Tips to Getting Started in Your Health Journey
Health is individual to each one of us so let’s enjoy the process and be kind to ourselves. I have partnered with Pure Flavor to talk about tips to getting started in your health journey.
Tips to Getting Started in Your Health Journey.
1. HAVE A CLEAR REWARD IN YOUR MIND.
When there is high motivation and excitement about starting your health journey, it is easy to go “ALL IN” and dive right into it. What happens a lot of times is that when there is no longer that excitement and motivation, it becomes harder to maintain those changes in the long run.
Before making any new changes in your live, ask yourself:
WHY and HOW WILL I BENEFIT FROM THIS? Get specific about the rewards that you will get from a specific action.
Reread your WHY from time to time to give you that extra reminder and motivation.
2. THINK ABOUT IDENTITY MORE THAN OUTCOME.
According to James Clear, author of the Atomic Habits: An Easy and Proven Way to Build Good Habits and Break Bad Ones, you should think more about your identity than the reward you will get from performing a habit. Say you wish to run one marathon per year and you have no experience running and your reward is improving your cardiovascular fitness, you should not only focus on the reward but you should ask yourself:
Who is the type of person who would do this action? Who is the type of person to run one marathon per year?
Well, maybe it is someone who goes on a run every day or five times a week.
Instead of saying: I want to run a marathon per year, try to say: I want to become a runner.
The more actions you do that reinforce that identity, the more likely you are to become that identity. Instead of focusing on a particular outcome, you focus on repeatedly doing actions that reinforce that identity every day. Then, the outcome comes naturally. You become a runner who runs marathons every year.
3. FOCUS ON A SIMPLE AND SMALL HABIT.
Rather than having an all-or-nothing mentality, focus on making small but steady progress. Along the way, your willpower and motivation will increase. The more you succeed at doing that simple and small behavior, the more positive feelings and emotions you will have towards it. And the more positive feelings and emotions you have towards it, the more you will want to do it.
BJ Fogg, a behavior scientist at Stanford University and author of the new book Tiny Habits: The Small Changes That Change Everything, says that the idea is to make behavior changes so small that they are easy to do. For example, in the case of wanting to read more, you might start by reading a couple paragraphs at night, then a couple more paragraphs, then a page, then a couple pages, then increase it to a whole chapter.
A habit must first be established before it can be improved. Remember that when you try to chew more than you can eat, you can easily end up feeling frustrated and can even feel so defeated that you stop trying to adopt the new habit. When you start small you are setting yourself up for success in the long run. Make it easy enough to where even when you are not feeling as motivated you can continue to get it done.
4. FOCUS ON CREATING A GOOD ENVIRONMENT FOR SUCCESS.
Stick to a time and location. Make it easy on you to be able to repeat the same behavior over and over again. For example, if you want to be able to workout after work, take your gym clothes with you to work. Always change into your gym clothes right after work and go straight to the gym, instead of driving home from work and changing at home.
Make it so you have to make the least amount of decisions before actually doing the behavior. The more decisions you have to make before completing an action, the harder it is for you to do it.
There are so many ways to move your body so choose one that you genuinely love. If you hate a specific type of training style it will be harder for you to want to continue to exercise. Don’t force yourself to do a type of workout you don’t enjoy.
5. BE PATIENT AND KNOW YOURSELF.
When making a change in your life, you should expect setbacks. A study made by Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at University College London, says the time it took participants to reach 95% of their asymptote of automaticity ranged from 18-254 days. 3. Habits can take a long time to fully form so before you create a habit ask yourself: What setbacks can I expect? Plan for the struggle so you can prevent it from stopping you.
Once you have made a couple trial and errors instead of giving up, ask yourself: What can I adjust to make this habit stick? What can I do to make it easier on me? Self-awareness plays a big part when creating a habit.
Self-awareness is the conscious knowledge of one’s own character, feelings, motives, and desires. It allows you to have a better understanding of yourself and why you act a certain way. Are you unable to create a habit because you a) don’t like the habit, b) feel like you can’t do it, c) are scared about what people might think, d) feel overwhelmed, e) didn’t set up the right environment, f)another reason?
Once you figure out what the reason is, you have a better insight on what to change to make that habit stick! Focus on building the identity of someone who achieves its habit. Don’t strive for perfection… You don’t need perfection; you need consistency and patience. Even if you fail a couple of times, keep trying and adjusting. Take it slower if needed. New habits are not meant to feel overwhelming. Start little by little.
Please remember that it does not matter that much how long it takes you to form a habit. No matter the time it takes you, you will have to put in the work. Don’t focus on how long it is taking you, but instead focus on doing the work and and please remember that Health is individual to each one of us so let’s enjoy the process and be kind to ourselves.
2. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2980864/
3. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ejsp.674
Jicama Tacos with
Pure Flavor® Poco Bites® Cocktail Cucumbers
total time: 10 cook time: 0 min
prep time: 10 min servings: 2
INGREDIENTS
-3 Pure Flavor® Poco Bites® Cocktail Cucumbers
-6 Jicama wraps from Trader Joe's or make your own
-1 mango
-3 strawberries
-1/2 of an avocado
-juice of 1 lime
-5 oz cooked shrimp
-2 tbsp red onion
-a bunch of cilantro
-Tajin to taste
INSTRUCTIONS
Wash your fruits and cilantro.
Cut your mango. Make sure stem is on top, then cut vertically 1/4 inch away from the middle. Do the same on the other side. Put the "bone" (the middle part) aside. Cut the mango in a grid pattern but do not go through the skin. Use a spoon to scoop the cubes out.
Cut the strawberries, cucumber, and avocado into small squares and mince your onion.
Place the mango, avocado, strawberries, shrimp, and onion in a small bowl and add lime juice. Add Tajin to taste in order to give it a spicy/sweet kick.
Place your mix inside the jicama wraps. Top with cilantro.
Your tacos are ready!
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