8 Simple Steps to a Happier and Healthier Life

Your First 8 Steps to Having a Healthier Life

The breeze brushes by your skin and rustles the end of your scarf.

The air feels crisp in your lungs and you feel it inflating your body with the purity of nature.

Your muscles feel tired yet relaxed as you finish up your jog in the early morning.

Later in the day, you’ve made plans to have a playdate with your kids and the neighbor’s kids.

You can already imagine the energy that the visit will take but you don’t mind.

? That’s the joy of being healthy!

Being healthy is something that we all want and that we all look forward to obtaining. The moment when a jog in the morning is easy and after a day of walking or babysitting you still have the energy to make dinner.

Becoming more healthy every day in both mind and body should be a goal that we all strive towards.

To help you on your path, here are your first 8 steps to having a happier and healthier life!

Be Realistic About Your Goals

No matter what you want to change about your life, be sure that you set attainable goals to get there. For instance, if you would like to lose weight, shoot for a reasonable number of pounds to shed each week, like maybe one or two. If you would like to exercise more, start by walking 10 minutes a day. While you might be tempted to try to do more, doing so can be hard to accomplish and can leave you feeling down and discouraged and more likely to drop your goal.

Focus on Adding In, Rather than Taking Away

Losing weight is not only about taking away calories. Instead of always focusing on what you are removing from your diet—for instance, soda, sweets and fried foods—reframe your approach and consider what you can add to your daily routine to make your overall lifestyle even healthier. For instance, think about the many fruits and veggies that you like that you can incorporate into your meals, as well as adding in a multivitamin to act as nutritional insurance. Also, research the many unsweetened iced teas that you can try and enjoy, all while cutting back on sugary sodas. Reframing your approach will help you feel like you are trying new things, rather than only cutting foods and drinks out of your diet.

Seek Out Social Media Inspiration

From influencers on Instagram to vloggers on YouTube, there’s no shortage of health-focused social media to find. If you don’t know where to start, search #fitnessgoals (or any other phrase) on Instagram tags or find similar channels to follow on YouTube. And you don’t have to follow just people, either — many businesses post content that goes beyond their products and services. For example, Amway’s channel includes videos explaining how Amway works, in addition to information about nutrition, multivitamins, skincare and other healthy lifestyle tips and products.

Shake Things Up a Bit

If you have been feeling bored and unhappy lately, doing something different can be a great way to get a new lease on life. If you like routines, this might be challenging for you, but it’s definitely worth a try. Start by trying something new on the weekends—for instance, hike at a nearby trail or park and invite a good friend to go with you. You could also do a day drive to a scenic part of your state you’ve always wanted to see, or volunteer at the library or a local non-profit organization. You don’t have to spend a lot of money to do this—the main point is to get out of the house, get a change of scenery and try some new things.

Go for a Walk Every Morning

Walking doesn’t take too much effort and it’s easy to wake up in the morning, put on a pair of sneakers and go outside. That’s probably the hardest part of walking actually. Once you’re outside, it’s easy. You can invite a friend or listen to music or an audiobook while you walk. The Arthritis Foundation even lists 12 benefits of walking such as reducing the loss of bone mass, improving circulation, and improving your sleep. Walking also improves aspects of your mind by improving your mood and attitude and slows mental decline. By simply changing the flow of your morning by going out on a walk, you can improve all aspects of your life.

Eat Healthier Foods

There’s always going to be that temptation of the cookies in the cupboard or the chips in the pantry. But there’s a magic tool that makes eating unhealthy less appealing and eating healthy more appealing. It’s called…eating healthy. All you have to do it start and the rest of the road is easy. Your body craves sugars, fats, and the necessary nutrients that it needs. If you provide everything that your body needs in a healthy way, you’ll find that your desire to eat unhealthy food declines rapidly. If you are having a craving, eat a piece of fruit. If that doesn’t work then make a quick fat bomb cleanse to satisfy any need that your body has for extra fats.

Make sure that your main dietary focus is on fruits and vegetables that contain high amounts of fiber. However, do not plan on adding creamy sauces, cheese or butter to these foods. Sliced apples, carrot sticks and broccoli florets are the perfect choices for your snacks.

Ditch the Blue Light

In the 1980s, psychologists Rachel and Stephen Kaplan found that when subjects viewed nature scenes, their stress levels dropped significantly. They reported higher levels of satisfaction with their homes lives, work atmosphere, and their social lives. That led the movement of having nature backgrounds for electronic devices. It’s not a coincidence that when you’re looking at laptops that the resting monitor shows an image of a beautiful forest in Japan. It’s because it decreases your stress levels and makes you feel happier. It’s easy to use this tool in your life by simply changing your phone background to scene in nature that you love. Blues and greens have shown to be the most effective colors when choosing a nature background.

If you are gaining weight, then your exposure to the blue light that is emitted from a smartphone, computer or television is often the reason. Artificial lighting will change your body’s hormone levels, and some of these natural chemicals can lead to obesity. When you are staying up all night watching television, you will have a lot of exposure to artificial lighting, including the blue light spectrum. Today, you can buy special eyeglasses that will protect you from blue light, or you can buy special clear screens to place over a television and a computer. While you are waiting for your body to adjust to the reduction of blue light, you can request weight loss meal delivery to your office or home.

Clean Your Home

You might not want to believe, but having a clean home improves your mental health. If you absolutely hate cleaning then start with the simple steps. First, make your bed in the morning. As soon as you roll out of bed, pull the covers back up into place and straighten out the sheets. Once you’ve made that into a habit then move on to another healthy habit and do your dishes. Having a clean kitchen has been shown to improve concentration and increase levels of satisfaction in your home life. So instead of leaving the dirty dishes out, put them away in the dishwasher or hand wash them. Once those two habits are down, move on to sweeping, mopping, and vacuuming. You’ll soon find that you are starting to enjoy cleaning simply because of the benefit that it adds to your life.

The Bottom Line

You don’t have to wait until January 1 rolls around to get going on revamping your life, and you don’t have to devote tons of time to the process.

Making the first few steps to that can be challenging at first, but after a few short weeks, you’ll see the improvement and your body and mind will thank you for it.

By choosing attainable goals that you can reach, focusing on what you are gaining instead of losing, viewing inspirational social media, and trying new things, you should be well on your way to shaking up your routine and being emotionally and physically healthier.

About Shannon Clark

Shannon holds a degree in Exercise Science and is a certified personal trainer and fitness writer with over 10 years of industry experience.