Did you know that being healthy is about looking after your well-being. It’s all about the mental, physical, spiritually, even emotional. It’s all encompassing. All these basically go hand in hand in order to achieve a healthier lifestyle!
Having a good state of mind can improve your sense of wellbeing and your ability to function in everyday life confidently, especially when challenges come up. I find that if I am in a positive mindset, it also helps me to smash out my day in general and feel better.
Accepting your body and yourself for who you are
Many people struggle with low self-esteem and a low sense of self-worth and especially around their bodies. I can totally understand this as we are faced with examples of what ‘beauty’ is meant to look like on every social media platform and or media outlet. We are faced with the “my body has to look like this, or else”.
It can be hard to love ourselves and our bodies when we are constantly comparing ourselves to others. While I am encouraging you to always strive to be to be healthier and to be happier, however that looks like to you, you also need to understand you can only do it for you and no one else.
You were put into the body you are in for a reason, and you are unique. No two people will ever be the same, so there is no point trying to be someone else.
If you focus on being the best version of YOU, you will feel so much happier as you aren’t constantly comparing yourself to others.
Surrounding yourself with positive people
Surrounding yourself with friends, family and people who are positive in general will give you a greater sense of wellbeing. Take the time out of your busy schedule to socialize with your friends, go out and try new things and have fun!
Feeling appreciated, loved and laughing helps to keep your mental health in check. Having positive people surrounding you also encourages to strive towards your goals and be the best version of you possible.
If you’re struggling to find support within your own networks, try connecting with community in your area. You’ll find thousands of like-minded people from all over the world sharing their struggles and successes in becoming healthier, more confident versions of themselves. And when I say healthier, I am talking about mindset.
Appreciate the little things
Our lives these days can be so hectic, we are constantly plugged into our phones which are feeding us news from every corner of the world.
This can get overwhelming at times, and we may forget what is important in life. Every week, set some time aside to disconnect from all social media and switch off your devices to spend more time doing little things that make you happy like sipping a cup of tea or reading your favorite book. Take everything in, without doing it through your phone screen. Say hi to a stranger, enjoy time with your pet or simply meditate.
Making this a regular habit can help you to relax and appreciate the little things that make you happy.
Talk about your feelings
Many of us keep a lot of our feelings bottled in, whether that be sadness, anger, or disappointment.
Sometimes we don’t talk about our feelings because we don’t want to ‘bother’ people with our problems. Talking about what we are feeling can help to process our thoughts and feelings and move on from them. There is nothing wrong with asking for help if you need it.
If you don’t want to talk to anyone about your feelings, writing in a journal can really help. Spend some time weekly writing down your feelings, and you will feel so much better having expressed them.
Review your life on a regular basis
Time is so precious, and it seems to be going by faster and faster each year. We may have goals in mind that we would like to achieve, but how often do you sit down and track their progress?
Sitting down every few months to track what we are doing in life can be helpful to see where we are making good progress and areas that we can improve. This helps us to be real with ourselves and maybe adjust our paths if what we are doing is not working.
Focus on what you can control
Many of us spend a lot of time worrying about things we can’t control, really all this does is stress us out and make us feel anxious.
Instead, focus your efforts on problems you CAN control, and if these seem enormous, break them down into smaller problems/tasks.
Remember there is always going to be something in life you won’t have complete control over, and that is just part of growing up and understanding what you should and should not focus on.
Using the failure to encourage success
If you are one of those people that get disheartened when you fail at something, learn to use it as an opportunity to create success!
It can be hard failing at something, and we may instinctively want to give up, however, it is important to remember each time we fail at something it teaches us a lesson.
Learn from your mistakes and do better next time, use your failures to make you a better person. If you give up each time something goes wrong, you will encourage having a low sense of self-worth and may become too scared to ever try again. You’ve got this!
Make healthy food choices
This may seem like a cliche and yet it is SO important. If you eat a diet of highly processed foods that have little nutritional benefit, you are doing your body such an injustice, you are doing your body a disservice. Good nutrition allows your body to function at its absolute BEST, making you feel good from the inside out.
Processed foods are filled with nasty chemicals that can affect your brain in a negative way. If you are constantly stressed, try to cut out caffeine and foods high in salt and processed sugar. You will feel so much better!
