It’s always fun to think about what the new year will bring. What changes will we make in our lives? What new healthy habits will we create? In 2023, let’s resolve to change our lives for the better with these 51 habits that will transform your life for
What Are the Healthiest Habits?
The Ones you’ll Keep!
Below I’ve broken it down starting with the small, easy-to-start habits to build momentum as I further explore the habits surrounding some of the topics we all gravitate to when thinking about health. Finally, I move on to those changes we all know in the back of our heads that will move the needle in getting us closer to our goal of ultimate Health and Well-being.
It’s always nice to hear from the Powerhouses of personal change and development, so I close with some words of wisdom from Tony Robbins and Joe Dispenza, two of my all-time favorite people.
The Small Ones
Healthy Eating
Overall Fitness
Mental Health
Planning Ahead
The Big Ones!
Suggestions from some of the Greats
The Small Ones
Drink a Glass of Warm Lemon Water in the Morning with a pinch of Salt
The most important habits don’t need to be tedious.
A glass of warm lemon water with a pinch of salt helps jump-start your digestion, balances your PH, and gears up your metabolism for the day ahead.
Make Your Bed
Making your bed every morning starts the day off with a sense of accomplishment, productivity, and organization. Every small win moves you further in the right direction., and it only takes a few minutes
Buy Some Crypto
Imagine if…you’d started this tiniest of things five years ago. The price of a coffee every day bought once a week is a great start. Set it and forget it.
Get a Dexa Scan (at least once a year)
Not just a body fat percentage. Sure, a DEXA scan measures body fat, but it also measures muscle distribution and bone density, a leading indicator of osteoporosis.
Ground
Bodily contact with the earth, preferably wet grass or sand, reduces pain, inflammation, and stress across all areas of the body.
Twenty to thirty minutes a day is an amazing start.
Don’t Start Your Day off with your Phone
Start small and build up.
Maybe it’s just till your first cup of coffee, then maybe til after breakfast, eventually, you’ll be at work before remembering that maybe you have an email to answer.
How we begin charts the course for the whole day.
Spend time in Nature
Forest Bathing/Shinrin – Yoku
Leave all of your technology behind for an hour a week and find a quiet peaceful place to just sit or walk. Let your mind wander and disconnect.
Healthy Eating
Eat Intentionally
Whether you follow an Animal Based, keto-genic or vegetarian diet do so consciously and with intention. Know why you put the foods you choose into your body.
Take a moment before each meal to be grateful and to acknowledge where your food came from and why you’ve chosen it.
Plant a garden
This can be an acre on your farm or a pot in your window sill, the importance is in the intention, not the size.
Shop at a Farmer’s Market
A farmer’s market is a great place to find healthy foods.
Get to know your food and the people who grow it by visiting your local market and joining a CSA. You might even find yourself taking a trip out to one of the farms in your area!
Prepare your meals at home
For many of you, this might be the segue into OMAD…
All kidding aside, by preparing your meals you will naturally begin eating healthier.
Choose Healthy Fats
When it comes to healthy fats, there is still much debate. But we do know which ones are high in linoleic acid, derived from GMOs, and rancid from the start. If you are carnivorous, cook with tallow and ghee. If not, olive and avocado oils are better options. Avoid all seed oils.
Focus on Quality Protein
Grass-fed and finished beef, pastured pork, and chicken that runs around eating bugs instead of corn and soy are all part of a healthy diet.
In today’s world of Butcher Box and Moink, the decision and research have become much less cumbersome.
Better yet, befriend a local rancher.
Overall Fitness
Get 7-9 hours of Great Sleep
The following five steps will vastly improve the quality of your sleep.
Get Sunlight in your eyes FIRST thing in the morning
– Preferably by 8 am.
Don’t drink caffeine after 2 pm
Enjoy your morning cup, but stop after one, or maybe two.
Stop eating 4 hours + before bed
Do the math, and you’ve figured out the perfect time for dinner.
Make your room pitch black
Blackout Curtains work amazingly well.
