Stress Busters

There's something that most of us must face on a regular basis: stress. A lot of times we think of stress as a dirty little word, but a little bit can be a positive thing. If you didn't have a certain degree of stress - that feeling that drives you to do better - life just might get a little boring. Believe it or not.

It's how we react to stress that gets us in trouble. If you head to McDonald's or the candy dish at work every time a stressful situation gets even more so, there's a problem. When you do this, you aren't alleviating stress - you're adding to it. No one ever gets unstressed by climbing into a carton of Ben & Jerry's. If anything, you're just adding guilt to the stress.

If you feel that you need to be rewarded for working extra hard or handling multiple projects, then consider a real reward. Buy yourself something pretty, call a friend and talk about your accomplishment, get a massage. Reward yourself by feeding your soul and the way you feel afterwards will be truly rewarding.

Staying Power

If you've ever planted a garden, you know that you don't just stick a seed in the ground, water it and walk away. You come back; you make sure the plants get the proper amount of sunlight, fertilizer and water. Nourishment. It's something everything and everyone needs to grow.

So you've made a conscious decision to get healthy. You're committing to a balanced diet, steady exercise and other actions that will make you better. But typically, when things get tough, we find ourselves falling back into our old patterns and turning away from what's good for us. Instead of abandoning all of our good intentions, how do we sustain those good habits and become even healthier?

Knowing when you're on that healthy path is the all-important first step. Ask yourself how do I continue to get better? Nourishment is necessary in the form of support, guidance and accountability. Nourish yourself and you'll just keep getting better and better.

Everyday Mindfulness

You probably know by now that diets don't generally work. Is it really because they don't work or is it because we don't have our heads in the right place to be successful in the long run? Diets give us a quick fix to the acute problem: excess weight. If you eat less and exercise more (i.e. expend more energy than what you take in), you're going to lose weight. However, if we aren't plugged into what's really going on, we'll never sustain the healthy life we're trying so hard to achieve.

Become more aware of how you treat yourself. This body you have - it's a gift. Do you get enough sleep? Do you eat healthy foods? Are you active? Do you think of yourself as worthy of a happy, healthy life? 

Become conscious of what you need to be truly healthy. It may be a 10 pm bedtime or increasing your water intake or changing your diet to reflect the healthy happy life you want to have.

A Pill Worth Taking

What is it and when will it arrive? We're all desperate for it. What is the answer, the secret recipe? Where is that magic pill that will cure our weight woes forever? 

The real recipe isn’t easy. That’s what most people don’t want to hear. Becoming healthy requires commitment and the willingness to change our comfy behaviors. It also requires a new level of awareness. Simply stated, but not as easily adopted: Don’t eat just because it’s there and be active every single day. 

If you’re waiting for that magic pill, you might be waiting a lifetime. But when you believe the magic pill is contained within yourself, you’ll find it right there in your hand.

Make It Joyful

Many people have a tough time establishing a regular exercise routine and sticking to it. Perhaps it's because we think of it as just that - a routine - something we have to fit in instead of something we actually want to do. 

If you have trouble incorporating regular exercise into your life, try to think of doing something active that's actually fun. Instead of sentencing yourself to the treadmill for 30 minutes (if that's how it feels to you), think about making exercise joyful. There are limitless ways to move your body that can also make you feel like a kid again. Some ideas: hula hooping, tennis, skipping, competitive games such as racquetball, softball or basketball. 

Make it joyful and fun. If you don't enjoy it, it will always feel like a chore. And most of us have a tendency to avoid chores.

Getting Better

When there's something in life that you want to excel at, what do you do? Try it once and if you don't do it perfectly, give up? Hopefully not. Not many succeed in their goals with that approach.

When you start on a path of true health, it's undoubtedly challenging. We don't live in a society that generally supports healthy choices, so it's oftentimes difficult to make the right ones. So what's a healthy wannabe to do? You do what it takes to get to your goal. When you want to accomplish something in your career or in other parts of your life, you get focused and work harder. If you want something badly enough you work harder to get it done, no matter how many tries it takes.

Put your goal of getting healthy into perspective. Treat this goal with the same fervor and you'll become healthy for life.

Little Changes That Add Up: Week 2

Still looking to make healthy changes that stick? Remember in the lifestyle change game - it's slow and steady.

This week, try adding 10 minutes of extra activity to your day. Think of the specific times in your day where you can carve out 10 minutes: in the morning, at lunchtime, after work or dinner or before your favorite TV show. If 10 minutes seems like too much to give, start with five. Just do it every single day.

Slowly, you will begin to incorporate this habit and eventually exercise will be a part of your day just like brushing your teeth.