeling great, full of vitality and hitting your weight goals then you’ve probably had a few glaring gaps……so with that in mind, I’d like to invite you to work with me inside my membership community on The Gentle Reset.
Each time this programme opens it is only open to 10 new enrolments and I’d love you to be a part of it
Working with me inside the membership, I’ll help you identify the bad habits that are accruing, then give you the resources you need to add in some great habits using coaching, video tutorials, cheat sheets, exercise videos, group coaching, and the all-important buddy-up, supportive motivation. And you get the opportunity to pick my brain and get personal feedback on your nutrition every single week in our group coaching session.
My Group Coaching programme is based on a 6 weeks course that will focus on your health and wellbeing. Inside the 6 weeks: The Gentle Reset you will be able to reset your mind and detox your body and be provided with the support you need to get a healthy lifestyle in place.
A big part of that means that you will have nourishing eating habits that will give you more energy and more motivation as well as the appropriate levels of exercise.
Who is The Gentle Reset for?
If you are over 40 and wondering what the next 50 years are going to look like for you, then my Group Coaching programme is a great way to reset your health. If you are looking for nutrition, exercise and emotional wellbeing that is tailored to you, your life and your commitments, and looking to create a new lifestyle that supports and nurtures you rather than drains you. Then the 6 weeks The Gentle Reset is perfect for you – Join here: The 6 weeks Gentle Reset
What sort of results can you expect?
let’s take Catherine as an example, she retrained as a primary school teacher with 3 boys and a large extended family meant that Catherine and little time to focus on herself, let alone her health. Her trigger came when her workload and home balance became too much. Her health was suffering. Find out more about Catherine’s story and others click here: success stories click here
How much does it cost?
Your investment is currently £415 but this is for a limited time, the price will be increasing soon – click here to grab the best possible price
Gorgeous is your journey of discovery
PS. If you have read enough and you know that this is for you, and you are ready to discover the next stage of your journey – then click here to join my next round
