Transform your health by ending these 10 common health mistakes that prevent you from being healthy! It’s not just about what you eat and how much you exercise! Learn more below!
If you’re like most of the world population, you’re hoping this post is all the best secrets to weight loss and health made easy. But here at The Living Well, we like to think outside the box, the scale and counting endless amounts of calories.
It may feel like health is found in a set of rules or a magic potion, but it’s a lifestyle choice. Health is living. Not restriction, starvation, or deprivation but daily choices. Choices that may even seem completely unrelated to your health but have a dramatic impact on the way you feel mentally and physically.
Just like time, health is not something we can or should chase. But health is a way of life. It’s time to stop waiting to live until you’re a certain size or measuring your worth by how big or non-existent your thigh gap is. Instead, may we use health as a means for actually living.
Here are 10 common health mistakes that prevent you from seeing results.
1. Believing it’s all about numbers.
It’s easy to quantify health into a series of numbers that can be tracked. But just because you measure it a certain way does not mean your body is doing what you expect. What matters more than what you provide is what your body does with it. Your body’s action determines your health.
Rather than fixating on a number, focus on what your body is doing with that number. Living aware of how your body channels it over how you calculate it.
2. Avoiding deep and meaningful connections.
Connection is what provides value and meaning to our lives. Research has found on numerous occasions that those with strong social ties were found to be healthier and have an increased life span.
It’s time to get relational. To get deep, intimate, and close to friends and family choosing to live life with others rather than alone. Maybe that means you light a spark in your marriage again, call up your friend and schedule weekly coffee dates or start the dinner party you’ve always wanted to. Whatever person comes to mind, invest in that relationship.
As they say, you’re only as healthy as your most unhealthy relationship.
3. Living an over-scheduled life.
From the time you wake up until the time you go to bed, do you ever take a moment to breathe? As a society, we’ve attached success to busyness when that isn’t the case at all. Having time to be mindful, rest, relax and enjoy life could be one of the most pivotal factors in changing your health.
It’s time to break down your schedule, get rid of the excess obligations that fill up time, and start to allow space to think. Creating margin in life is influential in achieving results.
4. Jumping on the next fad diet.
It may be promising everything you’re looking for, and who knows it very well could be full of a lot of great things. But fad diets are quick to point out your flaws, leaving you fixated on the problem rather than the solution.
Doing more harm than good.
The truth is, you don’t need another fad diet to see the results. You just need to trust yourself and work with your body instead of against it. Pay attention to your body and provide what it needs. Living aware is the most critical element in health success.
5. Getting stuck in a routine.
Routines can be a great asset in life. They are the foundation of habits that align your day with your beliefs without needing willpower. Considering we’re creatures of habit, routines can be critical and yet in some cases, can hinder you from moving forward.
It’s always about balance.
They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. If you don’t see the results you wish, maybe it’s time to break out of your routine and try something new. We’re not talking drastic ‘all-or-nothing’ change but rather just a small switch to ignite a new direction.
6. Spending time-consuming rather than contributing.
Contribution is one of the most pivotal mind changes in living a healthier and happier life. Yet, so often, we spend our lives as consumers of the world. We overdose on low-quality information, live sedentary lives, passively eat, and soak up information rather than gifting the world with our skills.
While there are still moments to be consumers, like eating at a nice restaurant, never forget what you can contribute in your own life, the lives of those around you, and in this world. Contributing could be as little as playing a game rather than watching one, journaling rather than listening to another podcast, or cooking for your friends and family.
The act of giving is a powerful one in changing the direction of your health, providing meaning that drives you forward.
7. Chasing the life you wish for rather than creating it.
The pursuit of life is one of the leading pursuits in the world. Somewhere in life, we’ve been led to believe living is about arriving. The same is true with our health. We work to catch up with time, chase a number on the scale, and wind up looking for our happiness. But the chase is a battle you’ll never win because none of these things are designed to be caught. Health, happiness, and life are not a destination but an action.
Stop living life waiting to arrive and start living as if you already have. Health is here. Happiness is here. Living is here.
8. Confining yourself to the indoors.
There’s nothing a little fresh air can’t solve. Yet how often do we find ourselves confined to the indoors? Most often, our to-do list revolves around inside activities, cleaning, laundry, or even working behind your computer all day. Take time each day to get outdoors. Letting the sun hit your skin is a powerful tool in healing your body, easing your mind, and achieving more happiness.
9. Eating on the go or alone.
Science has shown that people who eat alone are more likely to have a large binge feeding than be mindful about what they are eating. But even more than that, food is intended to be a social, relational thing.
Statistics have shown that children who eat around a dining table with their family have a higher IQ. They are also less likely to join the wrong crowds and have lower addiction rates.
Sitting down to eat also aids in digestion. To properly digest our food, we have to be in a state of ‘rest’. Rather than spooning cereal in your mouth over the kitchen sink or eating in your car, make it a point to sit down. Choosing to eat with friends or co-workers and enjoy good food over good conversation. It changes how you digest and process your increasing satiety.
10. Believing you are unworthy of health.
You’ve probably heard it before; you are what you think you are. Your mindset and beliefs define you. The good news, you are in control of your beliefs.
“There was only one variable that separated the people who have a strong sense of love and belonging and the people who struggle for it. And that was that people who have a strong sense of love and belonging believe they’re worthy of love and belonging.
That’s it. They believe they’re worthy. The one thing that keeps us out of connection is the fear that we’re not worthy of connection.”
Brene Brown
If you want to be healthier and happier, give yourself permission. Decide that you are worthy. You are deserving of health, will you believe it? If you believe it, you will act it out.
