Christmas comes with great food and the freedom to stuff ourselves until we inevitably pass out in some deep food-related coma. It’s a great time of the year for that very reason, and is often spent enjoying great food, lots of drinks, and quality time with our loved ones. Inevitably, it seems, that following this season of festive cheer comes the dreaded reality of January. It is here when New Year’s resolutions are made and broken with a week, when fads like “Dry January” are attempted, and mostly when people wallow at home. Cities around the world try to combat the harshness of this season by holding lights festivals to help give people something to look forward to, but for most, the goal is to get back on track health-wise.
Killing yourself with a crash diet or trying to run yourself into the ground with excessive workouts, however, won’t work. You don’t need to immediately lose the weight you might have gained, but instead focus on becoming healthier in all areas of your life. From your diet to exercise, to even your mental wellbeing – the changes that matter are long-term, and to get a leg up on these great habits you should start as soon as possible:
Brush Up On the Basics
Getting the right information is key when it comes to your health. There is a lot of conflicting information out there, and it all boils down to this: everyone’s body is different. To help you improve your health, you should start with the absolute basics and tweak your healthy living habits from there. For example, if you feel better if you avoid dairy, then you probably have a sensitivity and should try to find calcium from other sources.
Start with Your Diet
All the exercise in the world will not help you slim down or help you feel great without a diet to support you. Rather than focus primarily on characteristics like calories or carbs, however, you will want to stick to nutrition and ensure that your body is getting all that it needs to thrive and be at its best. To help you improve your diet, you should:
Clear Out Your Pantry and Fridge
It can be hard to stay healthy when you have so many temptations lying around the house. To help you out, commit a full audit of both your fridge and pantry. Clear out everything that is, first of all, out of date, and the food that doesn’t provide much for you health-wise.
Stock Up On Healthier Alternatives
Instead of butter try olive oil, instead of meat try any of the vegetarian alternatives, and so on. There are so many healthy alternatives to the food that you eat regularly, that you don’t have to give up what you love entirely – just enjoy a different version of it.
Budget Tips for Low-Cost Living
To eat healthy on a budget look to the frozen section and try to buy from local farmers instead of grocery stores when you can. Over time you will find that your diet will become less voracious, and that is because instead of eating more for fewer nutrients your body will get what it needs from the start.
Make Cooking a Pleasure
Homemade meals are healthier, predominately because you can control exactly what you put into them. Cut down on salt by minimizing the dosage or forgoing it entirely, add walnuts to your salad to add magnesium if you need it, and so on. Cooking from home and even bringing that food with you to work can also help you save a lot of money down the road, so it’s a win-win. The only thing you need to do is make it more pleasurable so that you commit to it more often, so try listening to music while you cook, try cooking with your loved ones, and try out new recipes.
Get More Fit with Less Effort
Exercise is often the first thing people think of when they want to lose weight. Just think about the huge influx gyms receive in memberships in January from people who want to get fit fast. These memberships, unless you use them regularly, do often become a huge waste of money, but thankfully gyms are not the only way to exercise, even in winter:
Pick Up New Hobbies
There are so many ways you can exercise without going to the gym. The best way is to pick up a new sport or hobby. Even golf can be great for exercise if you commit to it. From muscle strength to balance performance, there is a lot you can do throughout the year. Treat yourself to a new set of golf clubs by clicking here, and then book yourself a few golfing trips to really benefit from the exercise.
Try to Incorporate Exercise into Daily Tasks
If you want to be more active on a daily basis, then incorporate exercise into your daily tasks. Bike to work, for example, or walk home. By adding more vigorous exercise routines into your established routines, you can be more active with ease.
Don’t Forget Your Wellbeing
Finally, your wellbeing. Wellbeing can refer to many different aspects of your health, from your mental health to how often you see your friends and what sort of effect they have on you. To improve your wellbeing, you need to start doing more of what makes you happiest, and try to reduce or eliminate your stressors.
For example, if you only feel terrible after hanging out with one friend, then that friendship is probably toxic and you should address the issue. Work can be more complicated, as it is a necessity to exist within society, but if you cannot improve your day-to-day life and reduce stress then perhaps it is time to look for another company.
There are so many ways you can improve your wellbeing, but they will be unique to you, so start today and try to fill your days with more things you care about, and if the problems you have run deeper, then to seek out professional help.
What to Remember
Improving your overall health is how you can finally get to a healthy weight but more importantly how you will feel better about yourself. Looking a certain way doesn’t matter so long as you love the skin you are in and are otherwise exceedingly healthy. Making these changes are the ones that will carry on with you for years down the line, and allow you to finally keep your New Year’s resolution.
