A Healthier You in 4 Weeks – Part Two

At the start of the new year, I gave you all a couple of things to do to help you get on the right track with your health in the new year.  Please go back and read it if you missed it.  It doesn’t have to be January 1st for you to start doing good things for your body!  Even if you did miss Part One, it’s okay to do the 4 weeks out of order too, so if you just want to start with the ones I’m about to tell you, that would be great!

The idea behind creating a healthier you in 4 weeks is that we want it to be fail safe!  We want these steps to be so simple that you are bound to succeed.  So, here we go:

Week 3: Eat more things that are good for you

I know that’s pretty vague, but I’m trying to set you up for success, here.

What you want to do this week, totally depends on how you already eat.  If you have forgotten what salad and vegetables taste like, because it has been so long since you have eaten those items, then a good start for you would be to just add a vegetable to every meal.  For instance, have green beans with dinner (or whatever vegetable sounds good to you).  Eat a salad with lunch; or if you’re feeling really adventurous, have a salad FOR lunch.  If it’s snack time, grab a piece of fruit or a veggie instead of a bag of chips or muffin or chocolate.

Now, if you already eat veggies and salads for your meals, then kudos to you, but there’s almost always room for improvement (otherwise why bother reading this, right!?).  So, for you, try eating more veggies.  Instead of fruit for a snack eat a veggie for a snack.  Substitute your meat in your meal for a vegetable.  What might be the most beneficial for those of you already eating a fair amount of veggies/salad is to try new vegetables.  It is healthy to have variety in our diet and so try some new veggies and give your body some nutrients it doesn’t normally get.  I know we I can get in a rut and fix the same veggies all the time, so trying something new is a good thing!

Week 4: Relax

Yes, relaxation is a part of being healthy!  The opposite of relaxed is being tense.  Being tense is very much not healthy.  How you achieve your relaxation is going to be different for all of us.  If you enjoy reading, then set aside some time to read.  If you have kids, I know that can be hard.  Maybe you can read during nap time or after they go to bed for the night?  If reading is not your idea of relaxing, then do something else!  There are no rules here.  Maybe just vegging out in front of the t.v. and watching your fave show is relaxing for you.  Do it!  Maybe you find peace in reading the word of God.  If that’s the case, then do it!  Maybe you find peace in writing a blog post that is just for you.  Do it!

Here’s the most important thing about whatever you choose to get your relaxation, though… you can not, under any circumstance, feel guilty about getting your relaxation!  That would defeat the purpose and surely is not healthy!

Okay, you are done with your four weeks… now what?  That’s easy… keep it up!  Make all of these new thing habits.  Once they become habits, you can start adding to it until you are comfortable with your way of living and can feel like you are living a healthy life.

What do you think?  How do you eat now?  Will eating more veggies be difficult for you or are you excited about trying some new veggies?  What are you going to do for your relaxation time?