5 Tips to Help You (Hopefully) Get Healthier #1

Hello :)

I figured I could talk a bit about a few tips for those just beginning their journey to a healthier lifestyle, because I know that it can be scary and daunting. For a while I felt like I just couldn't do it, like I had to change so much and it felt like perhaps too much of a commitment. Everything I loved to eat was everything that I shouldn't have been eating and working out seemed like a horrible waste of time.
Now that I look back to it, I have sowly changed little things about my lifestyle and I definitely have found a better balance and it hasn't been as difficult as I thought that it would be, it just hasn't happened overnight either. 

So the first thing I'd recommend to have is patience, take it a day at a time, sometimes I do better, some days I don't feel motivated and just want to lay in bed all day, but honestly the hardest part of changing anything about your life, is just starting it. Once you've already started, you have made a change, so congrats.

Anyway, let's get into the actual tips I have, you may already be doing some of these things, you might also only be able to some of them, when you're starting, but these are just a few things I have found useful.

• The easiest thing to perhaps start with is to just understand what you're eating, so maybe for a few days write down everything you ate, without changing it from your usual eating, I feel like that gives a good overview of what you should be eating more or less of. The best way to analyse it is to compare your eating to your local eating recommendations, depending on where you live, they may actually vary a little, since the recommendations are based on the geographical location as well as the general eating habits of that particular area. I know for me, I thought my eating wasn't that bad, but once I actually saw it all in paper, I saw quite a few things I could improve, so that's a good thing to start with.
• I feel like everywhere you look, everyone says you need to drink more water, it's very important to stay hydrated, however, drinking 2 litres of water a day isn't necessarily a must do. Consuming water is indeed very important, but you get your water from elsewhere as well, I get over half of that 2 litres from my food, for example fruit, vegetables, soups, smoothies and so on, so instead of chugging water in huge quantities, especially if you don't like the taste of water, isn't always the way to go. When changing anything about your lifestyle, you have to find a way that is comfortable and suitable for you, then there's a much higher chance of you sticking to it. When having water you can also add things to it, to make it taste better, like some fruit, maybe mint leaves, that at least makes me drink it more, because it tastes good, just don't add huge amounts of refined sugars, that's probably not the way to go. Proper hydration is very very important, so definitely see how much water you get from food (you can use different apps that track your nutrition for that) and based on that drink the extra water you need. It's also possible to drink too much water, so be mindful of that.
• One of the main thing that I struggled and still struggle with from time to time, is snacks, I have fairly healthy meals, but when it comes to snacks, I could easily eat a bar of chocolate or bag of chips without even thinking about it. Every now and then it's prefectly fine to have something that is unhealthy, but most of the time I try to minimise the amount of processed foods that I eat, so finding healthier snacks has been a goal for me. Fruit and vegetables are the easiest option for sure, they're full of fiber, water, vitamins, minerals and all sorts of good stuff that's going to benefit your health. So just having fruit or vegetables readily available, for when you're feeling a bit hungry, is quite useful. I like to switch it around quite often as well, so I wouldn't get bored of eating the same things all the time. When I do have unhealthier things, which I definitely don't forbid myself to have, I just have less of them at a time and less frequently as well, that doesn't make me feel as guilty for having them, I just put the chocolate away after I've had enough for the day and put it out of sight, so I wouldn't get tempted to have some more. It does require some selfcontrol, but it's just something to try out. For some people completly cutting things out is easier, but I could never imagine my life without chocolate, so I still have it from time to time. Nuts and seeds are a snack option as well, but I personally don't love them as much as some other things and they also should be consumed in moderation, since they are high in fat and especially high in Omega 6, which might make an imbalance in your Omega 3 : Omega 6 ratio, which is an interesting topic, but I won't go into it in this post. 
• Something that I struggle with, but what may not be difficult for other people at all, is eating breakfast, I just don't have any appetite in the mornings, I'm definitely not a morning person, it takes a good few hours before I get hungry. However eating in the morning is part of what helpes me wake up, so I realise that it's important and it also is supposed to help you kick off your metabolism, so I do recommend it. I prefer eating something lighter in the mornings, mostly during school it's granola and fruit, during the summer it changes a bit more. 
• The last tip that I have for this post, is planning your meals ahead and only buying the things you need for those meals plus snack options you wish to have. I think having at least a few days planned ahead is great, that is, if you have control over your food choices, if you're not the cook of the meals you have, then you have to work with what you've got, I know that can be difficult at times, being able to make your own money helps, since then you can at least make some conscious efforts to improve the meals you decide to have, to make them healthier, include more greens, fruit, vegetables. However, if you have control over what you eat, then mealprepping is a great option, it saves a lot of time as well.

Before I end this post I do recommend not taking advice from people from the internet, since a lot of it isn't always accurate, I realise that goes completly against what this post is in it's nature, but if you are clueless about health and/or have any serious medical problems, then obviously consult with your doctor or dietitian, they'll be able to say exactly what suits you. The tips I have given are the things I have done and what have been useful to me, but I have read a lot of articles online and I also have learned the basics of nurition and I can say that even with the little knowledge I have accumulated, I can see that quite a lot of information you can find online, can be incorrect, especially if it's in mainstream media, so be careful with what you do and make sure that all the canges you are making are really healthy.

I have some tips regarding working out as well, but they will be in another blogpost. This one has already become really really long, you must have great attention span if you have made it this far. That's all for now.

Kaiela :)