Confession Time: Health Can be Hard

It’s time to confess. I’m finding it hard to maintain my health practices at the moment. I could blame winter; I could blame Stage 4 Coronavirus lockdowns, or just the state of the world in general – but all that feels wrong.

All in all, I’m lucky. I live in Australia; I’ve got a loving family and friends and I work for Slendier! The team at Slendier are so supportive and wellness focussed in a truly rounded way. So, what’s the issue?

How to change your lifestyle to be healthy?

After a lot of thinking, walking one hour a day with my dog and in writing this blog, I’ve come the realise that I’ve fallen into a mindset that isn’t helpful.

I’m not talking about a total failure to nurture myself – I’ve just noticed that I’ve let a few things slip: I’ve chosen easy meal options more often, I’ve skipped my morning vegetable smoothie this week, I usually do a dance class at home twice a week as well as walking an hour a day and I haven’t done it this week.  Can anyone else relate?

So, what can be done about it? I’ve done some research and found some of these articles to be really helpful, and have given me a few positive actions to take:

Up the pampering

I’m missing facials, waxing, hair appointments and manicures. Not because I’m high maintenance (I think) but these self-care rituals are all part of the way I nurture myself. Do you miss these things too? It seems lots of us are increasing the amount of pampering we’re doing at home. And it seems like loads of us are pampering more – subscriptions to beauty boxes are increasing.  So putting on a face mask and trying a new lipstick for Zoom calls is good for my health.

I can increase the frequency of pampering at home.

Stop the late-night snacking

New Dad, Corona survivor and British PM Boris Johnson has launched a campaign to address obesity. While many of the changes are aimed at fast food chains and TV advertisers, he did make one point that I have committed to address personally: he’s stopped late night snacking.  He used to love a good late-night snack of wine, cheese and chorizo. Mine is yoghurt and nuts – but no more.

I can stop that.

Look for more food swaps

I’ve gotten really good at pasta and rice swaps using Slendier’s own range of konjac and bean pasta.  But there’s a whole raft of swaps I can make and a good list can be found at Eat This, Not That. I’m not sure if I’m ready for black coffee, but I easily work my way through this list and find items that are easy swaps.

I can do that.

Find different and small ways to be grateful and kind

The current thinking from psychologists is that we need to find small and different ways to be kind. Equally we need to find different things to be grateful for each day. If we fall into a routine for expressing kindness, for example, we lose the boost it gives us. So, we need to find different ways to be kind and grateful – which helps everyone.

I can do that for sure.