Are you trying to improve your health? It’s an ongoing journey for me. Today I want to share my top 10 healthy living tips for beginners.
IMPORTANT: I’m not a health professional or anything like that. But I am a life skills coach, law of attraction practitioner and EFT master practitioner. I try to use these skills to help myself and share my tips with others.
The healthy living tips I’m sharing in this post are things that help me and I hope you’ll also find them helpful.
Start where you are
Before I get into my healthy living tips, I want to just say, start where you are. If I was to compare myself to someone who is super fit, super healthy, I’d probably give up, throw myself on the sofa with a big bag of crisps and a stash of chocolate.
I’m not that person and I’m probably never going to be. But I am someone who wants to keep improving my health and wellbeing. Start where you are.
Start small
If you’re not already super into healthy living, the chances are it’s not something that comes naturally to you.
Or rather, you’ve been in the habit of living more unhealthy for quite some time. My advice is to start small.
I’ve definitely found this to be more effective than making a really big change that I’m not able to maintain.
Sure, a 30-minute walk is going to be better for you then a 5-minute walk but if you know a 30-minute walk isn’t going to happen but you can deal with a 5-minute walk, go for that and aim to build up over time.
DISCLOSURE: Affiliate links have been used in this post. This means I may receive a payment if you buy anything after using my link. I only ever recommend things I personally use and love.
1. Get active every day
I work from home and could very easily sit for almost all day and then watch TV in the evening. But I know this is not a healthy option for me.
I encourage you to get active every day. Now, this doesn’t need to be joining a gym or booking fitness classes. Of course, if you want to, go for it. But remember, start where you are and start small if you need to.
When I wanted to start walking daily, I knew there would be days when I really didn’t want to. I have a little dog who does like to go for a walk but is equally happy to sleep and have a quick wander in the garden.
I set myself a goal to put his lead on and walk to the end of the drive every day. It’s not a long drive. From leaving my door there’d be enough space for 3 cars.
In reality, I knew once I was out the door I would walk further than the end of the drive but I also knew if I really, really didn’t want to, I could come back and I would have still achieved my goal.
Another thing I do is mini-exercise boosts regularly throughout the day. Maybe that will be marching on the spot for 1-minute, do some punches in front and above for a minute and another 1-minute marching on the spot.
It’s just 3 minutes but Let’s say I work from 8am – 4pm and I fit in just 5 x 3-minute exercise boosts, that’s 15 minutes a day, do this 5 days a week and that’s an extra 1 hour and 15 minutes of exercise that you weren’t doing before.
Add in a 10-minute daily walk… do some dancing around the house to your favourite songs. Do some wall push-ups whilst you wait for the kettle to boil… These few minutes here and there do add up.
Posts you might like…
- Fitness challenges for people who don’t like to exercise
- Water and walking challenge
- 30 minutes a day exercise challenge
2. Plan your meals
Meal planning really helps me to make sure I’m deliberately choosing healthy options rather than grabbing something unhealthy at the last minute.
I personally don’t plan meals for set days, I do a rough plan for each day but instead what I do is plan for 7 lunches and 7 evening meals.
This means that I always have enough healthy meals. I know which of those meals I need to do early in the week, such as fresh salads that won’t last until the end of the week.
I’m also a big fan of bulk cooking. For example, If I make a beef stew, I will make enough to put at least 2 portions in the freezer.
This means I always have my own, home-cooked ready meals to hand. I just need to remember to take the meal out the freezer in time to be defrosted by the evening.
Read my Meal Planning Challenge post.
3. Plan your snacks
I personally know I need snacks. I tend to plan in 3 snacks for the day. Mostly this will be things like fruit, veggie sticks, yogurt, soup, nuts…
But I also plan in things like chocolate and crisps (well, usually Twiglets). I find that if I do this in moderation, then I don’t feel deprived.
When I’ve tried to cut these things out completely, I find I end up going mad on them and big-time overeating them. I feel having them in moderation is a much healthier approach for me personally.
4. Eat real food
I kind of have a 80/20 rule here. I aim to make sure that at least 80% of the food I eat is what I call real food (food that is not processed).
The bulk of my meals are made up of vegetables, fruit, meat, fish, eggs, beans, pulses and nuts.
