How to Create a Healthy lifestyle without Thinking too much about it

Do you want to create a healthy lifestyle without thinking too much about it? I bet you do. Being healthy is a desirable goal and many people want to achieve it all through life. However, the work required is what people do not want to do to achieve it. Yet, being healthy is very important in this decade especially with the rise in chronic diseases such as cancer, heart diseases, diabetes and such.

There really is no escaping the hard work to a healthy life; as they say “nothing good comes easy, albeit you can set your road to a healthy life such that it comes easy. What do I mean? I mean that you need to take some deliberate actions, set them in motion and let it become a way of life for you.

For example, if you want to drive a car, you have to first learn the how. It would take some hours of practice. When you get the hang of driving, you realize that you drive without thinking about driving; it becomes auto response and the more and longer you drive, the more it becomes a part of you.

You can apply this strategy to your health. Here are a few tips on creating a healthy lifestyle without thinking much about it.

1. Decide to Always Eat foods with fruits and vegetables

You are going to eat right? Make sure that whatever you eat contains fruits and vegetables. To help you achieve this, you can create menu plans that have fruits and vegetables in it. Then, incorporate fruits and vegetables into your shopping list. Finally, start with shopping for vegetables or at least, always visit the fruit and vegetables stalls.

Another strategy is to get a seller to deliver the veggies to your house every day or at least once a week. If you don’t cook, select restaurants or canteens that also serve vegetables at least and whatever meal you select, make sure there is some form of fruit and vegetables in it. These are different things that you can do to get fruits and veggies into your meals daily. My advice is that you should think about your lifestyle and create a system that works for you. Once it becomes a habit, you can do this without expending so much energy.

2. Decide that you want More fibre in your diet

Fibre is important in obtaining optimum nutrition. However, who wants to think about specific components of foods? Let me tell you now that one of the fasted ways to increase your fibre intake, especially in the African continent, is to consume more legumes.  Cowpea, which is the most common legume in Nigeria, is really available. If you add it to your weekly meals say 3 or 4 times a week, you would be consuming more fibre in your meals.

If you don’t like beans, here are other foods that contain fibre that you would want to have in your diet.

3. Move More

You are going to move, tell yourself this. Moving more means that you might need to set a time to exercise every day. If you cannot find the time or be consistent with exercise, do not fret.  You can create productive activities that will help increase your physical activity and possibly even help you make more money. Who doesn’t want more money?

One thing I have found helpful is the fitness band that tells you how much you’ve moved. This helps you quantify your movements and even motivates you to achieve a target, say 10,000 steps.

4. Hydrate yourself

Climate in Nigeria is mostly hot. Hydrating yourself is very important to keep you going.  Ways that you can achieve this is to proactively drink more water/fluids. To help yourself, you can get a water bottle to go with you wherever you go. If you have to set an alert to get up to grab a cup of water, so be it, just do it.

5. Think positive

Look on the bright side, the grass is always greener there. If you keep a positive outlook to life, your stress levels can reduce immensely. It can boost your mental health and improve your productivity. First, you need to practice positive thinking if you have not been doing so. If you do this mindfully, it changes your brain for the better and it becomes a habit.  When something becomes a habit, you don’t even think about it, you just do it.

6. Build and Maintain solid social relationships

Having good social relationships is very important to your health.  People who have this, live longer. If you already have a good support structure with family and friends, utilize it.  Keep in touch, connect with people emotionally and in different ways. Bottom line, enjoy your relationships.

If you do not have a good support structure, you can start building one. Build healthy friendships, be genuinely concerned about others and generally show love and care to those around you. It would help improve your health mentally, physically and all round.

In a Nutshell

Being healthy is a lifestyle thing. You just have to create that lifestyle that you want. It does not mean changing everything about you. It simply means that you live better. When you think positively, you attract people to you and you can build healthy relationships. When you build healthy social relationships, you find out that you have more places to go and you can move more. While your technologies and vehicle can help you connect, just take the time to ensure that your body is moving in the whole process.

Also, when it’s the whole family eating fruits and vegetables, it is easier. So, do it together. Encourage your family and friends to eat more vegetables and fruits and influence them through your choices and the way you live.

Once you get on this bandwagon, it can become auto response and you would not put too much energy thinking about it anymore.

Finally, eat better and live better.