Hacks to building healthy habits!
Starting a new healthy habit can be challenging! It’s common that we let our desires for the results lure us into biting off more than we can chew. New Year’s resolutions are a perfect example. We want to lose 30 pounds so we start January 2nd off running 5 miles, stopping eating sugar and eating kale with every meal. Those are all huge goals compiled into one day and so it’s easy to get discouraged and quit.
Thankfully there are many simple ways that you can implement a habit that will stick! Here are some great tips that will help you create a sustainable habit.
- Start small and focus on one thing at a time: The best way to build a habit is by committing to smaller goals and increasing as things get easier. By setting smaller goals and achieving them, we will be more encouraged to succeed! Take your end result and break it down into bite size chunks to create milestones. Choose only one milestone as your goal to focus on at any given time. I know it can be tempting to add more, however that can easily burn you out. By choosing one and only one milestone goal to focus on each month, it is easy to turn it into a habit that we can sustain long term. Once you have got it down, then add another goal (ideally adding 1 new goal per month)!
- Make it fun: If you associate a habit with pain, you’ll find reasons not to do it. If you associate it with pleasure, you’re likely to make time for it. Be creative and find ways to make your new habit more enjoyable!
- Plan ahead: Planning exactly when and how you’ll do your habit will go a long way toward making it happen, so be sure to plan in advance. It’s easier to forget to do your habit if it is not planned and scheduled. If you put something on your schedule and commit to it, it’s easier to build this habit. Setting reminders for yourself to ensure you remember can also be helpful.
- Consistency matters more than intensity: Make sure that you’re creating a habit enough times per week that it can become a habit. The consistency of keeping up with the habit week after week is the most important aspect. Do your best not to skip a day, this breaks your habit. If you do skip a day, don’t judge yourself or beat yourself up. Just get back to it tomorrow! Then identify what prevented you from sticking to your plan and work to solve that problem in the future.
Walking Meditation
Quick How to Guide for Walking Meditation
Most people think that meditation means sitting quietly, but meditation can also be an active process! My favorite type of meditation is WALKING MEDITATION! Walking meditations help you slow down and really enjoy the beauty that constantly surrounds us! This is especially great because it helps you squeeze mindfulness and movement into your busy schedule at one time!
The process is quick, simple and easy, try out this 10 minute walking meditation:
1. Ground yourself – Walk slowly and connect to feelings of your legs and your feet on the ground. Feel the sensation of your heel as it touches the ground, the base and arch of your foot, and finally the toes. Notice what it feels like to lift your foot and the muscles in your legs. Focusing on these sensations grounds you and helps you be present in your body at this moment.
2. Gratitude – Remember that walking is a luxury that not everyone has. Take a moment to show appreciation for your legs and feet and feel gratitude for the ability to walk. Thank your legs for the daily service to get you to where you want to go!
3. As you walk, pay attention to your senses, one at a time:
(1) the feeling of your body walking, the feeling of your breath going in and out of your lungs, the feeling of wind and temperature on your skin
(3) any smells in the air or plants around you
(4) the taste of the air or anything in your mouth
(5) what you can hear
(6) what you can see
4. Focus on all of your senses at once and pause to thank your amazing body. Remember to smile and be grateful for the time you took for yourself today!
New Year, New You Mini Challenge Day 4: Exercise
Is recommitting to health one of your goals for 2020? Then join this FREE 5 day mini challenge!
You’ll get healthy tips that are easy to implement and it’ll kickstart your health journey for 2020!! Each day we’ll cover a topic to give you tips, tricks, and teach you why it’s so important!
Topics include:
– Meal planning made easy and why breakfast is so important
– Creative ways to squeeze exercise into your busy day
– Why drinking water is so important and how to hit your daily hydration goal
– Importance of sleep and how to improve your sleep habits – Benefits of meditation and how to integrate mindfulness in your everyday life
Click here to learn more about my 6 Week to Success program!
