Time To Start Caring About Your Health – New Year New Me
Hello and welcome to 2023! Without fail, January comes around and brings us new fad diets, detoxes, fitness challenges, morning routines, and “how to get your life together” videos all in the name of caring about your health. This post will be the first in a little blog series I’m calling New Year, New Me.
I will go into more detail about why it’s the perfect time to start caring about your health below, but the truth is that most of us already know why we need to start caring about our health. The quality of our diets and lifestyles are major factors in determining the future of our health. We have total control over these factors, but it has gotten much harder over the years to be responsible about what we eat and what we do. In this post, I will walk you through how to make dietary and/or lifestyle changes that last.
Why Start Caring About My Health Now?
If you have any sort of ongoing health issues that has negatively effected your quality, you have likely already had a wake up call as to how important caring about your health is. My wake up call was at 15 years old when I was diagnosed with an inflammatory bowel disease called Ulcerative Colitis.
There are many health issues that can be addressed and/or prevented through dietary and lifestyle habits. I am currently managing my Ulcerative Colitis through my diet and lifestyle (and loving it by the way). The current guidelines for treating fatty liver disease is a healthy diet full of plants and fish and low to no alcohol or sugar. While more research is definitely needed, there are multiple studies that suggest diet plays a large role in autoimmune diseases.
Diet is important even for people who do not currently have health issues. It can be harder to change your diet and lifestyle if you don’t feel like you have a reason to, but preventative care is just as important. Using diet as preventative care can keep you from having to live with symptoms in the future. It can save you thousands of dollars later on in surgeries, medication, and doctor’s visits and be spared the pain of mourning the loss of your health.
Now, most of my audience is older ladies. As I said above, most of them know why they need to start caring about their health. The problem I come across the most in my holistic nutrition practice is the belief that they simply aren’t capable of making the changes necessary to achieve their goals. They worry they won’t have the willpower, or they’ll be miserable because of the changes they’ve made.
Luckily, it doesn’t have to be this way. While some willpower is required (as with any change), there are ways you can make these changes easier. You also definitely don’t have to be miserable. That’s no way to live. I’ll talk about how to make changes as smoothly as possible down below, but I do want to highlight one thing here: Change is hard. Even if you follow this post perfectly, you will likely not be perfect right out of the gate. The only way you will be able to stick to something and get back up after you fall is if you come up with a strong answer to the question “why?”. Your answer should align with your specific health goals and clearly state why you want to achieve them.
How Do I Start Caring About My Health?
Once you have an answer to the question “why?” that gets you excited to achieve your goals, it’s time to start putting an action plan in place. “Health” is a really broad term. Your goals should be specific. When I work with clients, we pick three long term goals and break them down one at a time into three to four actionable short term goals.
Let’s say one of your goals is better sleep. That’s a great long term goal! Sleep is incredibly important in order for the body to function correctly. But we need to break that goal down into more tangible steps. We could break it down into the following short term goals:
- Eat at regular mealtimes and stop eating 3+ hours before you go to bed.
- Try to avoid high blood sugar spikes by lowering your sugar intake and eating fiber, fat, and/or protein with high carbohydrate foods.
- Establish a relaxing evening routine and go to bed at the same time every night.
- Possible supplement support
Having a positive mindset is incredibly important to make lasting changes. I almost always recommend a self care mindset…because taking care of your health is quite literally self care. Often, when we start thinking of taking care of our health as self care, it starts to feel easier, lighter, more enjoyable, and you won’t have the desire to punish yourself when you don’t follow the plan perfectly.
There are multiple types of motivation. You may be someone who is more internally motivated or someone who is more externally motivated. Most of us are usually a little of both. However, we can lean heavily one way of the other. For example, my dad is pretty much exclusively internally motivated. So much so, that he will often rebel at the idea of competition and deliberately lose. If you are like my dad, once you decide to do something, there’s not a lot that can stop you. But if you do thrive in a competitive setting you may benefit from an external motivator like an accountability partner. I frequent the gym, and it’s always interesting to me to see how much harder people will workout if they have a workout buddy doing it with them. Knowing how you are motivated will help you know how to keep yourself motivated.
Another thing to consider as your trying to meet your goals: What media are you consuming? Are you reading and watching content that is in line with your goals or against them? Let’s say another one of your goals is to limit alcohol and replace it with herbal tea. Looking up recipes and articles on how to make the perfect cocktail for your next party will not make achieving your goal easier. Instead, you could watch videos on how tea is made, read about how different brands source their tea leaves, or even look at aesthetically pleasing tea photos on Pinterest or Instagram. Anything that gets you excited about your goal. We are much more impressionable than we think. Media can play a big role in whether we achieve our goals or lose focus.
When Should I Seek Outside Help?
Bio-individuality is always in the forefront of my mind when I write these blog posts. There are a variety of different conditions that all have slightly different guidelines when it comes to the ideal diet. However, the “ideal diet” will not work for everyone even if they have the exact same illness. That’s because every single body has a different exact set of needs. Even a twin sibling could have different reactions to different foods.
As a generalized recommendation, I recommend that all people eat a whole, minimally processed, nutrient dense, responsibly sourced diet. This means lots of organic vegetables, fruits, nuts, legumes, sprouts, probiotic dairy products (yogurt, kefir, etc.) minimally processed meats, organs meats, fatty fish, and different organic, cold pressed oils. Your diet should be as varied as possible and filled with nutrient rich foods. I would encourage all of you to research the type of diet that works the best for your health condition if you have one.
This is a great place to start. If you are used to consuming a Standard American Diet (SAD), you will likely feel an immediate positive change in your health. Still, be aware that some foods that are considered health foods may not be the best choice for your individual body. You may have allergies or sensitivities that make certain foods more harmful than healthy. There are two ways you can figure out what diet works best for you. You can do it on your own through research, patience, and trial and error or your can work with a dietitian or Nutritional Therapy Practitioner. The latter option will take less time.
Summary
One of the most important things to remember is to be gentle with yourself. Change is hard and it’s not always super fun, but I guarantee it’s worth it. Being able to be there for your friends, spouse, children, grandchildren, and even great-grandchildren is a far greater blessing to both you and the people you care about than indulging in highly processed, prepackaged food every day and drinking a soda at 10, 2, and 4. Stay clear on why you’re making the changes your making by writing out your reasons and hanging it somewhere you’ll see it. Be intentional.
Making changes can be made easier by:
- Being very specific about what your goals are and why they’re your goals
- Breaking your goals down into action steps
- Giving yourself grace when you mess up
- Having an accountability partner
- Consuming media that aligns with your goals
- Working with a professional
I am rooting for all of you!! I am so incredibly confident that you have this. I hope you are too. Let me know in the comments your thoughts/questions about this post! I’m always happy to elaborate or go more in depth.
I wish you all a joyful week!