Healthy living can start with small, fun steps

By Shelley Widhalm

The Surveyor

Living a healthy lifestyle isn’t just for those who love the gym, regularly meditate and practice the mind-body connection.

Healthy living can start with the basics, like drinking eight glasses of water, exercising most days of the week and eating a mostly balanced diet. These and other healthy habits can be incorporated by starting with small steps and not aiming for immediate perfection. The steps don’t have to be about giving up things once enjoyed, but instead can be a way to thrive in feeling great.

The first step is pretty easy: drink more water with frequent visits to the water fountain or faucet, choosing water over soda and other highcalorie beverages and bringing a water bottle when going out.

Typically, eight to 10 glasses of water are needed a day, depending on physical activity, body weight and humidity levels. More than 60% of the body is made up of water, essential for carrying out body functions, removing waste and transporting nutrients and oxygen. Water also helps with weight loss since it fills the stomach and causes it to feel less hungry.

Next, get moving but don’t necessarily call it exercise. Find something that’s enjoyable, like dancing, running, walking or going to the gym and that fits your schedule and lifestyle.

The advice varies about how much exercise to get, but a good rule is 30 minutes a day with room to skip — start by walking 10 minutes and build from there up to 30 minutes or even more. Once exercise becomes a routine, add variety to work on the entire body, such as alternating cardio exercises with lifting weights, working with resistance bands and doing other strength-building activities.

Exercise burns calories and fat, builds muscle, improves bone strength and triggers the release of endorphins, a feel-good hormone in the brain. It also can reduce stress, boost energy levels, strengthen the immune system and lower the risk of certain diseases, like heart disease, stroke and chronic illness.

Key with exercising is eating healthy by opting for natural foods over carbohydrates and sugar, such as fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains. Be sure to include a vegetable with every meal and choose fresh fruits and vegetables over processed foods for snacks — processed foods have a low nutritional value and high amounts of salt and added preservatives.

Think of eating healthy as adding in new foods and not focusing on what has to be eliminated, making it feel restrictive. Doing so has been shown to reduce the risk of diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. Picking a mix of different colored fruits and vegetables adds to the good bacteria in the gut, improves the immune system and provides antioxidant properties that remove free radicals damaging to cells and fight inflammation.

Another healthy habit is to address stress, since stress and unhealthy habits can go together, resulting in sleep problems, headaches and depression, according to the American Institute of Stress. If stress is a constant, consider getting counseling or engaging in stress-relieving techniques like meditation to quiet the mind, deep breathing exercises, guided imagery and journaling. Find ways to release anxiety and handle daily pressures to further lower stress levels — exercising and eating a balanced diet also promote low levels of stress. Additional healthy habits include getting enough sleep — the lack of it can cause premature aging and a desire to eat more food and choose unhealthy snacks as quick energy boosters — and improving posture that also improves breathing. Breathing deeply helps with physical performance — most people don’t breathe properly, taking shallow breaths and using one-third of their lung capacity. A full breath causes the lungs to fill, the abdomen to expand and the shoulders to move minimally. Also, learn to love yourself — a negative selfimage can weigh down mental outlook and lead to other negative behaviors like substance abuse. Purge negative or toxic people out of your life who might be overly critical or negative. Get rid of personal negativity by being aware of thoughts and intentionally batting away the negative ones, avoiding keeping them pent up inside. Finally, live a life of purpose, finding what gives joy and meaning, acting each day in alignment with that purpose. Include fun as part of purpose, making sure to spend time with family and friends and doing hobbies, traveling and other activities that bring about joy and contentment.

Focus on the positive aspects of a healthy lifestyle and make it sustainable and long-lasting so that eventually it becomes a habit, natural and routine. Don’t begin with the drastic, which isn’t sustainable over the long-term and may result in reverting back to old patterns and behaviors.

Instead, start with small adjustments that eventually result in big changes. Be sure to reward yourself for accomplishments with a new kind of treat, like a day trip, shopping venture or other favorite activity.

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