Want to Be Healthier in 2021? Here’s How:
There are many reasons to improve your lifestyle in the new year. Often the new year is the easiest time to get motivated, so take advantage of this and get started while you can.
If you want to improve yourself physically and mentally, or work on achieving inner health and emotional wellbeing, here are some helpful health and wellness tips on how to get healthy.
Enjoy The Moment
As the old saying goes, yesterday is history, and tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift, and that’s why it’s called the “present.”
For that reason, you should make sure to enjoy every moment you have. But sometimes, this simple trick is much easier said than done, especially for anyone who juggles a hectic schedule or multiple responsibilities to family, friends, or business.
Still, there’s not much you can do to change what happened yesterday, and tomorrow isn’t here. By focusing on the here and now, you’re likely to gain more enjoyment from life.
Up Your Water Intake
According to HealthDirect.au, adult men should drink ten 250ml cups of water a day. Adult women should aim for eight.
Maintaining healthy hydration levels helps ensure that your body has the fluids it needs to function optimally. When you consider that anywhere between half and 80% of our bodies are composed of water, it becomes clear that not drinking enough of this precious fluid can have detrimental effects.
Ideally, it would be best to choose plain water over drinks that contain sugar, sweeteners, or alcohol. Water is naturally a zero-calorie beverage, which is ideal for anyone keeping an eye on their calories.
If you don’t like the way plain water tastes, an infusion is a terrific way to add a bit of flavor and nutritional value. Think spa water! Fantastic infused water combinations include:
- Sliced cucumber, lemon, and fresh mint;
- Grapefruit and fresh basil;
- Blueberry, lemon, and mint;
- Ginger, lime, and lemon;
- Pineapple, orange, and lime;
- Watermelon, lime, and mint;
To get the most benefits from infused water, add the ingredients to a pitcher or jar, fill it with clean water, and allow it to chill in the refrigerator for a few hours or overnight.
Doing so will enable enough time for the flavours and nutrients to imbue into the water and provide additional health benefits, as well as helping you curb cravings. Also, drinking infused water helps replace unhealthy habits of drinking sugary, sweet beverages.
The most incredible thing about making infused water is that you can use your imagination and play with your favourite flavors to create the perfect mix of sweet or savory water blends.
Add Whole Foods To Your Diet
Another critical component of improving your health is your diet. As the old saying goes, “you are what you eat.”
If you’re feeling more like a cheese puff than you’d like, cutting sodium-rich foods and adding a variety of whole foods can help you feel less puffy.
Whole foods are a great addition because they’re simple and packed with vital nutrients and minerals that fuel your mind and body. Another advantage of choosing whole foods is that they contain fewer calories than their processed food counterparts in almost all cases.
The more you can vary your diet with nutritious and wholesome foods, the better you’re feeding your mind and body with the things it needs to be healthy and robust. Types of whole foods you should make an effort to increase in your diet include:
Leafy Greens
Green, leafy vegetables contain minerals, vitamins, and fibre. Naturally low in calories, they fill you up quickly and help your digestive tract work more efficiently.
Proteins
Proteins are essential to the functioning of the body, and can be selected from animal and non-animal sources.
Whole Fruits
Fruits including bananas, oranges, strawberries, blueberries, grapefruit, watermelon, apples, pears, peaches, nashi, cherries, and berries contain natural sugar, which can help to soothe a sweet tooth.
Vegetables
Fresh vegetables should always be a star on your dinner plate. Types of vegetables you should incorporate into your diet include carrots, broccoli, cauliflower, asparagus, mushrooms, beets, and sweet potatoes, to name a few.
In the era of COVID-19, all positive steps you can take to strengthen your immune system are worth doing. A diet filled with whole, nutritious foods supports a healthier constitution.
Increase Your Activity Level
According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, around 12.5 million adults in Australia are overweight or obese.
That means a lot of people have excess energy to burn off! Even if you aren’t ready to jump headfirst into a fitness or exercise program, implementing little changes can help you build up your strength and stamina.
Some easy ideas to implement to improve your mobility and fitness levels include:
- Use the steps instead of the lift or escalators whenever possible;
- Find a parking spot quicker by parking further away and walking to your destination;
- Set aside time to play and be with your kids and pets. Consider activities including walks, playing ball or frisbee, hiking, biking, or swimming.
Suppose you’re serious about improving your fitness. In that case, you might consider investing in a fitness tracker or downloading a fitness app to your phone to keep tabs on your activity levels and your progress.
Any steps you take to improve your physical fitness levels will boost your health and your overall sense of wellbeing.
Declutter And Organize
Clutter and disorganization can have a detrimental effect on your safety, health, and sense of wellbeing.
In extreme cases, such as hoarding situations, keeping an excessive amount of “stuff” in your home can make for dangerous living conditions that attract rodents, pests or creates a fire hazard.
Even if you haven’t reached hoarder status, disorganization and clutter create many negative feelings and emotions, including:
Feeling overwhelmed
When your home or workplace is in disarray, it’s challenging not to associate negative emotions and feelings with the mess that surrounds you.
Struggling to find motivation
An unclean environment seldom does anything positive for the people living in the situation. If you’ve struggled to find inspiration, look around you. When everything is a mess, reason can fall by the wayside.
Feelings of helplessness
In extreme clutter and disorganization cases, feeling helpless isn’t uncommon. Without a plan to handle the problem, it’s hard to get a sense of where to start or what actions you need to take to get things under control.
Feeling ashamed
When your home or living space is a complete wreck, it’s challenging to feel proud about your environment.
Confusion
If you’ve been holding on to everything without any plan to organize, it’s harder to find things you’re searching for when you need them.
General feelings of unhappiness
When your life, or aspects of it, aren’t in order, it creates the perfect storm for sorrow, depression, and general anxiety to set in.
Self-esteem issues
Clutter and disorganization can contribute to lowered feelings of self-worth and self-esteem. When you’re failing on the necessary level of keeping a clean and hygienic home, the emotions this creates can impact you in other critical areas of your life.
Desolation
Withdrawal and desolation is another way that clutter and disorganization can impact your health and wellness.
When your home is a mess, the chances are good that having visitors over isn’t something you’re likely to do.
The more you withdraw from society or become introverted, the more challenging it becomes to be happy or have meaningful relationships with others due to the shame of an unclean living environment.
An estimated 1.2 million Australians meet the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM–5) criteria for classification as hoarders, or exhibit characteristics and habits associated with hoarding.
In many cases, cleaning and organizing can be therapeutic. When you finish, you feel happier and better about a job well done. Also, alternative treatments such as hypnotism can help with aspects related to changing behaviour if it persists.
Get Sunshine And Vitamin D
Our bodies and minds need Vitamin D and sunshine to function optimally. Sunshine provides valuable Vitamin D that helps prevent rickets, depression, hypnotherapy for anxiety in Melbourne, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes, and hypertension.
The good news is the sun is an all-natural source of Vitamin D, so if you’re feeling a little “blue,” a dose of sunshine can be just the thing you need to do to snap out of a Vitamin D deficiency funk.
Other potential sources of Vitamin D include supplements and foods such as eating oily fish such as sardines, herring, lean red meats, liver, egg yolks, and fortified breakfast cereals.
If you choose to add Vitamin D supplements, always follow the bottle’s dosage directions to avoid potential adverse side effects.
Embrace the New Year With Improved Health
In a nutshell, the new year represents an opportunity for you to embrace a healthier lifestyle and more happiness.
I hope you’ve found these tips on how to get healthy helpful to achieve your health and wellness goals for 2021 and beyond, and if you’d like some help to achieve your health goals, feel free to contact me any time.
