One of the things that most people don’t seem to understand about a healthy lifestyle is that it shouldn’t feel like work. It shouldn’t seem like a chore to get outside and take a walk or take the stairs instead of the elevator. It shouldn’t be a difficult task to include fruits and vegetables in your daily routine. Taking a 10 minute break to stretch your legs or exercise in the middle of a stressful and busy day shouldn’t be a dreaded assignment that feels awful.
When you approach a healthy lifestyle properly, it becomes second nature. As you realize the value provided by eating a diet that is ideal for you, obtaining regular physical activity, and incorporating stress relief into your daily routine, you begin to miss the benefits when you deviate from this pattern. Your body becomes accustomed to this pattern as well. You have regular bowel habits, feel more energetic, and avoid illness with much more regularity. The long-term consequences include prevention of things we can all do without, such as diabetes, heart disease, and cancer.
One way to assess where you are mentally in your approach to a healthy lifestyle is to consider your reaction to the idea of going on a vacation. Let’s say you get the opportunity to go on a cruise, where food is available in “all-you-can-eat” quantities around the clock. Do you immediately think, “That’s it. This diet is over!” Do you begin to fantasize about all of the things you are going to eat to make up for the things you’ve been missing? Or do you think about being able to really step up your exercise for the week because you will have more free time? I often find that people who approach a vacation with the idea that they are going to allow themselves to enjoy some treats in moderation, but otherwise stay focused on maintaining their healthy lifestyle, really understand the concept of a healthy lifestyle. A healthy lifestyle happens 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.
Vacation time can actually be a great opportunity to experiment with components of your program without the pressures of other responsibilities. Try taking a walk in the early morning to get the day off to a great start. See how you feel for the rest of the day and think about how that might transfer to your usual routine. Try some different foods for breakfast or experiment with some new fruit for dessert. Dust off an old hobby that gets you moving. All of these things can be an enjoyable part of a vacation and easily fit into your healthy lifestyle. If you can’t make the time to fit it in on vacation, when in the world do you think you will? So if you’re planning to take a vacation this summer, plan to bring home a few healthy habits instead of a few new pounds.
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