Easy way to start living a healthy lifestyle

Wellness and being healthy in general is being proactive… it’s not waiting until something is wrong to start taking your well-being more seriously. Building these healthy habits will help you become more powerful in your body, as well as healthier, happier, pain-free, and chronic illness free. It’ll help you thrive, not just survive.

Now wellness has other elements to it that are equally important, such as financial wellness, spiritual wellness, and environmental wellness. However, when you’re just getting started in your journey, there are four ways that you can start living a healthy lifestyle right now, today! They are elements you can easily take control of immediately, and are the simplest/easiest ways to get started on a healthy lifestyle journey that wouldn’t require more money than you normally spend, or anything else other than your time, the energy and effort that it requires, and your commitment. 

1. EXERCISE

You might not like this, but one of the most important things that you can do to start living a healthy lifestyle is to incorporate movement or some type of exercise into your life.

Every single day, I believe that exercise is one of the most powerful keystone habits that you can develop, and that’s why it is number one on my list of things that you can do to start a healthy lifestyle.

You can incorporate movement into your life in so many ways, and it can be anything from a vigorous exercise where you are doing a lot of cardio and sweating, to something easy like just walking around your neighborhood for 15-30 minutes every morning or evening if you don’t want to wake up early. The key is to do it every single day, to build a habit as well as make exercising easier and more enjoyable.

The benefits of exercise are probably endless. It has so many emotional benefits… it helps with depression and anxiety, and makes you feel more empowered and in control of your life, and it just uplifts your mood, gives you energy, and helps you sleep better.

2. NUTRITION

The second important thing that you can do to start living a healthy lifestyle is to make sure that you are getting proper nutrition. Proper nutrition consists of lots of whole foods, high water intake, and lots of herbs or herbal supplements which can take the form of teas, or pills.

Nutrition is such a big topic that deserves a post of its own, but my overall philosophy when it comes to nutrition is very simple and can be applied to anybody no matter what your dietary needs are.

Something to keep in mind is that all health starts in the gut. Everything that you eat either harms you or benefits you in some kind of way, so really think about that when you are making your food choices. I know proper nutrition can be quite hard for people; it’s such a broad category because we all have different dietary needs. For the most part, however, we all generally need to consume as many whole foods as we can. When I say ‘whole food’ i mean these are foods that grew out of the ground or from the earth, to be consumed in the way that they are grown, so fruits, vegetables and nuts, etc. Try to consume as many whole foods as you can in a day, and then at the same time, you also want to eliminate as many processed foods, meat, and dairy as you can.

When it comes to increasing your water intake, the general rule is to drink half of your body weight in fluid ounces of water every day. This equates to about 6 glasses of water per day, while also taking lots of other fluids such as juices…

As earlier mentioned, the foods that you eat will either harm you or help you, and when you are consuming a lot of water and nutrient-rich whole foods, they help to heal, repair, and make your body thrive. 

So go crazy with it! Try to incorporate a lot more salads and soups into your diet. That’s a good way to get a lot of vegetables, and of course, consuming natural smoothies and juices is also a fun way to increase your nutrient intake from whole foods. 

3. QUALITY SLEEP

The third important thing that you can do to start living a healthy lifestyle is to improve your quality of sleep. Every day, you ought to get between six to nine quality hours of sleep. Most people think about sleep as this period where your body just kind of shuts down as a time for rest, but many parts of your body are actually very active during this time, and your body goes through restorative processes to heal itself and create the energy that you’re going to need to keep going the next day. Sleep also helps to lower your stress, and it’s just really important to get quality sleep every night.

One important note about sleep is that sleeping earlier, say around 10 o’clock, is more optimal. This is because it is more aligned with your body’s natural circadian rhythm, and so when you go to bed at an earlier, time you get a better sleep quality than you would if you went to sleep later in the evening. It is important to keep this in mind.

4. MENTAL FITNESS

The last but most important step to start living a healthy lifestyle today is to incorporate some type of mental wellness practice. Being mindful is just really being aware of what you want, what your drive is, and what your purpose is. 

There are so many things that you can do to help you become a more mindful person, like meditation journaling, and learning about the mind and body connection.

Many people don’t think about the mind when talking about physical health or when it comes to living a healthy lifestyle. However, your mind controls how your body reacts to exercise, nutrition, sleep, and all other aspects of your life; from processing stress to anxiety or depression… they are really all controlled by your mind.

So it is really important to develop some type of mindfulness practice, whether it’s through meditation, journaling, going on retreats, or just learning about your mind/body connection; staying curious, and knowing how everything is all connected.

The key to bringing all of these together and starting a healthy lifestyle is in the habits that you build. After all, wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits daily to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you’re thriving.

As a final note, remember that health is at the center of your life, and every part of you relies on you being healthy. Know that taking care of yourself is the ultimate form of self-love. Build good healthy habits, and I promise that you will be an empowered human being because of it.