Five Healthy Habits to Adopt Today
Self-care begins when you make your health and wellbeing a top priority. The secret to good health is not in creating a rigid, austere program that you won’t follow, much less enjoy. You can, however, take small steps to improve your health today by implementing small changes bit by bit, or bite by bite. Show yourself some love by putting these five healthy habits into effect today.
1) Eat more green foods and less white foods. Increase your consumption of green leafy vegetables like lettuces, spinach, kale and chard. Greens will increase your energy, improve your digestion, even fight wrinkles! The list of health benefits is long and glowing for green vegetables. Eat raw greens in a salad, hide greens in a breakfast smoothie, sauté greens with onion and garlic for a lovely side dish or juice some greens with fresh ginger for an evening mocktail. No excuses! Hands down, green vegetables top my list of healthiest foods to eat.
And white foods, easily top my list for the unhealthiest foods. White foods are the term I give to all overly-processed, refined foods such as sugar, white flour, milk, white rice, pasta, table salt. Don’t take this too literally, Nacho Cheese Doritos are far from white, but are the definition of a “white food.” What all white foods have in common are their ability to cause inflammation in the body, and inflammation is ground zero, the precursor for all disease. Take steps today to reduce and eliminate the white foods in your life.
2) Make water your beverage of choice. The list of reasons to drink more water is long – brain and organ function, digestive aid, beauty secret for glowing skin, weight loss tool. Aim for half your body weight in ounces (140 lbs. = 70 ounces) daily of clean, pure, unadulterated water. Alcohol, coffee, tea, sodas, juice, sports drinks, vitamin waters, etc., do not count towards your total water intake. In fact, most of these beverages are dehydrating (especially coffee and alcohol) requiring you to need even more water. Sports drinks, soda and juice are nothing but useless calories providing no health benefits whatsoever. I’ll get up on my soapbox about artificially sweetened beverages too. Please love yourself enough to eliminate soda from your life. New drink of choice: Water!
3) Eat in rather than out. Restaurant food, fast food, take-out and delivery – how convenient, right? But restaurant food is not usually prepared with our good heath in mind. The size of the portions, the number of calories, fat, sodium and sugar can derail anyone’s healthy eating plan. When you prepare food at home, you have complete control over the quality and quantity of your meal. Aim for the 90-10 Rule, no more than 10% of your meals come from restaurants, preparing the remaining 90% of your meals at home. Commit to no more dashboard dining, cardboard box deliveries, styrofoam containers or plastic-wrapped foods.
4) Exhale. Most of us breathe shallow, almost panting breaths without stopping to inhale or exhale fully, or worse, not breathe at all. It’s not uncommon to hold our breath through stressful situations. Oxygen is our friend, a nurturing, calming friend. Try it now: take a deep breath in through your nose – from way down in your belly. Hold it for just a second or two and then exhale fully out your mouth, completely emptying your lungs. Repeat a couple times. Don’t you feel calmer? Deep breathing helps to activate the parasympathetic nervous system which is the body’s calming response system (the exact opposite response of the fight or flight response we activate in times of stress). Mitigating stress is absolutely essential for good health and oftentimes, you can do that by just stopping to breathe. Take a deep-breathing break at least twice a day, or more often during stressful events. For extra credit, meditate regularly or begin a yoga practice.
5) Create a bedtime ritual. Getting a good night’s sleep has become so elusive. Many of us are walking around in some state of sleep deprivation, our bodies and minds not firing on all cylinders. One of the best ways to ensure a good night’s sleep is to create a bedtime ritual for the half hour before retiring for the night. Creating a bedtime ritual tells your mind and body that it’s time for sleep. Start by turning off the TV. The late-night news is hardly restful images for closing out the day. Unplug from the internet and put away your phone. Having a cup of herbal tea, taking a warm bath, journaling or reading make much better nighttime rituals than answering email or checking your Facebook status. Make your bedroom a place of solace and comfort, not an extension of your home office. Be sure that your bedroom is dark (remove, unplug or cover all electrical equipment) and cool – 65 degrees is the optimal sleeping temperature. Take a moment to be grateful for at least three things that happened during the day so that you end your day on a positive note.
Making better food choices, staying hydrated, taking time to bring a little calm into your busy day and getting a good night’s sleep are keys to good health, increasing energy and peace of mind – all of which will make your mood brighter, your body stronger and life more enjoyable.
