Being healthier or losing weight is a common New Years’ resolution for many of us. It is why gyms experience a 20% increase in memberships in January – more than any other time of the year.
We want to be fit. We want to be healthy. We want to lead long lives. To do this we all must improve our health now, but maintaining those good, healthy habits can be a struggle.
There is also no one single way to go about it. You can say I will eat healthier and exercise more often, and this, in turn, will make me happier – but how do you actually go about doing that? To help you find the right strategy that works for you and your lifestyle, start first by following this guide:
Guide to Being Healthier
Being healthier is the first step to being happier. After all, if your health is in any way holding you back, your brain will be impacted. The chemical imbalances can then exacerbate other mental health issues. This isn’t to say that once you become healthy, your mental health will magically clear itself, but it can help.
Being healthy should be everyone’s goal, and if you need a boost to be your healthiest self, you will need to turn towards a different diet.
Understand Your Health
The first thing you need to know is that your health and genetics are going to be the dictating factors on whether a certain diet will work for you or not. You can go to your doctor or get yourself checked out by a nutrition for more specific advice. Perhaps your body produces less of one hormone that normal – you will need to take this into consideration when choosing the diet that is right for you.
It is also wise to undergo all drastic diets with supervision. You don’t want to accidentally become malnourished because you incorrectly followed a diet, and you also don’t want to be unaware of serious side effects that may arise from starting such a diet. Every person is unique, and there are things you don’t know about your health that can affect the effectiveness of a diet.
Make Your Diet Work For You
Once you understand more about your health and what you need, it is time to research your options. It is wise to ignore diets that focus strictly on weight loss and don’t consider how your body will react. The ketogenic diet, for example, can help improve many health ailments from high cholesterol even to help you in a fight against cancer.
Though the ketogenic diet is one of the more extreme diet trends to emerge, it has many benefits that don’t relate strictly to weight loss. In fact, the Ketogenic Diet’s health benefits are varied and diverse, improving health by reducing traits like insulin, cholesterol, and glucose. This can help you lose weight, improve mental alertness, and even prevent and fight against diabetes type 2.
Maintaining such a diet, however, can be quite difficult on your own, which is where keto diet plans come into play. To truly see the benefits of such a diet you will need to maintain it in the long term.
Getting Exercise
Dieting is great for weight loss and for boosting your health, but it should never be the sole step you take. Regular exercise is imperative for a strong, healthy body. If you want to improve your health and longevity, you must aim to get at least 30 minutes of exercise every single day.
There are so many ways to do this. If you have trouble fitting it into your daily schedule, try to choose options that can be easily integrated into it. For example, if you live close enough and your workplace has a shower, you could bike to work. Or you could schedule an exercise class immediately after your workday is over.
There is also no right or wrong way to exercise. Just getting your heart pumping for fifteen minutes a day is enough to make improvements to your overall health. A small amount of daily exercise is far more important than one workout every blue moon. A good way to ensure you maintain this regular exercise is to do things you find fun, and to work your way up to more rigorous activities.
Guide to Being Happier
Once you are at your healthiest, you can then start to really whittle down what is holding you back from being truly content. Seeking happiness is a very lofty goal, and it is important to understand that life cannot be a high at all times. Instead, you need to find a good medium where you can honestly say you enjoy most days, even if they are not necessarily exciting.
Understand Your Priorities
For most, happiness can be found when you focus on your priorities. If you love your family, for example, try to make more time for them. You need to split your time more evenly between the things you care about so that you can feel nourished in all areas of your life.
Get to the Bottom of What’s Holding You Back
If there is something holding you back – mental health, stress – you need to get down to the source of it. Sometimes this might mean going to a doctor or specialist to find out if medication or therapy can help you. In other cases, it might mean changing jobs.
Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
There is no one journey. There is no right way or wrong way. The only thing you really need to do is focus on yourself and what makes you feel best. Comparing yourself to others will never help, and will only make you feel worse, so stop yourself from doing so as much as you can.
There is no one journey. No one option. No one solution. It is up to you to find out what works best for you and to stick with it. Habits are hard to form, but they are easier to keep if you see and feel the benefits first hand.
