Are you up for success? I sure hope so! Here are some tips for setting yourself up for healthy living.
How Our Environment Influences Us
We are all influenced by our environment when it comes to our levels of physical activity and how much and what we eat. Our environment creates what’s “normal”, and so by changing our environment we can increase success.
Eating junk food, not exercising, sedentary living, hours and hours of TV watching or time on the internet; these take away from healthy living.
Tips To Set Up Your Environment For Healthy Living Success
Here are some ideas and action steps you can take to help your environment lead you to more success:
* Use smaller plates and cups. Most of us are used to just filling our dish and eating until the food is gone. The smaller plates strategy is a great one that I have been using myself for years. My clients and students tell me it works wonders!
* If there’s a food you don’t want to eat, don’t keep it in the house. Make it harder to
get.
Now while I recognize that we do need to make peace with food and shouldn’t be scared of any particular food, I am also a pragmatist.
For me, a box of cookies or salty foods can sit in my cupboards forever and not tempt me. Ice cream is a different story! I don’t keep it in my house, and make eating it a special occasion activity done OUTSIDE my home.
* The flip side to that is if there’s a food you “should” be eating, make it easier to get.
* Sign up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) box so that fresh, healthy produce and/or organic meat is delivered to you.
* Have fresh, healthy whole foods on hand and prepared. You can buy pre-cut vegetables, if that makes eating them easier for you.
* If you don’t want to cook, hire a personal chef. While on the surface that may seem more costly, if you eat better and choose your foods wisely, it may be cost effective and well worth the money. Check it out.
* Put the television in an inconvenient place and don’t watch it while you eat.
Watching while you eat makes you much less aware of what and how much you’re eating. If you find that you’re watching too much and your healthy living rituals
are falling by the wayside, cut your cable package down so you don’t have 100 channels. Or get rid of the television altogether. I haven’t watched television in years!
* Park your car farther away from where you’re going. Walk the extra distance. Or sell
the car and get a bike. Or commit to walking when you have errands to run within a close proximity to where you live.
* Join a social group organized around activity: a class, club, or a group that meets for
certain events like hiking.
Find a workout buddy.
Surround yourself with people who are also working on their health, fitness, and nutrition. Organize your social events around activity; get a bunch of friends together in the park for some games like softball or frisbee.
* Get a dog that needs walking. A big dog that needs PLENTY of walking. Of course that’s not the only reason to get a dog, but if you do, walk a lot!
Notice two things about these strategies:
1. They make problematic behaviours inconvenient.
2. They make healthy behaviours convenient. Knowing and doing are two very different things.
Final Thoughts
Hope you’ll use these tips for healthy living. Environment influences us to DO, and will often win over knowledge when it comes to the choices we make.
If your environment needs a tune-up, then get to it and do it. You will make great progress along your road to successful, healthy living!
If you feel stuck and need additional support to adopt a new healthy habit or routine, consider working with me. We can partner up in setting goals, drawing on your skills and strengths, and implementing strategies to help you find your way to lasting healthy success.
Related Articles:
- Is Intermittent Fasting For You?
- Beware of These 5 Mental Mistakes
- Five Ways to Unlock Your Fountain of Youth
- Why Sugar is Bad for Your Brain
For over 15 years, Shelli has been a freelance writer and wellness habit coach on Joyinmovement. She writes about brain fitness, creating a healthy lifestyle, traveling the world, and making positive habits stick. Stop procrastinating! Take action, join her free newsletter.
Comments are closed.