How to get started

We all know the basics of how to eat better and how to lead a healthier lifestyle. Obviously not moving and eating fried chicken a couple of times a week will not leave you feeling at your best.

At the same time, it can be difficult to know where to start. I would recommend taking it slow and steady. Remember you want to cultivate habits that will last a lifetime and become second nature to you.

Below are some tips to get you started on your road to wellness.

Have a good look at what you eat and how you live. Start slowly by eliminating just one bad habit you have and each week or couple of days you can slowly add another good habit or remove a bad habit until you slowly improve your quality of life.

For example, if you drink lots of fizzy drinks or juice start replacing with water until after a few weeks you are drinking mostly water.

After drinking water has become a part of your daily routine start with another habit.

It can be daunting to start eating lots of beans and salads right off the bat. What I would encourage in the beginning is adding a delicious salad before your lunch and dinner.

You don’t have to drastically change the way you eat just add some food of value before you eat. It will help you fill up faster and make you feel better without really changing the way you cook or what you eat.

Usually when people want to change the way they eat or their lifestyle they tend to go over board at first, eating nothing but salads and working manically at the gym with long tiring exercise routines.

This is not sustainable and many stop after a few weeks because it becomes boring and repetitive.

Consistency over the long term is what gets you best results. Ease yourself into your new lifestyles.

Make it a daily goal to move and exercise most days. It doesn’t mean you have to go to the gym and work up a massive sweat on the elliptical. But do a fifteen-minute YouTube video after dinner. Do a couple of squats while waiting for the kettle to boil. Park your car a little further. It may not seem much but they all add up and a little movement is better for you than no movement at all.

Many of us fall prey to this type of thinking.

If I stopped working out for a few days, I might as well quit.

If I binged while watching television one night, all my hard work is ruined, I might as well eat junk food.

We all have ‘off’ days and we all slip up. Don’t think of it as messing up. There is nothing wrong with taking a rest once in a while and a few bad days will not suffice to hinder your progress. The most important thing is to be consistent with all the good habits you have cultivated and I promise you, you will see results.

Patience is key. You will may begin to feel results almost immediately in some aspects like reducing your fizzy drink and sugar intake.

Eating more fresh fruit and vegetables will make you feel lighter and get your bowels moving and more regular. Within a week you may begin to see an improvement in skin nail conditions.

But usually it will take three months of consistently eating foods that nourishes your body and regular exercise to see a noticeable change in your body strength, well-being and fitness.

It took you years to build your current habits and thoughts and beliefs, it will take some work to reeducate yourself for a better transformation.

I cannot stress the importance of meal prepping. The most days where I eat nutritionally deficient processed foods are the days where I don’t meal prep.

Meal prepping at the beginning and middle of the week helps you have a healthy snack and meals on hand. By honoring your hinger and nourishing your body with a high nutrition meal, you will be less likely to crave or binge on empty calorie foods.

For a more in-depth article on meal prepping click here.