If you want to live a longer and — It’s that time of year again when we all resolve to get healthy and for most of us that usually starts with losing weight. However, there are many other ways you can start healthy habits in the New Year that have nothing to do weight loss, here are six of them.
- Add Food to Get Healthy!
Instead of taking food or calories away from what you’ll “allow” yourself to eat, focus on what you can add to your daily plate instead. Try to include 10 more grams of fiber in your breakfast with an extra handful of berries or chia seeds to a parfait or cup of oatmeal. Maybe you can set a daily protein goal. Or simply resolve to listen to your mother and eat more fruits and vegetables!
- Make hydration a habit
Drinking enough water is crucial for good health, including mental clarity, good kidney function, healthy blood sugar levels and keeping your energy high. However, not meeting a certain water goal doesn’t mean you failed. Some more realistic water goals might be to have a water bottle at your work desk, so it’s in your line of sight all day for easier sipping or choosing to drink water with every meal instead of soda or other sweetened beverages.
- Cook one more meal at home each week
Cooking at home can be much healthier than eating out or ordering takeaway: we know exactly what we’re putting into the food we’re making, we can better count carbs and portion sizes are typically more reasonable. Plus, cooking at home can be healthier for our wallets, too. Invite friends over, cook with your spouse or significant other. Cooking can be social and staying connected is good for your health too!
- Stick with consistency around eating
Oftentimes, those late-night snack binges aren’t from a lack of willpower, but because we’re not nourishing our bodies enough throughout the day.
How many times have we pushed ourselves through work deadlines, running on caffeine and stress alone, forgetting to eat lunch, and feeling terrible after? Too many.
Stick with consistency instead: opt for multiple, nutritious meals per day, plus a snack or two.
- Eat foods that fuel you to feel good, not guilty
It can sound impossible, but you need to release the guilt you may sometimes feel from feeding your body. Food isn’t a test or a measure of how “good” or “bad” you are. Food is culture, history, connection, comfort and nostalgia all at once. Once you remove guilt, you can make more grounded, intuitive choices that make you feel good.
Make choices rooted in kindness to yourself and your body, not punishment. Your body and brain will thank you.
- Protect your relationship with food
Clear your social media plate of anything that promotes an unhealthy relationship with food. What we see on our screens is food for our brains, too. Block voices that preach shrinking or becoming smaller than you’re meant to be. Curate your social media feed to support your mental and physical well-being.
Strive to be a Better You, Not a “New” You!
The best thing to keep in mind is that a new year doesn’t require a new body, and we don’t need to become something completely new when the clock strikes midnight on January 1. Focus on respecting and nourishing your body the way it is instead of trying to change it in some difficult or unreasonable way.
