Healthy Living: Seven Healthy Habits that Work for Me

I think most would agree being healthy has to become part of your lifestyle, and that can be very hard for some. I’ve learned that it takes extreme discipline for me to continually lead a healthy lifestyle. My sophomore year in high school I made a conscious effort to change my eating habits and exercise more. It was amazing how much my body changed. I know you’re probably thinking, “That was high school. It’s easy to lose weight when you’re sixteen”. I understand, and you’re right, but the point I’m making is that I decided to make a change in the way I took care of myself and that change has continued throughout my life. I am now 27, maintaining a healthy weight and feeling great without ever depriving myself of the things I love. I’ve discovered that I have trained my body to love healthy foods and actually reject unhealthy foods. I can’t even eat French fries anymore, or really anything fried. I used to love Dr. Pepper, now, two sips and I’m done. It took discipline, time and patience, but I did it and you can too. 

Notice, earlier, I said, “I changed my eating habits”.  I did not diet and can honestly say I have never been on a diet. Truthfully, I’m not disciplined enough to diet. I love food. I love trying new foods and I especially love sweets.  My secret, that isn’t really a secret but what I consider common sense, is moderation. Yes, I love ice cream, pizza, cookies, burgers, chocolate, the list goes on and on, but these are things I treat myself to when it’s been months since I’ve had a burger, or it’s my husband’s birthday and there is no way you can celebrate a birthday without having a slice of cake (or in his case, strawberry cheesecake). The rule at our house is we don’t buy and keep such items in our kitchen. If we want to treat ourselves to ice cream, then we do just that. We get in the car, go to the Scream Shack and have an ice cream cone. It’s also something fun that we can do together. We’re not going to find it in our freezer, and there are those times when we don’t feel like leaving the house for something sweet. Therefore; we don’t have it at all, even better!  I love sweets too much to able to keep them around. I have a friend who loves chocolate, and always keeps a bag in a drawer in her kitchen. For her, when she gets a craving for chocolate she simply goes to the drawer, grabs a piece, and gets her chocolate fix and she’s satisfied. That would not work for me! If I know it’s there, it’s probably not going to be there for long. My excuse would be, “I might as well eat the whole bag now, that way it isn’t here tomorrow”. Not good! The point I’m trying to make here is, know yourself and your weaknesses, and set boundaries.  Everyone is different. Don’t think because your way is different from mine, or hers, or theirs that it’s wrong. Find what works for you and your family.

Below, I’ve made a list of good habits that have worked for me in order to continue living healthy and feeling good. Hopefully, they can become habits that work for you as well, or maybe can just lead you in the right direction.

1.       Know yourself: Take some time to get to know you better. Discover what your weaknesses are when it comes to food and exercise and set boundaries and goals that work for you and fit your lifestyle.

7 Habits for Living Healthy

 

2.       Drink a lot of water: Learn to love water! I hear people say, “I don’t like the taste of water”, and if that’s your excuse for not drinking water then I would suggest adding lemon, lime or even cucumber for better taste. It makes it very refreshing and even more enticing to drink. Right now, I’m hooked on cucumber and water…so refreshing.

3.       Research: I am not an expert on any of this which is why I do a lot of research when it comes to foods I eat. You will discover some surprising facts about the foods we consume. I have found that some of what I read has encouraged me to stay away from certain foods and consume more of others. I admit, research can be very overwhelming and you can’t believe everything you read on the internet, but just be smart and if you’re not sure then ask an expert. Recently, I have researched “cancer causing foods”, “the benefits of cucumbers”, and “the link between alcohol and breast cancer”.

4.       Walk, walk, walk: Walking is so good for your mind and body, and can actually add years to your life. If you’re not one to go to the gym then I encourage you to find ways to get more steps in your day. Whether that’s taking the stairs, walking to that restaurant on your lunch break or parking at the very end of the parking lot when you go to Target. Walk as much as you can. I’d also encourage you to research the benefits of walking. You might be surprised.

5.       Don’t keep unhealthy foods around: Like I said earlier, for my family it’s better that we don’t keep unhealthy foods in the house. If it’s not there we don’t really want it.

6.       Don’t deprive yourself of the things you love: You may think this contradicts my last statement, but just because we don’t keep ice cream in the house doesn’t mean we don’t treat ourselves to it here and there. If you deprive yourself of the things you love, you’ll find yourself consuming more than you should. It is okay to treat yourself every once in a while. You deserve it!

7.       Challenge yourself: Challenges are always fun, especially if you’re a little competitive. And it’s more fun when you can get someone else in on the challenge. Right now my husband and I have a challenge going that we will have absolutely no sweets until Thanksgiving Day. So far, we’ve been good.

The way I look at it, being healthy isn’t about being a size zero, and we all know, regardless of how disciplined we are in our healthy habits we will continue to get older, and we can’t live forever. But for me, while I’m still here, I have chosen to live my life feeling good, energetic and healthy. My quality of life is going to be much better if I make healthy choices and though I am getting older I believe these choices will keep me looking and feeling young regardless of how old I get.

What are some healthy habits you’ve discovered work best for you?