Five Habits to Jumpstart Your Health Journey

You’ve probably heard that dieting is over. You know that cutting out carbs, Weight Watchers, and keto diets don’t lead to lasting weight loss. They can often result in weight gain.

Experts agree that healthy habits are crucial to achieving and maintaining your goals.

This is great, but “healthy habits” can be challenging to communicate and teach on a large scale. Today I am compiling five of my favorite habits that have changed my life and those of my clients.

Habits take time to form. Be patient, be patient, and remain consistent.

Fluff with Veggies

You’ve probably heard this many times if you’ve followed my method for a while. You can quickly achieve moderate calorie loss without tracking or counting calories if you can fluff your meals with high-fiber, low-carb, low-calorie vegetables. A half-plate of vegetables is recommended for at least two meals per day, if not three. If you don’t want to eat a “plated” meal, but prefer something like a casserole, stew, or bowl of oatmeal, then keep the “half-a-plate” idea in mind. But, think “fluff.” Frozen or fresh vegetables can be added to soups, casseroles, chilies, soups, and even oatmeal.

This habit can be made more accessible by adding vegetables to your favorite meals. Do not change too quickly. Add steamed broccoli or cauliflower to your mac and cheese instead of the cheese sauce and pasta. Using taco chips, you can make a taco salad and add steamed cauliflower or broccoli.

Sips not Chips

Boredom eating and emotional eating are all unhealthy habits that can be difficult to break. Instead of removing the comfort of having food to munch on during those times, I recommend replacing that habit with SIPS. You can have sips of coffee in the morning, herbal tea, low-sugar hot cocoas, or a decaf unsweetened latte.

I prefer to eat sips over chips or other snack food because it allows me to retain the comforting and mindless behavior of having something to keep my hands busy if I want. Still, it also allows me to be true to my daily energy and food needs.

10 Second Breather

I love 10-second breaths! If I need to eat a lot of donuts or want to distract myself from my daily life, I take 10-second deep breaths.

It is easy to get distracted by other things and dive into a meal, snack, or treat. It’s easy to fall into the “screwit” mindset in those moments and allow overeating and mindless food to take control.

You can dial in for 10 seconds and ease anxiety. This will allow you to make better choices about your health and help you reach your goals. You might choose to eat the treat, but you will eat it more mindfully and less likely to binge. Sometimes you will decide to move on and go for a walk or do something that supports your health and helps you achieve your goals.

Do the little things:

This is the truth. There’s no way to say it better but to be active. Put your dishes in the sink and get off your feet. The dishwasher should be filled. Fold your clothes and place them in the dishwasher. Instead of Instacarting, go to the grocery store. Park farther away from the store. You don’t have to ask someone else for something. Get up and go.

Do the little things that get you moving more. You’ll be more active and less likely to get sluggish or tired throughout the day.

A little can indeed go a long way.

Be kind to yourself:

This one is also familiar to us. Talk to yourself as you would to your best friend. Corny, overrated, unrealistic. It works, no matter what label you give it. You’ll treat your body if you believe you are fat, ugly, and unworthy of nice things. You’ll treat your body the same way if you think you won’t be able to lose weight or keep it off. You’ll think you failed simply because you ate one or more cookies.

It’s difficult, not easy, but if you genuinely want to change, you must start to talk to yourself as if you deserve to change. Let’s face it; you do earn it. This area can be yours if you are already successful in other areas.

It’s all about reminding yourself of this. You can do this repeatedly until you feel it.