If you are looking to create life-long healthy habits, you know that it can be challenging!
Have you ever become overwhelmed?
One way of accomplishing goals is to break tasks into small mini-goals and make them less of a daunting task. Have you tried this technique? For this month, I challenge you to pick one goal from this list of 6 goals and work on your mini-goal until it becomes part of your routine.
It is okay if you are not perfect! We should aim for progress, not perfection, right?!
Your 6 Goals for Healthy Habits
1. Mindful eating (more on this next week): Listen to your hunger level before and after a meal. Eat to just fullness rather than to discomfort.
2. Proactively fill half your plate with vegetables at most meals (your gut bacteria will thank you!)
3. Cut out processed food as much as possible (anything out of a bag or box). Challenge yourself to opt for more real food options instead.
4. Cut off all eating by 7 pm 2-3 days a week (introduction to intermittent fasting!)
5. Schedule exercise in your calendar. Schedule it for a realistic time that works for your schedule and aim for just once a twice a week if that's all that is possible to begin with! It it is left to "I'll get to it at some point", you know what happens...
6. Aim to get 7 hours of sleep- try to get to bed a little earlier, minimize screen time before bed, and avoid caffeine after 2 pm.
You will see that making these changes in small steps is much easier than implementing them all at once. Once you get started, you could even give yourself a week or 2 to introduce another goal!
We have to give ourselves time to form healthy habits- so give yourself time, seek progress, not perfection- and keep in mind your WHY.
Focus on why you are doing this, not on why you "can't" do the current way you are doing things.
Keep in mind, we all struggle with making changes- but little by little, when things become habit, they are less of an effort. It becomes our default mode. And we can be closer to a lifestyle that down the line can help prevent chronic diseases like type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.
What is holding you back?