Be Mindful, what do I mean by that. Mindfulness means maintaining a moment-by-moment awareness of our thoughts, feelings, bodily sensations, and surrounding environment, through a gentle, nurturing lens.
So Mindful eating would be….. maintaining an in-the-moment awareness of the food and drink you put into your body. It involves observing how the food makes you feel and the signals your body sends about taste, satisfaction, and fullness.
I am going to share with you some tips on being my present and mindful when eating.
- SLOW DOWN
Even if you can’t commit to slowing down during every single meal, try slowing down for just one meal per day.
Choose to get up 15 minutes earlier and eat your breakfast at home instead of grabbing a muffin to eat in the car on the way to work.
You could take your lunch outside and sit alone once or twice per week.
Make sure you have a relaxed, distraction-free dinner.
So often, we downgrade our meals while we prioritize distractions like TV, social media, news, or driving.
The nutrients we are feeding our body is one of the most important things we can do for ourselves and our health.
You don’t have to commit to an hour-long dining experience.
Remove as many distractions as possible and devote your attention to eating your meal and nourishing your body.
- CHEW YOUR FOOD
Your grandmother was onto something when she told you to chew your food.
Chewing your food is so important!
Your digestion begins in your mouth with the secretions in your saliva and chewing with your teeth. If you rush this step, you’re asking the rest of your digestive tract to do more work than it was designed to do.
This can result in missing out on some valuable nutrients and can lead to issues like bloating, constipation or diarrhea.
Who doesn’t want to do everything they can to avoid those??
Chewing your food well also helps to signal your brain that your body is being nourished and that can help keep you from getting hungry again too soon.
There’s no magic number of times you should chew each bite but try to make it as smooth as possible before swallowing.
- ENJOY EVERY BITE
By slowing down and chewing your food well, you’re already well on your way to checking off number 3, but it’s still an important point.
While you’re chewing your food, actively be appreciative of how wonderful the food tastes and how nourishing it is for your body.
What about if you’re eating something you don’t actually like?
First of all, examine why you’re eating something you don’t like in the first place.
If it’s in an attempt to add healthier foods to your diet, then I challenge you to really examine the taste and see if you can pinpoint what exactly you don’t love about it.
You can appreciate the fact that it’s a healthy food, the taste might actually grow on you!
If you’re eating something you don’t like out of convenience, boredom, or any other reason, then you might need to examine your situation and determine ways to avoid this in the future.
Maybe you need a nourishing snack to keep at your side and or desk in case you can’t get to lunch at your normal time or need to look into meal-prepping your lunches instead of settling for what’s fast and convenient.
Enjoying each bite goes double for dessert!
The more you enjoy each bite the more satisfied you’ll be with only one serving size, which will help keep you from going back for seconds.
- TAKE A BREAK
It takes your stomach 20 minutes to signal to your brain that it has had enough food.
But in that 20-minute period you can pack a lot more food than you need into your stomach!
Try eating only one serving of food and giving yourself a 20-minute break before going back for seconds.
If you’re still hungry after that, then go ahead and have more food.
As you’re able to slow down, chew well, and enjoy your food, and take a break, you’ll learn the amount of food that your body needs at each meal.
This is very individualized and is dependent on many factors, like how many meals and snacks you eat throughout the day, how much fiber you eat, and how much water you drink.
Each of the above tools will help you develop a deeper relationship with your body and you’ll eventually be able to listen to your body for cues on exactly what it needs and how much.
It will take a little practice to get there.
- PRACTICE GRATITUDE
So many people go without food and clean water in this world, yet it’s often easy to forget how fortunate we are to be able to nourish our bodies.
Practicing gratitude for your food is, I think, the easiest of all 5 of these practices.
I have my clients start a gratitude journal and write in it every day.
A simple thought of thanks for your food is all it takes.
To help you remember, I suggest putting a sticky note on your fridge or microwave door, or even on the cabinet you keep your food or pots and pans.
If you’re eating at work, you could keep a reminder somewhere on your desk or tie a ribbon on your lunchbox (tying the handles together will work too!).
Whenever you see the reminder, simply think your word of thanks as you’re getting your lunch out, waiting on the microwave, or preparing your food.
It’s amazing how far a little gratitude will go, and this helps to set up your entire meal by also acting as a reminder to slow down, chew well, enjoy your food, and take a distraction-free break.
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