5 Ways to Wellbeing
Anti-inflammatory foods. Inflammation is a root cause of most if not all chronic diseases. So be mindful of anti-inflammatory diet. Eat plants as plant-based diet as such a diet should protect you from developing the inflammatory state. Vegetables are medicine. They supply you with vitamins, minerals, and fiber!
- How to eat more vegetables?
Take small steps. Add before you subtract. We start to see what serves us that way. We edge out what doesn’t serve us without being deprived. Slowly increase your vegetable intake per day, week and month. 4 servings of veggies and 3 servings of fruits is the ideal recommended amount. If you struggle with increasing your veg — fruit foods start when preparing veg-fruit smoothies or juices. I am crazy about carrots and kale with ginger juice and what’s your pick?
2. Why drinking plenty of fluids is important?
Drinking enough is mega important to stay hydrated. Many of us neglect hydration big time and we don’t even know it. If you visit any hydration calculator online I am sure it will confirm it as it did for me…
How much water should I drink for my weight?
Calculate how much fluids you need: if your body weight in pounds you multiply your weight by 0.67 to get the amount of fluid ounces which you should drink up daily…See the below video on this subject it also includes ideas on how to make your water drinks more interesting 🙂
http://www.slenderkitchen.com/article/how-to-calculate-how-much-water-you-should-drink-a-day
We have house plants yes and we love them but every now and again we forget to water them and see what is happening to them…The same happens to us except we don’t see that so visibly…so think of your bit neglected plants to remind yourself about drinking up! It’s simple. Alternatively, install some water tracking app on your phone and track it that way 🙂
3. How to manage stress?
Mindfulness and stress management are ‘hot topics’ lately..
No wonder as we generate between 50.000- 70.000 thoughts per day and 80% of them are negative furthermore the majority of them are the same as yesterday…
We focus way too much on fear, anxiety and stress. So we need to evolve as it is not serving us…Hence stress management is imperative…
How to manage stress effectively?
I take regular breaks to evaluate my thoughts and ask myself 1 simple question frequently:
What feelings do I choose?
We usually we have 2 options:
- I can feel bad and have loads of negative thoughts and sulk n be sorry for myself
- or I can say STOP to my mind and take WORK on my thoughts in an aware way when knowing that destructive thoughts won’t help so it’s high time to divert them into more positive/happy ones no matter how hard it is at times
You may not be able to choose your first thought but you may choose your second — that’s exactly what I try to do when CONTROLLING my mind in a search for more- aware choices! You pick up thoughts that support your health, not those which degrade it! You make the most of your awareness! Only that truly serves your health!
Ultimately we need to shift from fighter flight mode to rest and digest mode. Apart from cultivating aware thoughts control exercise, we can rely on some other stress dialing down tools such as:
- meditation — I love Joe Dispenza — there are plenty of his videos on YouTube so check him out 🙂
- take a few deep breaths throughout the day to become more resilient
4. Why is resting crucial to our health?
Resting and particularly SLEEP is a critical healing tool! You heard that many times! But how many of us are sleeping 8 hours or more? Not many! Sleep hygiene should be our no 1 priority as truly sleep is the CHEAPEST medicine. So stop the information overload, switch off your TV, phone, laptop and boost your immune system when getting a restful night of quality sleep! Retrain your sleep habits and patterns when creating a bedtime routine. Yes, I know many of you will say ‘but I am a parent, so I can’t!’ Well if you want something badly you will achieve that no matter what! Many parents make a very simple mistake of putting their kids to sleep early in the evening and not going to sleep themselves soon after… That simple realisation should help you switch to the plan of going to bed soon after your kids did so that all of you are rested the next morning…Ah and ensure you give yourself a buffer time to fall asleep, I usually add 30 minutes to my bedtime routine for yoga or book reading which relaxes me and prepares for sleep 🙂
5. How to renew ourselves?
Through EXERCISE and PLAY.
We need to spend energy to make energy. First, we need quality food for our mitochondria as they turn our food into fuel. Furthermore, the quality of mitochondria determines the quality of our energy levels.
So how do we build and strengthen mitochondria?
Through movement and exercise. But not with punishing yourself when doing what you don’t enjoy! You know what I am on about here, these nasty mundane new years resolutions to jog more os lift weights…You secretly hate them but everyone else is doing it so you feel you should too…
Do what you love! Dance, hike, do anything which will allow you to stay motivated rather than torturing yourself when moving your body. Small steps like walking up to the shop or work count too!
PLAY Life is too sweet to be bitter and too short not to have fun!
The most powerful medicine is JOY, as JOY is the antidote to stress…JOY releases feel-good chemicals that boost our immune system hence it is a medicine. So make time to have a play day! Yes, you read that right a play day!
How to stick to the 5 ways to wellbeing? Remember self-care is your well care 🙂 It takes your time to look at it that way!
1. Ensure you commit to the above 5 rules as when committing to those you are committing to yourself. You like helping others, so now take a break, pause and help your own body and feel better when committing to yourself.BE consistent with yourself for a change!
2. Celebrate progress, not perfection. Small simple steps will be more enjoyable than doing everything from day 1 in a perfect way. At the end of the day it’s better to achieve small progress than to do nothing at all. So remember progress over ‘being right’ or perfect!
Always be mindful about measuring the gains in your life not just the gaps!
3. Clarify your health goals. What does health mean to you? It may be something else to you than it is for me…Take this question seriously but don’t compare yourself to others, just be honest as that clarity is your focus!
4. Don’t make it so complicated — the beginning of the year put strains on us with the perfect new year’s resolutions. Stop chasing new trends and quick fixes as it overcomplicates things.
Apply KISS tactic — Keep It Stupidly S imple. Then you will go further in your quest for becoming committed to your health improvement.
5. Lean on a community to motivate and support you throughout your journey. Number 1 support for your goals is social support! Scientists prove that in many studies that community support is very powerful and helping.
6. Create a doable practice that holistic, flexible and joyful.
Too complicated and chaotic practices won’t make you stay on track.
How to create a doable practice?
Take small consistent steps on a daily basis until they become our new habits.
One small turtle step to benefit your health, sort of 80/20 rule. You know the Pareto principle which states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes.
So yes we could think that you get 80% of benefits when working on 20% of your goals..
It’s all about bitesize behavioural changes.
Why?
As the small changes become new routine and a new routine becomes a new habit which changes your overall experience, hence bitesize lead to desired results. It’s the only proven and practical way.
7. Take consistent actions once you created doable practice.
Repetition is the mother of any skill …
Look at the top performers in the world…
How did they get to the top?
Did they get overnight success? No!
They took their time and practiced like crazy when no one heard of them. They were consistent and worked tirelessly when repeating their actions!
When you make the shift and look at your wellness in that way you will be successful — it will become just a matter of time.
You need a boost of inspiration when you are falling off the track!
You shouldn’t get upset if you fail as failure is growth as you learn from your shortcomings to become better!
Willing to try to improve your life is a sign you are ready to grow.
Learn new things and apply them to your life. If you have a fear of failure just keep moving forward and remind yourself WHY you are doing all this. When you understand why you are doing it, it’s easier to stay motivated.
To get out of illness, chronic disease or to protect yourself from illnesses, get to understand your WHY and it should make you stick to the plan!
If it helps create a mind map of why you set out the goals you did. Physically tracking the progress may be beneficial too. So get a paper planner and note your progress that way:-)
Even 1 think can spark a revolution for you. Just try it…
Originally published at https://www.moneysavinggirl.co.uk on January 16, 2020.