You’ve had enough. You’ve been procrastinating using every plausible excuse, but now is finally the time. You will start eating healthy.
Great, but not so fast!
Let’s set some context first:
Nourishing your body with the right stuff has never been more important, and challenging, as it is today.
Health is not a destination you reach. It’s an ongoing journey, and you need to make sure that your healthy eating habits take root to see sustainable results.
Willpower will propel you in the beginning. But, if you don’t address the underlying causes of what made you eating unhealthy in the first place, your health journey won’t last very long.
Here are the 4 areas of your life you cannot ignore if you want to be healthy.
Relationships
The relationships with your partner, family, friends, and colleagues play an essential role in your life and how you feel.
Time is not abundant and who we spent it with matters a lot.
Spend time with people who you enjoy and who make you feel good. Don’t waste it with people who are self-absorbed and who drain your energy.
Quantity and quality are both critical, and we have control over both.
Cultivating your relationships is an essential aspect of your life and of your overall health.
Work
You most likely spent more time at work than on any other activity.
Stressful, uninteresting work with no creativity and lack of purpose will harm you. If you are in a job like this, you will, sooner or later, have to do something about it. Ignoring it for long is not an option.
Looking elsewhere, change of company or career altogether is often the first thought, but not necessarily the best. Without dismissing it as an option, there are other things you can explore before.
Make a list of the things you like and another of the things that you dislike on your current job. Think creatively about what you could do differently to eliminate or reduce the things that you hate.
Have a conversation with your manager or business partner to make some changes.
There are pretty good chances that you will be positively surprised and that many of the dissatisfaction areas get resolved.
If that is not the case, then consider exploring alternatives. Take your time to examine the options thoroughly, and ensure your choice has the potential to lead you towards the right path.
The benefits of exciting work and a fulfilling career go far beyond just making a living.
Physical Activity
Your body is designed to move, and it needs a certain level of physical stress to stay healthy.
Find an activity or a sport you enjoy that fits your life circumstances. Morning or evening, indoors or outdoors, with a group or alone. It has to be enjoyable to be sustainable.
Even walking an average of 30 minutes a day will do.
Spirituality
We all search for a higher meaning in life, a purpose, something greater than ourselves.
Some pursue this through religion, others through connection with nature, art, or other people.
Spirituality is very personal and unique.
Cultivating your spirituality is essential, as there seems to be a strong connection with emotional wellbeing.
In summary
There is much more than the food that we get nourishment from. All the green salads in the world will not make us healthy unless we achieve a balanced life.
Eating healthy can only take you that far, especially in midlife.
To achieve good overall health, you also need to address relationships, work, physical activity, and spirituality.
Pursue the right balance above all. Good news is that progress in any of the above areas makes progress in all other easier.
