Have you ever asked yourself how to begin a healthy lifestyle? If the answer is yes, it means you’ve felt the need to change and improve your lifestyle and eating habits. Whether it is for the sake of your physical and mental health, or just your self-esteem and self-control, I’m glad you did. There is no ideal time to start a change. The important thing is to take the first step!
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To begin a healthy lifestyle you need willpower, psychological preparation and focus on health as a greater good. After all, there are no short cuts! As Mahatma Gandhi rightly said: “You never know what results will come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no results.” Change is within you, in your choices, in your self-love and in what is good for you! And I’m not talking about temporary change. It’s the adoption of a new lifestyle, a new philosophy.
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I often say that when we embrace a healthy lifestyle, health becomes the focus and weight loss becomes a mere, but permanent, consequence. In this article “How To Begin A Healthy Lifestyle” my intention is to help you make better choices and feel good about yourself. Therefore, I will be sharing with you 11 Valuable Tips I consider important for a lasting, effective, and beneficial change that you could easily and happily practice in your day to day. Come on! Make peace with the food. Make peace with the mirror. Make peace with yourself!
You can even say you don’t like to cook, that you don’t have time, that you don’t have the skills. I used to give the same excuses not to go into the kitchen. The only thing I ask is that you TRY! After all, there is nothing healthier than preparing your own food!
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Do you know why?
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Because you’ll have full control of the quality of the ingredients used and the proper method of preparation and in the end making healthy dishes that you like to eat! Cooking is an act of nutrition and love! Love for you, for others, for your health.
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Cooking is an act of fraternization and celebration. It’s the perfect time to gather family and friends around the table. It is to taste affection and care in the form of food. Start by preparing something for yourself or for those you love. Do nothing out of obligation but give yourself more opportunities to cook. Take time to take care of yourself and your health.
Being healthy is not expensive! Expensive is having to treat diseases, expensive is eating out, living on takeaways without knowing what ingredients are being used, their origin and the method of preparation. Start preparing your own food and you’ll see that what you spend on food will reduce.
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Take pack lunches with healthy snacks to work, freeze your food. Practicality is the key to success!
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Do you want to save money? Buy your fruit and vegetable from your local market
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Consume eggs, fruits, and vegetables, vary the cuts and types of meat and fish, make substitutions and new combinations. Allow yourself to try new flavours. Invent, use imagination, create! Healthy food is simple food! Less is more!
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The word “DIET” is associated with something negative, such as deprivation, suffering or monotony. I don’t believe in miracle diets, crazy and with many restrictions. They are not sustainable in the long run. People starve, do not have the freedom to choose the foods they enjoy, have no pleasure in eating, feel unhappy and everything becomes difficult to access and continue.
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The tendency is for people to give up the diet after a while and return to eating the same things that made them fat, regaining all the weight lost. Did you know that more than 80% of people who lose weight on restrictive diets get fat again, gaining more weight than they had before they started?
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After all, they lose weight in an unhealthy way, counting only calories, and forgetting to nourish the body. The change must be from the root, that is, in the quality of what is consumed and not in quantity. Opt for a correct and conscious diet – focus on health as a greater good. Eat real food!
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If you don’t change your habits out of love for you, surely your body will pay the price for it in the future. This price will come in form of pain, inflammation, diseases, bad quality of life, etc. No one’s going to take better care of you than you are. Treat your body with affection, really nourish it and it will accompany you well in life. After all, genetics is not fate! It is strongly influenced by factors in the environment in which we are inserted.
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What we are, how we live and who we’ll become tomorrow is the fruit of our daily choices. Our body is our responsibility! Therefore, take care of your health as your most precious asset. Loving oneself does not imply accepting one’s obesity, much less imposing on oneself an unattainable and dangerously demanded aesthetic standard by today’s society. Free yourself!
If you aim to lose weight or stay healthy and with long-term quality of life, you can’t keep making exceptions at all times. We live surrounded by edible substances, highly processed and industrialized, refined, full of sugar, bad fats and chemical additives. It’s an abundance of cheap, empty and addictive calories. If you eat improperly, keep in mind the consequences – this can compromise your goal.
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Often, to restart is a little more painful and difficult – learn to eat better and be aware of what a food for your health means. Special occasions exist, but need to be treated as exceptions. When they occur eventually, there is no harm to a body already adapted, besides being healthy for the soul. After all, “you’re what you do/eat most of the time.” Eating is not just an act of nutrition – it is also an act of socialization, pleasure, and celebration. But balance and common sense are key!
