The 2 Magic Ingredients to Create a Healthy Lifestyle
One size does not fit all.
A healthy lifestyle can look different to everyone. It depends on your priorities, your goals in life, and your values.
What I have found through my years of living and coaching is that there are two magic ingredients which need to be added to your healthy lifestyle, read on to learn what these are…
Deciding you want a healthy lifestyle
After the summer holidays, the goal for many in September is to start being healthy again.
WTF is healthy?
Everywhere you look we are bombarded with diet and lifestyle advice. Do this or that to be healthy
According to the World Health Organisation, healthy is a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity.
From a birds-eye view, this is a great place to start but not only does the implementation of this statement look different for everybody, but life naturally also has its ups and downs so how can you maintain it?
A healthy lifestyle can change with the seasons
Although summer is generally a more healthy time of year due to extra light exposure and getting outside more, the summer can consist of;
- Less sleep through later nights and lack of sleep due to sweaty nights.
- Dehydration through increased sweating or drinking more alcohol.
- Moving less because it’s too hot or a change in routine.
Therefore getting back to ‘normal’ might be your goal for a healthy lifestyle this September.
Is your normal lifestyle healthy though?
A healthy lifestyle needs to include all areas of life which is why I base my therapy around 4 pillars of health and well-being as we need to be mindful of sleep, stress and purpose, not just food and exercise.
What are the benefits of creating a healthy lifestyle?
- Physical mental and social well-being
- Safety and Security
- Lower risk of disease
- Contribution to the world, i.e purpose/meaning
To create a healthy lifestyle humans have certain needs that are required to be met.
This was first suggested in a paper published in 1943, ‘A Theory of Human Motivation’ by Abraham Maslow.
How healthy are these areas of your lifestyle?
- Relationships
- Family
- Finances
- Career
- Health
- Personal Growth
- Attitude
- Social life
Download this free Life Balance Wheel resource to see how you measure up.
Is your body fighting against your vision of a healthy lifestyle?
Your body has one goal – homeostasis, meaning balance.
This is why restrictive diets don’t work long-term.
When we restrict food, our body will release hormones to tell the brain we are hungry, if we override these with all the ‘dieting’ techniques we have learned we will start experiencing the following symptoms as our body tries desperately to conserve energy to stay alive.
- Fatigue
- Anxiety
- Lack of motivation
- Brain fog
- Weight gain
When we align WITH our body to create balance we are;
- Eating enough and nourishing our body
- Moving optimally, keeping our metabolism burning
- Taking time to rest and recover
- Listening to our emotional and spiritual needs – making our soul smile.
Creating balance provides us with harmony.
The magic ingredients to creating a healthy lifestyle, whatever that looks like for you, are Balance and Harmony.
How can we achieve Balance and Harmony?
Change your goals to feel goals, how do you want to feel?
- Happy
- Energised
- Clear-headed
- Motivated
- Enthusiastic
- Content
- Optimistic
- Hopeful
How can you take care of yourself optimally to feel this way?
Be intentional with your actions and ensure you are making time for your ‘big rocks’ first, then adding the pebbles and then the sand, this is a metaphor for prioritisation.
If you haven’t come across this before, you have a vase (your life) which you need to fill with rocks, pebbles and sand.
It all needs to fit.
The big rocks represent your most important tasks or priorities in life, the pebbles are of medium importance and the sand all the smaller not-so-important tasks.
If you start by filling your jar with the sand you won’t have room for the rest, however, by prioritising the big rocks, the pebbles and the sand will fit neatly around, and you will fit more into your jar – life.
So, the goal is to create a Healthy, Balanced and Harmonious Lifestyle.
Obstacles to a healthy lifestyle
Nothing is ever as easy and simple as it seems.
Menopause is a massive obstacle for many women when trying to lose weight and feel great or just cope with day-to-day life.
Just understanding what is going on in our body during this time of transition can reduce anxiety and the feeling that you are going mad and will never feel the same again.
Taking action and making a plan to support the changes and enable you to feel your best is even better.
JOIN ME
I am hosting a live workshop THE EMPOWERED MENOPAUSE on Wednesday 21st September at 7.30 PM, follow the highlighted link to sign up, don’t worry, if you can’t make it live a recording will be sent.
Come and design your menopause vision statement and create a blueprint of what you want your menopause to look and feel like and how you can make it a reality.