New years, new year resolutions, torture, judgment, guilt, failure, etc. are often themes around this time of the year as it relates to our health, diet, and weight loss plan. Yuck! I opt out!
Here are some simple yet often overlooked ideas for weight loss and healthy nutrition. Let me know where you excel and which ones you’d like to adopt.
- Poop. Yes, poop. How is your poop? Is it regular? Is it easy to pass? Is it cohesive and light brown and smooth? Do you need more fiber, more water, more greens, etc. Poop is a huge indicator of your health so don’t forget to pay attention. A good time for a diet make-over if you don’t have good poop.
- Connection. One huge factor to happiness is relationship and having a supportive network of friends and family. Happiness equals healthy body and good metabolism. Unhappy people tend to struggle and may show signs of emotional eating or lack of self-care. We’ve all had times in our lives when we lack support compared to times when we felt loved. I know my first 3 months of having a baby (the most challenging time ever!!) and being isolated from my social network definitely sent me down a spiral of bad habits.
- Habit. We make on average of 35,000 decision in one day. WOW!!! They range from important decisions that affect our life to which sweater should I wear. If we had to also consider which pant leg to put on first, our brain would explode from decision making. That’s why it’s so important to create habits. I never wake up and think about being healthy. Who has the time?? That NEEDS to be a part of who you are.
- Living it up! We can’t sit around and count calories. The more fulfilled our lives are, the less time we spend obsessing about food especially if we categorize food into “good” or “bad.” Get out there and find adventure. Do things out of your character. Live a little…actually, live a lot! I’m a huge fan of creating silly parties (mud wrestling, murder mystery, etc.) and traveling to places people can’t pronounce. I like having strange life goals. Don’t judge me.
- Chill out. Is stress a big factor in your life? It’s time to let it go. Stress not only leads to all sorts of diseases but it also slows down metabolism and adds fat where we love it most…our mid-section. Most stress is self-imposed. How can you re-frame and make it positive? And we certainly can’t hold off until our 2 week vacation out of the year to de-stress. By the way, our 2 week standard is pathetic compared to the rest of the world.
- Smile. If there’s no rainbow, find it or make it or imagine it. There’s always a reason to smile. The more we smile, the happier we are, the better we breathe, the better we take care of ourselves, the better we treat others, and the cycle repeats. What a wonderful world if we can all master this.
As you can see, there’s so much more to being healthy and losing weight then just calories in and out. That is definitely old school. Your body and brain works together to give you the most effective results. Learn how to address the root cause of your weight and health concerns and start with a free health consultation at www.HappyFoodHealth.com or (619) 876-2655. See if this is the right match for you. I do things very differently to make health a natural lifestyle and this is not for everyone.
~Samantha Hua, Nutrition & Health Coach, San Diego, CA