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Food is not just to satisfy hunger or provide the calories necessary for our survival. Learn how to use it to your advantage! Start to see food as a precious medicine, something that will nourish your body, offering greater protection against diseases, greater stimulation to health and better quality of life. Feel happy and satisfied to eat something healthy and nutritious.
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Don’t eat out of guilt, anxiety, or gluttony. Eat thinking about the benefits of food for your long-term health. Try to create a relationship of love with real food, with natural foods. They are the ones who will give you the foundations necessary to build a healthy, light, and happy life. “True happiness is impossible without true health, and true health is impossible without strict control of gluttony” (Mahatma Gandhi).
You’re not just what you eat. You’re what you buy! If you buy foods that are not healthy, you will have it at home. If you’re home, you’ll eat it – so close, so available and so easy, these foods will be the first to be consumed. So choose what’s good for you. Do not buy and do not have at home edible substances (highly processed and refined industrialized products, full of sugar, bad fats and additives) that are not nutritious, make you fat and can compromise your focus on quality food.
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Plan and be organized!
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Prepare your menu for the week and make a shopping list. In addition to being more efficient, spending less time on the supermarket, it helps you to stay focused on your healthy foods list and prevents you from choosing what is not planned. Learn how to read food labels, nutritional table, and ingredient list. Real food is simple and natural food, it does not come in a package, canned, with shelf life and with a long list of unpronounceable ingredients.
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Run from DIET, LIGHT, FIT, LOW-FAT products!
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Run from those food products with commercial appeals and promises of healthy properties or dubious nutritional information.
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When shopping, avoid going hungry!
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The trend is to buy everything we see ahead, losing the ability to analyse what is really necessary and nutritious. Make good shopping and good choices!
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Changing our habits is not easy. An important step in this process is to have more positive attitudes.
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When your behaviour becomes a habit and you realize how beneficial this change is to you, everything becomes much easier and natural. New habits will become part of your life and you will become an example and source of inspiration for the people around you, encouraging them to change as well. “Our beliefs turn into thoughts, thoughts into words, words become actions, and these repeated actions become habits. And these habits form our values, and our values determine our destiny” (Mahatma Gandhi).
Each person is different from the other and has different goals. What works for me may not work for you. Each body works in a certain way, digests, and absorbs food in a peculiar way, responds differently to the stimuli applied and has specific nutritional needs. So don’t compare yourself to anyone. Respect your condition and do not try to match your results with those obtained by another person. We are unique and singular! That’s the beauty of life!
Physical activity is not the best strategy for those looking for weight loss. It will work only as a good supporting role. Â However, the regular practice of physical exercises is considered one of the 4 major pillars of good health by the WHO, alongside food/hydration, stress management and good sleep hygiene.
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Physical activity is very good for physical and mental health and promotes several benefits, including reducing the risk of developing diseases, improves mood and anxiety, aids in mobility and quality of life in the long term.
People who really care about you will accept, respect, and encourage you on your search for a healthier lifestyle. However, you need to tell them about your change, your needs and difficulties. Show how essential their help is in this process and that you need their support and encouragement. Get them involved.
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I hope you find these tips helpful and if you have any question about “How To Begin A Healthy Lifestyle” or want to leave your own personal opinion, leave me a comment below. And if you liked the tips, share this article with your friends and family. Encourage change and engage with the people around you!
living life to the fullest means having a great state of wellbeing with a healthy diet as one of the most important pillar. I love functional nutrition and the benefit it brings to our overall health. As Qualified Functional Nutrition Coach, my passion is to inspire and help others to make healthier lifestyle choices. My goal is to teach about the healing power of food and how to use it to obtain optimal health and achieve permanent weight loss.
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20 Responses
Hi Kedia. Great article. What awesome tips. I love your first tip, prepare your own food! I think this is one of the most important tip. You’re right. Preparing your own food gives you control of the ingredients. You then get to control the portion sizes. As for the myth that to eat healthy food is expensive… I don’t know that I agree with that. If you have low income, eating healthy is expensive. I love your tip on valuing your individuality. You’re so right. What works for me, may not work for others. And my favorite tip – cultivate healthy relationships is a must. Who you surround yourself with greatly influences your physical and mental health. Get rid of the naysayers, catty people in your life. It makes a big difference. Thanks for a great post.
Thank you Shalisha for your comment! I’m glad you like my post
I enjoyed this article as it’s full of such good advice on cultivating a healthy lifestyle. I’m lucky as never had any problems with my weight, and enjoy healthy eating. I cook most meals from scratch and as a vegetarian consume plenty of fruits and vegetables. Although I eat dairy and have a love of chocolate, I’ve learned to hit the right balance! I also like your mention of preparing a weekly menu as this is what I’ve been doing for a while! I always plan ahead as it makes life so much easier. Yes, I agree, physical activity is important for your health and wellbeing as well as healthy relationships.
