Healthy Lifestyle Geek

Healthy living involves many factors that potentially affect your health. Obviously genetics and age are two aspects you have absolutely no control over, at least not yet. However there are 4 major areas most of you have some control over that are potentially negatively affecting your health right now. The 4 controllable health changes for building a healthy lifestyle are:

Maintain Healthy Weight ~ no whining, make it happen.
Eat Healthy Food Variety ~ limit calories & sat. fat.
Physically Active ~ matters not how, just do.
Have Fun ~ change your attitude, change your life.

When you decide to start down the road of a healthy lifestyle focus your attention and adjust your behaviors in regards to these 4 healthy subject areas. Minor changes to your lifestyle will help you feel better today and reduce the risks associated with some serious diseases. Not a bad payoff.

How to go about a healthy lifestyle change is not that complicated. Each morning remind yourself to focus on these 4 healthy lifestyle components throughout your day. Print out this list and tack it up near your bathroom’s mirror. Bam ~ there is your reminder.

Now here is the secret to success. What you want to do is train your mind to consider these healthy lifestyle handlers throughout your daily activities. This is where most fall down.

Your pattern of unhealthy behavior kicks in automatically on cue. For example when your body cues you to eat (hunger signal) your previous unhealthy reaction might be to hit the nearest fast food establishment to satisfy that call. Looking at the 4 health promoters this behavior would sabotage at least 2 of them, weight maintenance and healthy food eating.

Oops, and then you only realize it after the fact. No problem so long as you take the time to note this unhealthy choice.

Guilt accomplishes nothing. Don’t beat yourself up for something yourself has been trained to do. Take this fabulous opportunity to coach yourself to health.

In the aftermath of an identified unhealthy behavior the initial step is to stop all thought. Step two is to review all the possible healthy alternatives that were available to you at that moment in time you headed out for unhealthy satisfaction. Literally create a list of alternatives in your mind.

Using our example of satisfying hunger with an unhealthy fast food choice, some of the potential healthy solutions for review with yourself might be throwing a banana in your work bag for such an occasion, or noting healthy alternative food sources on the same block as your favorite fast food establishment, or eat before you leave your home for work, or check yourself for a hunger misfire. These are just a couple of thoughts to throw out there for your mind to absorb.

This above example can be used in a variety of situations wherein you wish to change a pattern of thought from unhealthy to healthy in creating your desired healthy lifestyle. Your success is rooted in your past behavioral responses to manner of living cues. If you don’t stop and mentally provide healthy alternatives after a misstep you cannot possibly start down the road of a healthy lifestyle.

Guilt is like a virus and will grow when fed. You have no reason to be guilty, you have every reason to modify towards a healthier you. Mistakes are the way you get there. Don’t turn them into roadblocks to your healthy lifestyle.

Filed under: Healthy Lifestyle