The best way to maintain a healthy lifestyle is to understand the why, the what and the how we can approach this. This article is a summary of my personal learnings and how I’ve achieved this in a sustainable manner. The key is to this is not short term results, rather incremental changes.
The Why?
Understand why you are doing this? Ask your self this question.Are you doing this to look good? To have a healthy body? To feel good? To become attractive and meet your future partner? Whatever the reason is, for this to be sustainable its important to allow the Why to be something you want to do. Not something a partner wants you to do. Not something for you to impress someone else. Not something to keep up with the latest trends. The inner drive to do something will be the best way to maintain this. Think of it as a lifestyle change rather than a diet. Think of its as adopting healthy habits overtime rather than a rapid change.
The What?
When first thinking about the term “healthy lifestyle” we tend to think about either food and exercise. While this is a core part of it, the other parts that we tend to leave out include mental, social, financial and spirtual health. I’ll expand on this below:
Food
From a food and exercise perspective we are talking about physical health. There are countless diets ranging from Atkins diet, Keto diet, low carb diet etc. Then there is the 5-2 diet, Intermitten fasting, One meal a day etc.
Whatever diet you choose to follow, the core principles I’ve learned is to make adjustments to your lifestyle.
1. Remove items from your Fridge/Pantry If my goal is to not eat any snacks the best way is to remove all the snacks from you house. If you need to go to the local supermarket to buy a pack of chips you will most likely not go out in the middle of the night. By removing these tempations, you will be able to stop this habit overtime. If this is too extreme, start with removing a few items eg remove chips and lollies and replace with nuts or any healthy replacements.
2. Replace items from your Fridge/Pantry The key thing is with healthy replacements such as granula or other museli bars. These “healthy products”are marketed as healthy. In reality most of them contain sugar and process carbs. Replace items with a healthy option.
3. Create a shopping list and stick to it. This will prevent you impulse buying. Order online so you to reduce the change of impulse buying.
4. Read the labelsItems that marketed as healthy or sugar-free may not be that healthy. Adopt a habit of reading the ingredients list when shopping. Many products contain preservatives, sugar and other nasties that you may not be aware of.
5. Understand what diet suits you. Do more research and find out what suits you. I’m currently having a low-carb diet with lots of vegetables and high quality meat (grass-fed beef and organic meats). I’ve stop consuming milk and only have the occassional goat cheese. Another good option is to make a green healthy smoothie. The smoothie I make contain avocados, nut milk and a range of superfood powders is my go to meal replacement. The way I try to do this is to have a strict diet during the weekdays (implemented over time). I may have planned days where you can less stricted. I don’t mean eating junk food but say something you enjoy and relatively healthy. . 6. Make slow changes. Its all good to go all out and completely switch your diet but this my not last. When you focus yourself too hard you may not be able to sustain it. For me, the tranistion took a few years and I’m enjoying my food more and more
7. Eat out lessMost takeaway or even restaurants do not use the best ingredients. They will use low quality oils and cheapest eggs. When you control the ingredients you know what you are eating, how much salt or sugar is in the ingredient.
Exercise
I’ve been learning how people life in Blue zones and also traits for a long life. This often includes getting out to nature. Having daily walks and lifting heavy things. Daily stretching and form of cardio. The rational for building up strenght to prevent falling at old age as this is the how many old people get injured.
The way I’ve structured my lifestyle is to go for a walk everyday (Morning preferred) at least for 30-40 minutes. Do at least one cardio session a week, 1 strength focus workout and a long walk for endurance (90 minutes plus). Stretching is what I’ve currently started focusing on so some basic yoga and stretching is a good way start. To make this a lifestyle its best to find a walking partner, join boot camp and some weekend sports team. Walk up the stairs rather than take the lift. The key is to build each one of these activities into your lifestyle. Your walk can consist of walking to the local supermarket and back. You lifting weights can be carrying heavy groceries upstairs. The key is to start making small adjustments overtime until it become part of your daily routine.
Social Lifestyle
Having a positive peer group is vital to your mental health. Be around people who are encouraging and positive. Someone with similar interests and can help each other grow rather than being with people comparing with each other. You are the sum of the five people you are regular in contact with. Choose your social group wisely.
Mental Lifestyle
Building on from the social part, be conscious of how you process information. A good start is to practice gratitude every morning when you wake up. A five minute journal app would be a good start. Once you have incorporated this practice finding a purpose in life is the next step. Jordan Peterson, the author of 12 Rules of Life has an online program called “Self Authoring”( https://www.selfauthoring.com ). This program was produce in conjunction with a few universities with a goal to help anyone who has lost their way to find a direction in life. The program helps identify who you are by having you answer a series of questions from the time of your childhood to the present day. The second part of the program is to identify where you are going. The response to the answers get amalgamated to form an autobiography about yourself. I find this program a great way to look within yourself to find you purpose in life. Once you have clarity the next step is to plot a plan and stick to it. I’ve also tried going through a process call a Mental Diet. What it is is to avoid watching, listening to negative news or content. When a negative though comes to mind I try not to dwell on it. A good start is to switch of the news or TV. This is something I recommend. This concept comes from a book call “The 7 Day Mental Diet – How to Change Your Life in a week by Emmett Fox. Man Search for Meaning by Victor Frankl is another good book to read.
Financial
Managing your finances is a very important step to having a balance life. Being discipline about how you spend your money is a good start. Avoid consuming advertisements. They are design to use behavioral psychology to manipulate your decision-making. As a result successful ads can make you buy things without you releasing it by deploying ads around you. Stop following friends and family or the latest trends. Determine what is the most valuable things you need. Do I need to buy a brand T-Shirt versus a no brand shirt? Is it luxury items I’m spending money on? Do I waste money on unused subscriptions. Start by writing down what you spend every day for a month. Then go through the list and see what was necessary, nice to have and total waste of money. Group these items together with an aim of removing the waste of money category the following month. Once you’ve removed this group, the next step is to reduce the nice to haves to must haves vs nice to haves. Then remove the nice to haves all together. This is from the spending side. The other side of the equation is the investing side. Note: this is not financial advice. In general, understand money in the bank does not help your wealth grow. Interest rates are low and can not keep up with inflation. A good book to read is the Richest Man in Babylon.
Spiritual
This depends on your belief system. Whether you are religious or not, its important to have a congrugent belief system. An suggestion is to read biographies of philsopshers. Understanding the core principles from great philosphers and religious leaders is a start.
These are the components to add to a healthy lifestyle other then diet and exercise. I hope this helps and have broaden your understanding of a healthy lifestyle means.
The How?
The general rule for all the components of the above is to work out what you want. What are your goals. Make a plan. Implementing them over time making small but everlasting changes.