5 Ways to Kickstart Your Healthy Lifestyle

If losing weight, getting healthy and changing your diet seems overwhelming, hard, and too much to take on, it’s time to shift your perspective. 

Instead of seeing it as a giant task that has to happen all at once, look at it as simply a series of new changes you are going to make that will help establish a sustainable wellness routine and lifestyle shift that you can maintain for the long term. 

Start with these 5 foundational changes for your body and mind:

1. Implement exercise – Put simply, start moving.  It doesn’t have to be an hour on the treadmill at the gym, or even an hour altogether.  Start by making small changes – take the stairs instead of the elevator, get up and walk around at work, go outside for a walk around the block on your lunch break.  Any movement you can implement into your day is a great start.  From there, work your way up to organized periods of exercise, where you set aside time to go to the gym, go to a yoga class, head out for a run, or meet up with friends for a walk.  Don’t be hard on yourself if it takes some time to get into routine, and remember that it doesn’t have to be a lot: something is always better than nothing!
2. Drink more water – It’s simple, yet it can be something that makes a huge difference in how you feel, your energy, your mood and even your hunger.  Start by trying to simply increase your intake by one glass per day, and gradually work your way up. 
3. Find your thing – The thing that makes you smile, eases your stress, instantly picks you up and that can help turn your anxiety and fear into productive energy.  Whether it is a hobby, like knitting, a favourite show you like to watch or some type of exercise like lifting, having something that you can turn to that will reduce stress and improve your happiness levels is an extremely important part of a healthy routine.
4. Go to sleep - Sleep is your body’s rest and repair time when it works on recovering and rebuilding. And just like your body needs to do work, you need to do the work to make sure you achieve adequate sleep. If you struggle to get to sleep, establish a sleep routine, where you do the same thing every night leading up to when you go to sleep.  Your body will become accustomed to this sequence of events and learn that it signals sleep time.  In addition, reserve your room and bed only for sleeping and try to go to bed and get up at the same time every day to help set your natural body clock.
5. Incorporate essential oils – If you have noticed an increase in the use of essential oils showing up on social media, it’s for good reason: they have incredible health benefits for the body and mind, each type offering their own benefits. Whether you are looking for something to boost your mood, improve digestion, help you feel more energized, or to relieve headaches, there is an essential oil for that.  Purchase a diffuser and then do some research into what varieties of oils may be best for what you need.