9 Easy Tips and Tricks to Create a Healthy Lifestyle
What does it take to really take create a healthy lifestyle? One that you can do happily and forever?
When I first started my health and fitness journey all I heard was the fitness experts and influencers say that “it isn’t a diet, it’s a lifestyle.” That’s what will make all these amazing changes in your body and life. To be honest I wanted to punch someone every time they said it.
I thought “lifestyle” was a buzz word that people used to get me to buy whatever they were selling. Or that it was something someone who has always been in amazing shape said and there was no freaking way they could possibly know how I feel.
The more diets I tried, the more I realized that they were all short term fixes. And that I actually did have to create a healthy lifestyle. That’s how I would get to where I wanted to be.
Before, I would be extremely strict on whatever diet I was doing, do that for a few weeks. I would lose weight and then when it was over I would go nuts on ice cream, pasta, and all of the things that I wouldn’t give myself while I was “dieting.” Then I’d gain everything I lost plus some. I got so sick of it.
As much as I hate saying this any long-lasting health change does have to turn into a lifestyle. To create a healthy lifestyle it to be something that can be done every day. Eventually, it will become as automatic and sustainable as any habit.
9 Tips and Tricks to Create a Healthy Lifestyle
These are my top tips and tricks to start making good habits and creating long-lasting change! Don’t forget, tips to create a healthy lifestyle should be things that you can do for a long time. Any diet or plan where you can’t go out to eat or has you worried about being social because you can’t eat out is NOT A GOOD PLAN! A lifestyle is all about balance and is about being healthy both physically and mentally.
1. Find your “why”
Finding your “why” is really important. It helps to keep you pushing forward and make the changes that you want to make. I’m not going to lie to you, it can be really hard to change habits and to take yourself out of your comfort zone, especially if you don’t connect to why you want too or have a damn good reason too. A practice I use a lot with clients and myself is the “5 why” practice. Ask yourself why you want to lose weight, gain weight, get in better shape, get healthy, or whatever goal it is that you have. Then keep asking yourself “why”. Until you get to a reason that feels like an unshakable reason for you, one that you can think about and use to keep moving forward. If that stops with “I want to look sexy” that’s great as long as it really motivates you.
2. Eat your vegetables
Make your mama proud and eat your vegetables! Vegetables should make up the bulk of your meals. You can do this however you need to. Eat them raw, roasted, sautéed, baked, broiled, probably not deep-fried, eat them in a tree, on a train or wherever. It doesn’t matter just EAT THEM (except deep-fried, really don’t do that.)
3. Drink more water
Drinking water is one of the most underrated parts of any health and fitness regime but it is one of the most important. It can be one of the things that makes the biggest changes to your health and appearance. If you want to know more about why you should drink more water and some tips and tricks on how. Click here.
4. Eat protein
This can be through higher protein vegetables, meats, protein powders, or any other source of protein. Most of your protein should come from natural sources that aren’t super processed or come from a lab. Eating protein is really important for overall health. Protein is what makes up basically everything in your body and is constantly being used, so making sure you have a positive protein turnover (you are eating more protein than you are using) is important for your body to function properly. It is especially important if you are exercising. Try to have some sort of protein with every main meal.
5. Focus on increasing the good instead of decreasing the bad
This has been one of the tips that have helped both me and my clients the most mentally. Focusing on increasing the good helps you get more of the things your body needs to function optimally and be the healthiest and in the best shape it can be. Increasing the good naturally decreases the bad without the feeling of restriction and do everything “perfectly.” You can still enjoy your life this way, there is balance and no hard no’s.
6. Replace your favorites with healthier versions
I cannot stick to a healthy diet if the food is boring or if I have to do a 180 and give up all the foods I like. I won’t do it, I won’t! So I had to find healthier versions of the foods I really like. This helps so much not only with being able to stick to a healthy lifestyle but it takes away a lot of the will power that comes with making changes (willpower is finite and doesn’t last at the same strength all day.) For some healthy, delicious recipes check out the recipes section or click here
7. Cook for yourself
When I went out to eat all the time because I didn’t know how to cook/ I was was a little too lazy to learn. I had ZERO money for fun things and I could not get into the shape I wanted plus I kind of always felt like shit. Learning to cook for yourself and eating at home is one of the best ways you can stay on track with your health and fitness regime. Even the healthiest options at restaurants are not always great options. They tend to have a lot of sneaky sugars and unhealthy fats loaded up there. When you cook for yourself you can see exactly what goes into what you’re eating and you have all the control. It can also be really enjoyable (for some people, it definitely is for me.) I’m not saying to never go out to eat but making it a special occasion kind of thing keeps you on track and feeling good, saves you a bunch of money, and makes it more special when you do go out! Click here for some healthy, yummy recipes.
8. Get yourself some good cooking tools
You don’t have to spend a lot of money or anything on this, but having a least one good pan makes the world of difference. It cooks your food faster and more evenly. I would suggest going for iron pans and if you really want a nonstick pan to go for a Greenpan one. It’s healthier because there aren’t harmful chemicals coming off of your pan and into your food (like Teflon or PTFE, these turn into harmful chemicals when heated.) For me, I am always more excited to cook when I know I have the right things to cook in and I get to use new gadgets! That might just be me… maybe.
The bare minimum to healthy food and living a healthy lifestyle is one good pan (said that), a knife, a cutting board, a spatula and a can opener (links to some of my favorite essentials are in red). You can find those if you click on the links. That is really the BARE MINIMUM to do some cooking, you will eventually need more (most likely.. but I don’t know your life) but this is a great way to start. If you’re like me and you love cooking and good cooking utensils motivate you to cook up a storm and eat healthy check out this site!
9. Find an exercise or sport that you really ENJOY
Exercise doesn’t have to be miserable or not enjoyable. Exercise should be something that makes you feel good and proud of doing it. It should be something that you look forward too. I’m not going to lie to you, finding a new sport, or going to the gym for the first time in a long time, or really trying anything new can be scary and intimidating as shit. But it’s also really rewarding and makes you feel proud of yourself. EVERY SINGLE PERSON in that gym, sport, or whatever has started as a beginner and a newbie. Every person there is working on themselves and let’s be honest they probably aren’t paying too much attention to you. Sorry, but they probably aren’t. When I first started Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Crossfit, and just started going to the gym in general, I was TERRIFIED. I still am sometimes, especially after time off and going back. But it is so rewarding and fun and makes me feel so good! And I’m sure exercise will do the same for you!
