Goals are essential in forming new healthy habits, and without them, it can be challenging to achieve optimal wellness. Knowing what you want to achieve is the first step to making a clear path to your goal. Whether it’s improving gut function, boosting your immune system, losing weight, or attaining optimal health you can achieve your goals with some planning.
In this post, I’ll cover six tips to help you achieve your health goals.
Now let’s drill down on how you can achieve your 2021 health
1. Set Attainable Goals
Whether it’s for weight loss, brainpower, changing your eating habits, physical activity, or overall wellness, don’t expect to climb a mountain when you haven’t gone for a jog in six months. Set goals for yourself that you can manage by breaking down a big goal into smaller ones.
Begin by defining exactly what you’d like to achieve, then divide that into achievable steps with short timeframes. If you’re trying to lose weight, start by cutting out those afternoon sugary snacks. Then try replacing your morning coffee and toast with a protein smoothie. After you’ve reached your first goal, set another to help you make even more progress.
2. Don’t Worry About What Anyone Else is Doing
If you’re struggling with autoimmunity, or other chronic illness, you’ll have different needs than someone who doesn’t. Values and preferences also come into play here. Don’t do something you’ll hate even if it’s the latest trend! This isn’t about punishment or forcing yourself to improve. Taking a positive, caring approach to your health will help you.
For example, even if you don’t enjoy exercise, you can still incorporate healthy movement into your life. You can start with something that feels easy and enjoyable, such as a short walk, gardening, or stretching. If you suffer from fatigue or chronic pain due to autoimmunity or chronic illness, choose a gentle form of exercise. I’ve found yoga can be a great place to begin. You can build up gradually from there in accordance with your body’s abilities.
3. Record Your Goals and Document Your Progress
Putting your goals down on paper gives you a clear picture of what you want to accomplish.
Strategizing and asking questions will help motivate you to succeed. It can also make it 42%more likely that you’ll achieve your goals. Take notes on where you’ve failed before, and plan how to avoid the same results in the future. The notes create an accurate picture of what it will take for you to achieve your goals.
You’re more likely to stay motivated and achieve your goals when you document your accomplishments. Tracking really works. Even if it’s simply “Went for a 15-minute walk and really enjoyed it!” or “Made a delicious and healthy dinner the whole family enjoyed!”, write down your successes.
Activity tracking apps are associated with higher social support levels and self-efficacy scores, and they can be kind of fun if you’re a little competitive, like I am. There are a wide range of activity trackers available for iPhone and Android, and some can be downloaded for free.
4. Eat for Better Health
You aren’t what you eat but rather you’re what you digest and absorb. By increasing the amount of whole foods you eat, you can reduce inflammation in your body and optimize absorption pathways.
Healthy eating can give your body what it needs for all of its everyday processes and the proper fuel to help you achieve your goals.
Foods such as organic vegetables and fruits, grass-fed meats, wild-caught fish, and healthy fats are some of the best sources of nutrients you can provide your body.
Nutrient-dense foods also help with weight loss and weight maintenance because they are naturally full of fiber, vitamins, and minerals.
5. Relieve Your Stress
Stress isn’t just a feeling. It’s an actual release of hormones your body produces when it’s met with a challenge. Stress can lead to a weakened immune system when it becomes chronic and can affect you in myriad ways from raising your blood pressure to impacting your mental health. In fact, it’s one of the root causes of autoimmunity.
The stress you’re under can be emotional, mental, or physical.
Stress can come from physical injury, sleep deprivation, exposure to toxins, leaky gut, or eating a diet full of inflammatory foods.
On the other hand, relieving constant stress can help you achieve health goals. When you practice stress relief you can avoid and prevent chronic stress-related conditions such as headaches, digestive issues, heart attacks, and fatigue — as well as a range of immune-related illnesses.
If you do have an autoimmune disease, then lowering stress is essential to reducing your symptoms.
You can also use natural methods to help resolve stress rather than turning to medications with negative and uncomfortable side-effects.
Adaptogenic herbs like ashwagandha can promote a more balanced physical and emotional stress response, and are easily integrated into supplement regimens with supplements such as Adrenal Support. Adrenal Support not only includes effective and well researched adaptogenic herbs, it also contains amino acids and vitamins crucial for those dealing with chronic stress.
6. Find a Support System
A sense of belonging has multiple strong effects on your emotions and mental function, including lower anxiety and greater perceived happiness. A lack of relationships and support systems is linked to lower general health and well-being. Maintaining relationships with people who understand, respect, and support your health goals makes all the difference.