Healthy Habits To Live By
Having a routine and sticking to my healthy habits are ways I strive to have a balanced life in all aspects. At times, the world can have us feeling overwhelmed with work and personal life, but sticking to those things we can control are ways to keep us in line with our mental clarity and positivity. Here are some of my healthy habits I follow religiously, and I hope they can help with anyone else reading this post:
HYDRATE THROUGHOUT THE DAY: Hydrating our body is an essential habit to live by for a multitude of reasons, such as our skin, brain and bodily functions, weight loss, and much more (I have a post here with some more insight). We're made up of 60 percent water, so it's critical to give our bodies what it thrives off of. And for those who struggle to drink water or enough of it, try adding lemon or fruit to give it a slightly different taste. Here are water bottles to help make it easier for you- YETI, CORKCICLE, and one with motivation
PRACTICE PORTION CONTROL: Utilizing the first tip, drinking enough water can help with portion control since it keeps us fuller for longer and helps with deflecting our cravings for junk food. A trick I use is to have smaller dishes, generally speaking, we fill our plates to the edges, so using smaller items will help us from not overfilling and overeating.
TRY TO EAT LESS THAN 4G OF SUGAR: I try not to have any sugar in my diet unless it's natural and from fruits. I always follow the less than four grams rule (my sisters' trainer once told her this, which stuck with me throughout the years) because I know my body and processed sugar doesn't benefit me in the slightest. However, the key to keeping your sugars low and making sure they're natural is by reading the ingredients, not just the calorie amount.
PLAN AHEAD: We stay on track easily when we have a routine we like and follow religiously. Finding what works for us is different for everyone and takes time, but the key is to plan out our workouts, meals, and snacks ahead of time. Whether it's a day or a few hours before, planning allows us to keep ourselves on track and not feel overwhelmed. For example, plan a workout before hitting the gym, think about meals the day before, and prep snack so they're ready to go. I’ve been using Centr Fit lately, which plans out a daily workout and meal plan.
EAT INTUITIVELY: Coming from a sports background and educating myself on nutrition has taught me to listen to my body and read labels. Changing our habits is difficult, but by slowly trying to weave out foods we can't pronounce all the ingredients, we don't know what they are, or they include some type of fructose gets easier with time. As for eating intuitively, I try to have vegetables and protein at every meal because it keeps me full and feeling good, which is the most important part. We should be fueling our bodies with what makes us feel good, and listen to when it rejects something, too. Here’s an article on a Guide to Intuitive Eating.
BALANCE: Life is all about balance- eat clean, train hard, and indulge on occasion. We put our bodies through a lot on the daily, so giving in dessert or wine, for example, are easy ways to say thank you to our ourselves. There is nothing wrong with treating ourselves, however, when we do it throughout the day or it becomes the norm, is when it can become unhealthy. An easy rule to follow is the 80:20; eat a healthy diet 80 percent of the time and indulge 20 of the time, which will make it that much better when you do #treatyoself