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Have you ever gone to a farm, plucked an apple right off the tree and taken a bite? How delicious was that apple?
Or what about a simple bowl of vegetables roasted with some olive oil, sea salt, and garlic? My mouth is watering just thinking about it!
This is how we should feel about being healthy.
The Problem
The problem is when we think about being healthier, we see it as a form of torture. We think about all of the wonderful things that we are now going to have to deprive ourselves of.
We imagine that our food will taste terrible and bland and we’ll suffer terrible cravings. We think that we will always be hungry and that we will have to exercise for hours and hours each day.
If this is what a healthy lifestyle looked like, no one would actually do it. Or at least most people wouldn’t.
When you think about living a healthy lifestyle as a life a sacrifice no wonder it is so hard to do. Your mind is a very powerful tool so if you think that it’s going to be torture, it will be. And if you focus on everything you are giving up, of course you are going to crave those things.
Healthy and happy should be synonymous and if they are not, you’re doing it wrong.
The Change
Focus on Everything You Can Have
The first change you need to make when trying to be healthier the happy way is to focus on what you can have instead of what you can’t. Instead of wallowing over the fact that you are not eating donuts anymore, get excited about the new mug cake you are going to try or the chocolatey fat bombs.
That’s right, you can still have chocolately things and be healthy, you just have to be more choosy about the ingredients in your chocolate. If you are all about the pumpkin spice right now, check out my recent post with tons of healthy pumpkin recipes and products.
Experiment with spices and ingredients, try new things and find healthy recipes that you love. If you eat a healthy food and it doesn’t taste good, either don’t eat it any more or don’t eat it that way any more.
It’s not that you have to eat every healthy food even ones you don’t like; it’s that every food you do eat (or at least most of the food you do eat) should be healthy. The nutrients that support our healthy are each generally found in multiple foods. If one food doesn’t suit your taste buds, find a different one that does.
Healthy foods should make you happy, not make you feel deprived.
Change “I can’t” to “I don’t”
The next thing to change is to stop thinking can’t and start thinking don't. When you think that you can’t do something, you take on the role of being powerless.
When you are a kid and your parent’s tell you you can’t do something, they have the power. You as the child want to do it more because this outside force is preventing you from doing something.
On the other hand, saying “I don’t” gives you the power. It is you deciding what is right for you. Try it. Say it out loud, “I can’t drink soda” vs. “I don’t drink soda.” That one word change makes a huge difference.
Saying “I don’t” gives you the power and control over your own health and diet. How can you not be happy about a healthy lifestyle when you are the one in control?
Stop Thinking All or Nothing
The worst part about living a healthy life is when you don’t. I mean we can go for days, or even weeks of eating healthy and exercise and then 1 little cupcake can cause us to feel like our whole life is ruined.
We need to stop with the guilt trips. We are human. Sometimes it’s OK to have the cupcake. One treat won’t make you magically unhealthy.
Eat it. Enjoy it and then just get back to eating healthy. It is not something to feel guilty about. It is not something to beat yourself up over. And it is definitely not something that should make you give up on being healthy for the rest of the week cause you had a cookie.
Lose the guilt and enjoy life. If that means having the cookie your kids baked for you, have the cookie. It will make you and your kids happy.
Concentrate on How You Feel
Lastly, being happy and healthy can come from really thinking about how great you feel when you are living a healthy lifestyle. Pay attention to how much more energy you have, how clear your thoughts are, and how great your skin looks.
Eating healthy can reduce your indigestion, it can improve your hair and nails, and it might even help you lose weight.
Food is medicine. If you are having aches and pains, bloating and indigestion, healthy eating may be able to help those things. Try it. Cause when you feel better you are bound to be happier. Plus, when you focus on how much better you feel it becomes easier and easier to be healthy.
If you are looking for some guidance on living a healthier lifestyle, check out the 131 Method. This program teaches you everything you need to know about food and how it affects your body so that you can live the healthy lifestyle that fits you!
Cheers,
Emily
