Follow these tips to help you feel better and develop a healthy lifestyle!
Understand what you eat.
Do your absolute best to keep junk food away from you! Don’t buy junk food when you’re grocery shopping, you don’t want that in your fridge. Instead, focus on healthy and natural foods that you enjoy. Don’t be afraid to try something new and do not be afraid to cook! Something you throw together with natural ingredients is going to be a lot better for you than anything you buy that is processed. You can never go wrong with fruits and vegetables! If you eat natural foods, you will feel so much better! It’s an amazing difference that you will notice within the first week of eating healthier.
Fast food is your enemy. It’s not as if it makes you feel good anyway, right? A half pound, greasy burger sided with a large fry sounds amazing at first—but once you’ve downed all that grease you tend to feel pretty sick and sluggish. Remember: If it makes you sick, it’s not worth it!
The same thing goes for junk food you buy at the grocery store. Oreos and milk always sound amazing to me, but I know that after five Oreos I feel like throwing up. Food like that is not worth it and you shouldn’t be putting it into your body anyway! No matter what your goal is, junk food does not fit in the equation.
Of course, cravings exist! Sometimes you truly think you need that Twix bar or the family size bag of Cheetos. It’s okay to indulge, just try to make it something you do only for special occasions. I find that after a few weeks of eating healthy, the cravings die down substantially. If you can make it those first two or three weeks, then you can handle adding in some specialties for special days!
DO NOT DIET.
“Diet” is one of those dangerous four letter words… Most people hear “diet” and think of one of those short-term fads that they think will reap the most benefits for them. This is not the point of view you should be taking if you want to get healthy. What you choose to eat and what you choose not to eat should be a lifestyle choice, not a three-week fad.
You want your diet to consist of healthy foods while (once again) avoiding the junk. The crazy fad-diets that celebrities swear by are often dangerous and senseless. Don’t cut out a vital food group, just be smarter about what you’re putting into your body. Most importantly, don’t change your eating habits for two weeks and then go back to where you were. If you want to be healthy, you need to continue working at it. It’s a never-ending process, but that doesn’t make it any less vital to your health—both physically and mentally.
Going along with what you’re eating: pay attention to what you drink.
Try to cut out drinks with lots of sugar in them and wean yourself off of caffeine. Let your main focus be water. If you drink a glass of water right away in the morning, it should do a great deal in waking you up for the day by hydrating your body! If need be, you can always add fruits and vegetables to your water for taste and added vitamins. Get a refillable water-bottle and fill it up as often as you can!
Your mental health is just as important as your physical health!
Staying organized is a great way to keep your stress low. If you make an agenda, you will be less likely to forget things that you need to do and you will be less overwhelmed by everything if you see what it is you need to do and when to do it in your day.
Cut out the negative parts of your life. Whether that means cutting out the negative people, a job, a location, whatever! It might be a difficult thing to do, but sometimes you need to makes drastic moves for your own well-being. Do whatever it takes to ensure that you will be okay.
Smile and laugh every single day. If you find reason to smile or laugh everyday, then every day will seem a little brighter. Surround yourself with the things that make you happy and the people who make you laugh. Even if you’re having the worst day of your life, finding something good in all the bad can truly turn your perspective around.
Exercise!
You don’t have to become a gym-nut, but now that we’re getting into those warm summer months you don’t need to spend all of your time snuggled up indoors! Instead of locking yourself within the confines of your warm blankets, you can let yourself outside to breathe in the fresh air and release your soul.
Since it’s so nice outside, you no longer need to waste your money on a gym membership because there are so many things your can do outdoors to get your blood pumping and release some energy. Find exercises that you actually enjoy. If you like running, do it! If not, there is so much more you can do. Go for a hike in a nearby woods, look at the beautiful scenery and find solace by getting out in nature. Go for a swim, do pilates, or do yoga; whatever it takes to get you moving off your couch!
If you find yourself out for a walk or run and you happen to come across sets of stairs… Get on that! You can do this indoors or outdoors, where ever you happen to find a set of stairs. Running up and down sets of stairs is truly killer on the legs, but such a simple thing that doesn’t require any expensive equipment.
If you workout early in the day, you’ll feel better throughout the rest of your day! You may not feel it in the process of working out, but once you’ve finished your workout and go on with the day you will find that you’re more energetic and you’ll sleep a lot better at night. Grab some friends or go alone, just get out and do something during your day!
Get some sleep!
Sleep takes a great toll on your daily life; sometimes you get too little and sometimes you get too much. This can cause you to be overtired and sluggish during the day, so you won’t reach your full potential! Be sure to get a solid amount of sleep each night, seven hours at the very least. Schedule the time you go to bed and the time you wake up so that you may set an eternal clock. This will help you regulate your sleep and maintain a sleep schedule, even if one night threatens to mess it up!
Not getting enough sleep can lead to a great deal of health issues, which will affect both your physical and mental health. You may never understand why you’re not getting good sleep, but you can take steps to get yourself to unwind before going to bed.
Develop a routine that helps you get to sleep: whether that be a long, warm bath, reading from a good book, or having a cup of tea before bed! Be sure to create a good sleep environment. You want the room to be comfortable and you want to stay away from distractions. Don’t stay up on your phone all night and don’t watch TV right before going to bed. These things will distract you, stimulate your mind, and can even stress you out before bed, which does not call for optimal sleep.
Remember:
Don’t obsess over looking a certain way for the summer months. Don’t worry about looking fit, worry about being healthy and feeling healthy! That’s what is most important. If you feel good, you will look good. You will gain more confidence in yourself and you will find yourself in much more upbeat moods. If you follow these tips, you will be on the fast track to being as happy and energetic as a child!