If I make a lasagne at home, I know exactly what’s in it and I load it will peppers, onion, tomatoes. If I buy from the supermarket and look at the ingredients, there are ingredients I don’t recognize. So, wherever you can opt for home-cooked meals.
5. Think about portions size
Have you noticed how huge plates and bowls are these days? They are, really. Unless you’re doing a very physical job, you don’t need a huge serving.
Try using smaller plates and bowls or simply deliberately put a little less on your plate.
Check out my Portion Size post where there’s information about what a healthy portion size is.
6. Drink plenty of water
I think this is such an important thing to do. I admit that sometimes I forget and it really impacts the way I feel.
Try drinking a big glass of water when you first get up, then with every meal.
Carry a water bottle with you when you go out.
I aim for at least 4 big glasses of water throughout the day.
7. Get enough sleep
Sleep is so important. It’s the time when your body heals. I know that when I don’t get enough sleep, then I am far more likely to make unhealthy choices.
I personally like to get around 7 hours of sleep each night. It’s not always possible but as long as I get this amount of sleep most nights, I’m okay.
I’m also a big fan of the power nap (search YouTube for guided power map mediation) and I love this hypnosis download Instant power nap – If I’m tired and try to force myself to keep working etc, I get really grumpy, my productivity levels hit the floor and this is definitely a time where I’ll choose unhealthy food options.
More Hypnosis downloads for sleep – I actually listen to all kinds of downloads from this company and even if they’re not related to sleep, I nearly always find that if I put it on at bedtime, I will fall asleep before the end which is fine.
8. Practice mindfulness
Now, I’m no expert on mindfulness but the way I think of it is to be aware and be present.
For example, when I’m preparing my food, I really pay attention to the smells, the colours, the way it looks, where it’s come from. And this carries on as I eat the meal. How does it taste, how does my body feel?
When I’m out for a walk, I pay attention, I bring myself to the present moment and really enjoy the now.
I know that I can easily eat a meal really fast and this definitely impacts my weight and how my body feels. Slowing down and eating mindfully really helps.
Read How to Eat Mindfully and check out this Hypnosis Download Mindful Meditation
9. Work on your mindset
- Affirmations are a fantastic way to fill your mind with positive messages that support you. Words and thoughts can really bring you down or they can give you a boost and help you achieve what you want. Read Affirmations for healthy living and Affirmations for healthy eating.
- EFT – Emotional Freedom Techniques is a powerful technique to help improve your energy flow, release blocks such as limiting beliefs, emotions that don’t support you, etc. I’ve added a lot of EFT ideas here on the blog. Also, read my full EFT Tapping Guide. It’s super easy to learn and use.
- Hypnosis Downloads are a great way to help reprogram your mind to support you in creating a healthy lifestyle for yourself. Read Healthy Hypnosis Downloads.
If your goal is weight loss, I encourage you to take my free 30-day weight loss challenge where we focus on creating a super positive mindset for weight loss and healthy living.
10. Love yourself more
Often when we’ve developed unhealthy habits we haven’t been particularly kind to ourselves. When you really love yourself, you’ll feel more motivated to take better care of yourself. You’ll also feel better about yourself in general.
I encourage you to take the Love yourself more challenge.
Healthy living tips for beginners – Recap
I really hope you’ve found this post helpful. Here’s a quick recap of my 10 tips to help you start living a healthier life.
- Get active every day – even a few minutes at regular intervals throughout the day makes a difference.
- Plan your meals focusing on healthy options
- Plan your snacks
- Eat real food and avoid processed foods
- Keep a check on your portion sizes
- Drink more water
- Get enough sleep
- Practice mindfulness
- Work on your mindset
- Love yourself more
Join My Positive Mindset Subscriber Zone and Community
If you enjoyed this blog post, I’d love you to Join my POSITIVE MINDSET SUBSCRIBER ZONE AND COMMUNITY for practical and easy-to-follow tips, tools and techniques to feel your best, be your best and create a life you love. Subscribe for free or upgrade for bonus content and offers.
Please support this blog by sharing it wherever you can and let me know your thoughts on today’s post.
PLEASE PIN ME
Leave a Reply