Thank you Kathy for your comment! I’m glad to hear that you lead a healthy, balanced lifestyle.
Hi Kedia, Great post. I agree it is important to buy fresh whole foods and to develop a habit of home cooking. I have been eating healthy for a good few years now. Took the time to learn certain recipes etc. I would also say the cookware you use is important. Like I’ve only just really come to this way of thinking that cheap metal pans and plastic utensils can contaminate your food with free radicals and EDC’s.
I think drinking pure water is good to if you can get a purifier. I don’t currently own one but as soon as I have the money I will get one so I can try and cut out the plastic bottles as these I hear can contaminate the body also.
Thank you Alex for your comment!
You’re indeed right, the cookware we use is equally important as many cookware including plastic container are made with material that are hazards and toxics to our body and health. Fortunately I’ve got salad master cookware which is coated with aluminium which safer that most materials. the best material for cookware is glass, porcelain, ceramic and surgical steel as they are safe and non-toxic. anything made of plastic has to be BPA (Bisphenol) free.
Hi Kedia.
Thanks a lot for this informational article. So many good pieces of advice here. I really like your approach of focusing on real food, good habits, and a non restrictive way of looking at health. That’s definitely the way to build a good long-term healthy lifestyle.
One of my biggest challenges is always finding good, simple recipes. Is that something you are planning to add to your site?
Thanks again for a great article.
Best wishes,
Michael
Thank you Michael e for your comment!
I do have a recipe page on this website – it is currently under construction but I plan to post simple, health and delicious recipe – recipes that are mainly gluten and dairy fee. So watch out for my recipe page
Hi Kedia,
I really like your article on 11 tips for beginning a healthy lifestyle!
I have to agree with you absolutely on every point, since I was a child I have always been a little chubby, and growing up I tried a couple of diets … which then made me go back to the starting point!
The only way is to learn not to take refuge in comfort food and improve your relationship with food: in this way not only have I lost some kilos, but my immune system is excellent, I sleep well and I don’t need drugs or supplements!
Keep up your great work!
Thank you Miriam for your comment!
I’m glad you’ve understood the impact that health habits and food reduction have on our health and weight.
Cultivating a healthy lifestyle is not just about rigorous exercises and going on crazy diets that’s literally starving.
It can be easy, fulfilling and so much beneficial as seen from your succinct and achievable tips.
Along with the other suggestions, personally, I need to be more intentional about going to my kitchen to create some magics a lot more than I am doing at the moment. Cooking can really be fulfilling and like you said, I can become more dedicated by cooking for my myself and family. I now have the excuse to gather my loved ones at the table, dish them home-made food and just enjoy the ambience. I’m looking forward to it, even.
Thank you for these helpful tips.
Cheers,
Femi.
Thank you Femi for your comment!
It is not easy to develop the passion for cooking but planning before hand and having weekly meal plan does help
This is a well written and helpful article for those of us who want to take care of our bodies. I agree that processed foods are not something we should eat. I try to eat a beautiful green salad everyday. The benefits are fiber, vitamins and feeling full afterwards.
I also agree that physical activity is important. Another benefit of exercise is that it helps you mentally, to be more alert and to think clearly.
I also agree that we shouldn’t compare ourselves to anyone else in our health journey. I must do what is best for my body.
Thank you Barbara for your comment!
yeah eating colourful salad has plenty of benefit to our body and health
My best to you as you continue this healthy journey! This article is fantastic and rich with suggestions to better one’s life. It is incredible all of the little things we can do to change. Each little step provides us with getting closer to our goals. I appreciate your work on this subject, and I look forward to reading more about bettering my health.
Thanks,
Marla
Thank you Erlene for your comment! I’m glad you liked my post
Great article, nicely explained that we are actually what we buy and what we eat. This article can help someone change their life habits and open the eyes of many to a healthier lifestyle. Thank you for this wonderful inspirational post and useful information and I wish you good health 🙂
Thank you Zvezdan for your comment! I’m glad you found my post inspirational
Excellent article, so many items I could highlight.
Being healthy does not have to be expensive, I think you nailed it on that one. Also, taking the time to prepare your own food goes hand in hand with that one.
I also love the fact that you highlighted loving yourself and our own unique individuality. If we are comparing ourselves to others in our fitness or health journey it can be so hard to win, and often deflating playing the compare game.
be yourself, set realistic goals, no crazy fad diet, and look at creating sustainable habits that will provide the desired results and a healthier, happier you!
Thank you Lee for your comment! I’m glad you found my article helpful