Sleep Cold
65 degrees Fahrenheit!
Track your Sleep
Start wearing an Oura Ring or Whoop Band. Even the newer versions of the Apple Watch give you some insight as to how you’re sleeping and an improvement to your overall well-being.
Take a Cold Shower… Better Yet Plunge
Starting your day off with a cold shower immediately spikes your cortisol starting the circadian clock.
Begin your day being uncomfortable and you build the muscle for when you need it.
The newest trend is to submerge yourself into ice-cold water as popularized by Wim Hoff, “The Iceman.”
A few companies like Plunge and Morozoko are bringing these awesome plunge tubs to the home market.
Create an Exercise Schedule
Move More!
Zone 2 training
Build mitochondrial flexibility
Strength Training
Build and maintain muscle mass
Something Fun
The more you play, the more you move
Wear a CGM
Wearing a continuous blood glucose monitor gives you insight into the effects of your food on your blood sugar levels.
Get Hot
Sauna no less than 3 times a week for 10-20 minutes.
Whether you join a gym, or the YMCA or invest in a home sauna, the effects of regular exposure to heat are indisputable.
Start Red Light Therapy
Enhance your health and reduce inflammation with a red light therapy device such as a Joovv.
Put it under your desk or next to your favorite recliner.
Buy a Blood Pressure Cuff
For around $30 you can have insight into potential health issues such as heart disease.
Hyperbaric Chamber
The newest addition to my routine, and definitely on the expensive side, but WoW!
“When tissue is injured, it requires even more oxygen to survive. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy increases the amount of oxygen your blood can carry.”
– Mayo Clinic
Breathe Consciously
Direct your awareness to your breath whenever you think of it throughout the day.
Make this part of your daily routine and you’ll lower your blood pressure.
Mental Health
Make Happiness Your Priority
The only reason we truly “Want” anything is that we think we will feel better in having it.
By prioritizing our happiness above our success, popularity, wealth, or security we help ensure those parts of our lives will naturally fall into place.
Meditate Every Morning
Start with just five minutes focusing on some constant sound such as the air conditioner. Gradually develop your practice over time.
But commit!
Leave Your Comfort Zone
This is different for all of us.
Maybe for some, it’s jumping out of a plane, and for others, it may be going to the Halloween costume party. Either way, success and forward momentum are about feeling uncomfortable and how you deal with it will determine your trajectory.
As mentioned above, Start every morning with a cold shower. The uncomfortability is the greatest benefit.
Challenge Yourself
Do something you suck at and watch yourself get better.
We often need this reminder.
As we age we tend more and more to gravitate to those things we already know and the learning stops.
Develop a Gratitude Practice
Every day as you wake up, even before getting out of bed, think of three things you are grateful for; when you sit down to journal, write them down.
Over time look back on these topics and see what things are consistently showing up in your life.
Journal
Keep a notebook next to your bed or your desk, or anywhere you’ll consistently take the time to write in it for 5 minutes a day.
Write down the things you’re grateful for, the things you fear, your dreams, or just a to-do list.
The goal is to get it out of your head to make room for other things, not to become the next Hemingway.
Find a Mentor/Be a Mentor
We all have something to learn and we all have things we can teach.
This chain of learning is what has propelled our species forward and you have a responsibility to be a part of it. The more you participate the more you become aware of how connected we all are.
Strive to see the Best in Others, and They’ll Start Showing up that Way
If indeed we are creating our reality as we think it into existence…This only makes sense.
Either way, YOU’LL be a lot happier along the way
Tackle Your Hardest Tasks First
Once the heavy lifting is done you can focus so much better on the present moment.
If you are constantly concerned about what is still to come, you only give minimal effort to the current task.
Prioritizing difficult tasks breeds efficiency.
Learn a New Language
Life is about gaining perspective and language is an insight into a culture that you can only get by speaking in their native tongue.
Travel someplace you’ve never been
New experiences add to our perspective and make us wiser, or at least let us know we still have much to learn.
