Your Well Balanced Lifestyle is Created by These 5 Habits

When we decide we want to live a healthier lifestyle, we often focus most of our attention on our weight, heart health, and digestion just to name a few, but what about our mental health? The very place we store our willpower and motivation. What about making sure our bodies are well rested? When I dived into transforming my own life, I knew I was going to have to do some work on the inside before I would fully be able to accept what I saw on the outside. I knew beauty and being skinny were not the answers to happiness and that the answers to my life desires needed to come from within. By themselves these habits seem simple enough, but incorporating them all into a daily routine can be challenging. I'd love to focus on my techniques for creating routines, but I don't want to get carried away from the main point of this post. So here goes!

Mindfulness

Mindset is EVERYTHING when it comes to making changes. Especially breaking habits and beliefs you may have been holding onto for a lifetime. I used to believe that there wasn't anything special about me and that I had nothing good to offer the world. My self worth was so non-existent that I would spend most days bashing myself, never thinking to hype myself up. I incorporated a lot of metaphysical psychological practices into my life when making a change. Positive affirmations were new for me. "I am worthy. I am loved. I deserve happiness. I am perfectly made just the way I am." I started reading about The Law of Attraction and how we can tune into different frequencies based off the energy we put out. The more good and gratitude we send out into the Universe, the more good and things to be grateful for the Universe will send back to us. Chakras, crystal healing, and smudging are all real things. The more you understand and work on inside of you, the more the rest just falls into place.

Move With Intention

When you talk about being more active, most people get turned off. Working out is often a chore, takes some convincing. I'll be honest, there are days when I would rather continue to lay back with my feet up than move around and do something for 30 minutes. I've had phases where I made zero excuses and was so drilled down to my routine, felt amazing and never took a rest day. On the opposite, I've had periods of time where I find myself saying "you've done a workout the last couple days, it's ok to take the day off" and then sabotage my nutrition the rest of the day, a couple days of the week. The biggest difference, it was easier to hold myself accountable when I was doing a workout program that was fun, made my body feel strong when I finished and was conventional with my busy, single mom on a budget lifestyle. I thoroughly enjoyed it. It was a daily escape from reality for me. I craved that sweaty, just got my ass kicked, high. I was intentional about my time and made it about more than just checking off a task each day.

Eat to Fuel, Not to Fill

I hate the word diet. Diets are temporary. They're based around the concept of following a set of rules to reach a goal and then you're good. The problem is, most of these diets are not built to support you in a healthy manner for the rest of your life. Either you don't consume enough carbs and calories to have enough energy to function properly, you deprive yourself of all your favorite foods and never enjoy eating again, or you go back to eating all your favorite foods and ruin all the progress you've made with your health. Eating is about fueling your body. Fueling your body to maximize your attention span, focus, energy, mood and even memory capability. Feel yourself getting that afternoon energy crash? It could very well be due to the fact that you are simply not providing your body with the proper fuel and the proper times. Your body relies on your blood sugar levels to provide the energy you need to get through your day. Blood sugar comes from the carbohydrates you consume through foods, but different carbohydrates have different effects on your blood sugar. Sugary foods (highly refined carbohydrates) digest quicker which releases a spike of glucose into your bloodstream, but that spike usually doesn't last long. When you get your carbohydrates from foods like fruits and veggies, they take longer to digest, allowing the glucose to enter your bloodstream slower and provide more sustained energy over a longer period of time.

Drink Your Water

I know we've all heard it, yet it's probably the most common thing people struggle with when it comes to giving our body what it needs. Growing up I remember always being told that 64 ounces of water a day is the magic answer. Truth is, there is no one-size-fits-all when it comes to the amount of water you should drink, fluid needs vary for everyone. Health conditions, medications, activity levels all play a role in how much water your body needs to function at its highest potential. If you are someone who is highly active, sweating a lot, your body is going to need more water throughout the day to replenish the amounts of water you are losing. Some medications make your body retain more water and therefore you don't need to drink as much water so your body doesn't intake too much. Your body makeup is composed of about 60% water. Therefore, drinking the right amount for you helps to maintain the balance of body fluids. The functions of these bodily fluids include digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature. Cells that don't maintain their balance of fluids and electrolytes shrivel, which can result in muscle fatigue. Not getting enough water can also deteriorate the health of your skin, cause your kidneys to not process and get rid of bodily waste, or your body could start pulling water from bodily stools to maintain hydration and result in constipation. If you find yourself thinking you should be drinking more water throughout the day, try carrying a bottle of water around with you wherever you go or finding a healthy flavor additive to put in your water to make it more enjoyable.

Go to Bed

Sounds simple enough doesn't it? Sure. But getting the proper amount of rest each day is often easier said than done. So many of us live such busy lives and it hardly seems like there are enough hours in the day to accomplish our task lists as it is. Good quality rest isn't always about the number of hours you spend in bed however. How much sleep you get, the quality of sleep you get and a consistent sleep schedule all play a role in getting the proper amount of rest. Your brain needs sleep in order to learn, remember and create. The brain also changes functions while we sleep, removing toxins from the body. Everything from blood vessels to our immune system uses sleep as a time to repair. Sleep isn't something you can just "catch up on". Your body needs consistent, good sleep, and not being in a good routine can significantly lower the level at which your body is able to function. Getting into a good sleep routine will increase your mood, give you more energy throughout the day and improve your health.