Peanut butter Chocolate Banana Protein Pancakes
It’s important to fuel up with the right nutrition before and after a workout. Try this delicious peanut butter chocolate banana protein pancake recipe for a great way to start your day!
Ingredients:
- 1 cup instant oats
- 1 ripe banana
- 3 eggs
- 4 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter or 3 – 4 tablespoons PB fit protein powder
- 1/4 cup chocolate protein powder
- 2 tablespoons dutch cocoa
- 2 tablespoons flax seed meal or almond flour
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil or butter
Instructions:
Blend all ingredients (except coconut oil / butter) until smooth. Heat frying pan on medium high heat and melt coconut oil / butter. Pour 1/3 cup batter into hot frying pan and cook for 2-4 minutes until edges firm. Flip pancake and cook another 2-3 minutes. Top with banana slices.
Optimize Your Post Workout Recovery
Working out is great, but it uses a lot of your energy. In order to have optimum post workout recovery, you should eat the following foods 15 – 30 minutes after your workout:
- WATER
- Banana
- Dark chocolate (70%+ cacao)
- Greek yogurt or cottage cheese
- Eggs
- Tuna or salmon
- Quinoa
- Sweet potatoes
- Lean protein
Dark Chocolate Can Help Build Muscle
Did you know that eating dark chocolate can help you build muscle?
Dark chocolate has antioxidants called flavanols that help improve athletic performance and reduce the risk of stroke, cancer, diabetes.
Studies have shown that flavanols:
- Enhances blood circulation and lowers blood pressure, which improve athletic performance and muscle endurance.
- Reduces the enzymes that break down nitric oxide, which improves production of cell that rebuild muscles after intense workouts and improves recovery.
- Reduces glucose resistance, which improves glucose going into muscles cells and therefore improves muscle cell growth.
- Appetite suppressant, flavanols stimulate ghrelin which inhibits hunger.
- Indirectly enhances testosterone production, which leads to improved muscle strength, growth, and endurance.
Keep Your Heart Healthy with Exercise
Exercise is great for you heart health!
Regular exercise lower blood pressure, strengthens muscles, lowers stress, reduces inflammation, and helps control weight. Exercise can also stop of slow the development of diabetes and can even help people quit smoking! For the best heart health, doctors recommend 30 minutes of exercise 5 days per week.
Here’s a great workout that you can do in your living room!
The Power of Pilates
Believe it or not, Pilates was invented by a man, Joseph Pilates, as an exercise for men. It’s only been recent years that this exercise is dominated by women.
The benefits of Pilates are incredible: improved posture, increased energy, muscle building and toning, increased flexibility, weight loss, improved mind-body connection, and strengthens many other muscle groups in addition to strengthening your back and abs.
The purpose of Pilates is to maintain awareness of breath and alignment of the spine while doing deep abdominal and torso strengthening exercises. It’s challenging workout yet so gentle that it is the number one type of exercise used for injury rehabilitation. It’s easily adaptable to any fitness level, low impact, and only partially weight bearing.
Overall, Pilates is one of the most well rounded, excellent exercises! Which is why many present day yoga classes and strength training routines have incorporated Pilates moves!
Strengthen Your Core with Pilates
https://www.pilatesanytime.com/Pilates-Exercises
Pilates is the BEST exercise to strengthen your core!!!
Many strength training exercises are actually Pilates moves because Pilates is so excellent at building strength!
If you want kick ass abs, you need to do Pilates 1-2+ times per week! You don’t need to go to the gym, you can do this at home! Check out this site for demonstrations of the proper way to do all the Pilates moves. Pick out the ones that seem the easiest to you and start there!
Image from samisthitih.wordpress.com
Ditching the Worry with Yoga
Yoga is fun! However, if you’re new to yoga it’s easy to be stuck in your head and think too much about what you’re doing. Remember that yoga is a practice, so don’t expect to be perfect. Just be in tune with your body.
To get the most out of yoga, ditch the worry and really focus on being present.