Change Your Routine
The Universe can only surprise us if we let it.
Learn to welcome the unknown.
See the Positive, Even when it’s Difficult
It’s such a cliche to say that every cloud has a silver lining, but perhaps a better insight is that nothing amazing in my life ever started that way and just kept getting more amazing.
It usually started at the other end of the spectrum and developed into what was beyond my imagination at the time.
Planning Ahead
Diversify – Everything
Income, Investments, Friends, Perspectives, and Interests.
Buy Some Bouillon
Buy a little physical silver every month, or a little gold should you be more fortunate.
Worst case scenario you give it to your grandkids.
Create, Maintain & Stick to a budget
Where did it all go?
There’s only one way to know. Don’t obsess, but know where your money is being spent.
The Big Ones
Quitting Smoking
“The main reason that smokers find it difficult to quit is that they believe that they are giving up a genuine pleasure or crutch. It is essential to understand that there is nothing to ‘give up.”
― Allen Carr, The Easy Way to Stop Smoking
If you smoke, buy the book.
Stop Drinking
For most, but not all, this is a big step. It’s probably best to understand why you drink and to truly understand the effects that alcohol has on your body and mind.
Step 1 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkS1pkKpILY
Fast
Intermittent fasting is the flavor of the month, but realistically fasts come in all shapes and sizes.
Fasting is integral to a healthier life.
I fast every Monday and do a seven-day fast once a quarter. This is what works for me, find out what’s best for you through experimentation and research.
Quit Social Media
“At the end of the day, social media feels good while we’re doing it and horrible as soon as we stop. It makes us feel crappy because it plunges us into a dopamine deficit state as our brains attempt to adapt to the unnaturally high levels of dopamine it releases.”
Dr. Anna Lembke, “Dopamine Nation”
Stop Eating Processed Sugar
You will:
Look Younger
Lose Weight
Prevent Diabetes
Reduce Inflammation
Have fewer cravings…not just those for sugar.
Stop Eating Processed Foods
The consumption of processed foods is linked to increased obesity, Metabolic disorder, and the rise in Autoimmune diseases, such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and Crohn’s disease.
Cook your meals using real food and you’ll be bypassing many of the chronic diseases of our time.
Plus, it’s the key to maintaining a healthy weight.
From Tony Robbins…
Choose your friends and partners wisely
Develop a mindset of Abundance
Learn to act in spite of Uncertainty
Spend 30 minutes reading every day
Never stop asking the most important questions
From Joe Dispenza…
https://mariamenounos.com/3-life-changing-daily-habits-from-dr-joe-dispenza/
Feel the feelings of your future like it already happened
What Is A Healthy Habit?
A habit is a routine or behavior we do regularly, sometimes knowingly, at other times unknowingly. Typically we think in terms of the bad when referring to habits, such as smoking or drinking.
On the flip side, a healthy habit is something we do that will significantly lead to the improvement of some aspects of our life.
How Can I Build Healthy Habits?
In James Clear’s Article, “ How to Build a New Habit: This is Your Strategy Guide,“ He breaks it into five steps:
Start with an incredibly small habit.
Increase your habit in very small ways.
As you build up, break habits into chunks.
When you slip, get back on track quickly.
Be patient. Stick to a pace you can sustain.
The small wins build the muscle and this is an important factor when considering we all usually quit long before we’ve even begun.
Take the easy wins and congratulate yourself along the way as you begin to make larger and larger strides toward creating the amazing, healthy life you want.
Conclusion
Small, gradual changes in our habits can have a profound effect on our lives for the better.
Eating right, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep are just some of the ways we can improve our physical health; building relationships, practicing meditation or mindfulness, and pursuing interests outside of work are all means of enhancing our mental well-being.
When we commit to making positive changes in our lives, we open ourselves up to improved physical health; as well as opportunities for personal growth; resulting in a more fulfilling existence overall.
So what are you waiting for? Start building healthy habits today!
