Healthy Behaviors to Implement Today
Here are 5 healthy behaviors you can implement today that will make a significant improvement to your actual health. Each of the 6 facets of wellness are represented. Keep reading for how getting these facets into balance will help you achieve better health.
1. Be Aware of Your Mental Health
â£Your mental health is EVERYTHING! No diet/lifestyle program can ever say they contribute positively to this area of your wellness. Because studies show time and time again that food rules actually do more damage to your mental health. In fact, if you’re struggling with your inner dialogue (how you speak to yourself), much of it may be because of your exposure to diet culture. Including the reason you feel you can’t trust yourself around food, why you think you lack willpower or why you keep sabotaging yourself after losing weight.
Healthy Behaviors to Implement:
How often do you speak negatively to yourself? First become aware of the frequency. Notice if there are certain triggers that set you down a path of self-criticism. These triggers may happen when you get dressed in the morning, weigh yourself, or choose what to eat. Then learn tools to cope with these thoughts and heal your relationship with your body image. â£â£
2. Take Care of Your Emotional Health
Stress management is SO crucial to your health. Sometimes it’s circumstances completely out of our control. Like a Pandemic, financial strain, health scare, etc. But sometimes stress is self-created. Our society thrives on busyness and many act as if it’s a sign of success. Yet a fast-pace life can lead to many side-effects of stress such as: irritability, impatience, short-tempers, lack of focus, etc. As well as physical symptoms like headaches, heart palpitations, increased blood pressure and exhaustion. In other words, physical ailments are often impacted by factors completely unrelated to your diet and exercise behaviors.
Healthy Behaviors to Implement:
Do you have 5 go-to ways to combat stress? List out all the activities that help you to center your heart and quiet your mind. How can you incorporate 1-2 of these activities into each day?
3. Consider Your Social & Environmental Health
â£While your social health is about establishing connection with others and feeling part of a community. Your environmental health also contributes to the sights, sounds, textures and experiences around you. This means things your family and friends say significantly impact you. If your environment includes a lot of negative energyâin the form of gossip, complaining, anger, violence, etc. Your wellness will be affected. Similarly, if you surround yourself by a positive and supportive community of loved ones, your wellness will be enhanced.
Healthy Behaviors to Implement:
We were not meant to be alone. Do you have a support system or do you feel isolated? Are you in a toxic situation at home or at work? Consider ways you can strengthen positive connections. Reach out to a friend or find an online community.
4. Don’t Forget Your Spiritual Health
While many of us have a personal relationship with Jesus, others enjoy the benefits of spiritual health through other beliefs. Spiritual Health is knowing there is someone or something bigger than you. That you’re not all alone in this world. Whether you call it the Universe, Mother Nature, Allah, God, etc. doesn’t matter. Your spiritual beliefs actually aid in balancing your wellness and establishing healthy behaviors.
Healthy Behaviors to Implement:
Commit to at least 15 minutes per day to pray, meditate or practice focused breathing. It’s amazing how even such a short period of time can increase your feelings of gratitude, peace and optimism. One of my favorite methods for meditation is the Ziva Technique by Emily Fletcher. (affiliate link.)
5. Know What Actual Physical Health Behaviors Are
Finally, forget weight loss and appearance. How well do you sleep? Do you have consistent energy? How’s your digestion? Sex drive? What’s your stamina like? Balance? Do you get your eyes and hearing checked yearly? Your physical health is about how well your body’s organs are functioning. Not about your weight. Nor the circumference of your hips. Or the size of your clothes. You can have a lower weight and be in smaller clothes, but if your wellness isn’t balanced, you are NOT healthy.
Healthy Behaviors to Implement:
If anything is feeling “off” in your body, it likely is. First, identify what isn’t feeling good in your body. Secondly, brainstorm ways you could help improve this yourself. Say it’s your digestion that’s on the struggle bus lately with heart burn. The explanation could be anything ranging from eating highly acidic foods, drinking too much wine, stress (yes not often considered!), or a number of other reasons. Consider what may be contributing factors. Then start taking small steps to test this theory. So much about intuition is data collection. Finally, if it remains a concern, seek medical assistance.
Gain Wellness Without the Stress of Weight Loss
One of the greatest disservices (and that’s putting it SO lightly) that diet culture brought to society is that only thin people can be healthy. That false perception of health is not true whatsoever. And I hope this blog post helped you realize that there are so many healthy behaviors that you can implement on a daily basis, that have nothing to do with your size.
If you enjoyed this article and want more tips and tricks, purchase your copy of the Gain Wellness Workbook. This is a 35-day deep dive into ways you can establish health behaviors to feel your best.
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