People often put off making a diet or lifestyle change around the holidays because it’s not a “good” time. I’ll do it in the New Year or after my birthday or once I get organized. There are any number of reasons not to start, but there are so many more reasons to start.
3 Reasons to start your healthy diet or lifestyle change today:
- It’s never a good time, so why not now
- Your life is now, not tomorrow
- You deserve it
The four components of a long, healthy life are:
- Healthy weight
- Stress Management
- Community
- Joy
When I started losing weight it was close to the holiday’s. I actually used it to my benefit. I was in a lot of social situations with a lot of food around. I would spend more time away from the food and drink table and more time talking as well as other strategies that I had planned beforehand. To find out more about these strategies check out my blog post.
There really is no good time to start a lifestyle change and you can always come up with an excuse as to why you can’t change, BUT today is the day to start.
Healthy Weight:
Healthy weight is defined as a range for your height, frame, and gender.
Healthy weight is the weight that you as an individual can maintain through regular moderate exercise and healthy diet. If you need to restrict calories below 1200 kcal/day or exercise vigorously for more than an hour per day then your weight is not healthy.
You are individual, so a diet designed for your needs is just what you need, not a diet off the bookshelf.
Stress management:
Your body has mechanisms in place to deal with acute stress in really positive ways. When you are being chased by a bear, adrenaline is released, your heart rate increases, sugar is released and you are able to run away before you get attacked.
Chronic stress leads to negative body response where adrenaline is constantly released causing increased heart rate leading to inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and weight gain. Chronic stress is caused by overwork, money worries, stressful relationships, and unhealthy diet. Learning techniques to reduce chronic stress can help mitigate negative impacts.
Yoga, meditation and regular exercise are excellent tools for reducing and managing stress.
Community:
Carving out time for community involvement, cultivates a sense of belonging and well-being. Community is defined by your geographical location or by a distinct group of people with similar interests. Volunteer your time in an area that interests you.
Examples of groups to help at a local, regional or national level:
- homeless
- malnutrition
- environmental
- domestic abuse
- mental health
- addiction
- veterans
How to help, get involved:
- spend time doing the work, often the work is not glamorous or entertaining, but it is needed
- organize friends to raise money or gather materials
- use your strengths and interests to help others who can’t help themselves
Joy:
Unfortunately, most people today are unhappy either in their career or personal life. They are stressed, uncertain, and motivated by fear instead of joy. Spend some time asking yourself, what is joy for you. What steps in my life can I take to bring more joy into my life. If dumping your job is not an option, what can you do outside of work that will help the career not be such a drag.
The holidays and New Year are upon us, take this time to reflect. Write down two things that you can do to help improve one of the four areas of your life in the new year. These two things should be specific, actionable, and include when and where you will do them.
For help in getting organized and planning your healthy lifestyle change, call Tara Hire at 207-594-0707 and get started today.