Start your day with lemon water. Don’t sit too much. Take the stairs. Be mindful of your breathing. Avoid trans fats. Avoid artificial dyes. Eat lots of kale. Don’t slouch. Don’t eat just because you’re bored. Try oil pulling – bad dental hygiene can kill you. Limit your exposure to chemicals. Eat vegan one day a week. Eat local. Take probiotics. Drink bone broth. Heal your gut. Avoid too much salt. Include strength training in your workouts. Only eat organic. Don’t look at your phone screen too close to bedtime. Drink a little red wine. Quit coffee. Do squats. Don’t overdo it. Don’t eat too late. Don’t eat your feelings. Don’t skip breakfast. Purge your makeup bag of toxic products. Get outside more. Oh, and more kale.
Overwhelmed yet? The volume of health information we have access to online can be incredibly empowering and totally demoralizing at the same time. Here are a few tips to simplify health if you’re feeling like giving up.
REALIZE WHAT YOU ALREADY DO!
Take out some paper and list all of the healthy things you already do – whether they’re part of your daily rhythm or things you do every once in a while. Chances are, you probably already have several great health habits. Celebrate those things. Sometimes we approach health like we’re doing everything wrong and need to totally start from scratch. Often, that’s not the case. Read that list out loud and pat yourself on the back!
MAKE IT EASIER FOR YOURSELF
Sick of interrupting your day to refill your water glass? Grab a giant mason jar (or even a pitcher) from the Dollar Store to keep at your desk. Staying hydrated won’t be a chore – it’ll only be a short “reach” away.
Often, simple tweaks will make our health priorities so much more convenient … upping the chances of us sticking to them.
DITCH DETAILED RULES & LIVE BY PRINCIPLES
Here’s an example: I can think of a million dietary guidelines that can be condensed into three words: eat real food. Because who has time to constantly consult a list of banned and okayed foods at every meal? Another example, the YouTube fitness gurus at Tone It Up challenge their community to eat: lean, clean and green.
Do you have an insane list of rules that could be replaced with one, simple principle?
GET AN ACCOMPLICE
When I decided I only wanted to eat sweets one day a week, an accomplice was a huge help is getting me to stick to my word. Not only do you have someone committed to slapping the cookie out of your hand, but you also have someone to celebrate and savor that piece of chocolate cake with you when you make it to Saturday and enjoy it, guilt-free.
Sometimes we need to “pool” our willpower, instead of just relying on our own!
FOCUS ON THE SMALL CHANGE THAT MAKES A BIG IMPACT
Trying to make a million changes to our daily rhythm all at once is setting ourselves up for failure.
Make a list of your health priorities and figure out one change that paves the way for several others. Here’s an example:
– have more energy
– don’t eat after 8 pm
– get up early to work out
– cook a healthy breakfast each morning
When you look at this list, there’s one simple change we could make to help accomplish all of these priorities: Go to bed earlier! See how heading to sleep at 10 pm instead of 1 am allows for more energy, eliminates late night eating and creates space to wake up early, work out and cook a healthy breakfast?
You can do the same thing with your health priorities! Make a list and find one simple change that ripples out with lots of positive effects.
Hope this helps!
