These 5 healthy habits might just change your life

Sometimes getting healthy can be a bit overwhelming. Here are 5 simple, healthy habits that might just change your life... or at least make it a little bit better ;) 

The power of ONE

Y’know when you hit up your trainer, or nutritionist and they give you 5 things about your lifestyle to change, all at once? Well guess what - unless you have incredible self control, you probably won’t stick to any of them for more than a few days.That’s because your brain works in patterns (otherwise knows as habits) and can only effectively focus on changing one thing at a time. One of my fave authors, Dr. John Medina of Brain Rules, explains attention as if it were the beam of a flashlight. No matter how hard you try, you can never shine the light on two separated objects simultaneously – all you can do is rapidly switch the beam back and forth between them. Your attention works the same way.So if you have summer fitness goals to kick, you’re better off just changing one single habit every week. For example, you might decide simply to focus on every meal/snack you eat containing 75% colourful foods, or you might pack your fitness gear and make sure you get up to move your body at 6am every morning for a week.Every time you feel you’ve mastered a new habit, stack a new one on top to achieve success, power of one style! 

Make sure breakfast actually breaks a fast

One of the best pieces of advice I ever stumbled across was to always leave approximately 12 hours between dinner and breakfast – and as often as possible, do that by finishing dinner earlier. Just doing this one thing alone can change your body incredibly!The science behind it goes something like this – all day you eat food and your body uses some of that fuel for energy, then stores the rest in the liver as glycogen. While you sleep, your body converts stored glycogen into glucose and releases it into your bloodstream to keep your blood sugar levels steady while you sleep. Once those stores are all used up, your liver starts burning fat cells for energy, so you literally burn fat while you sleep – cool huh!So, if you’re a late night snacker and dinner only really finishes at 11pm, then you stumble in to bed with a full tummy and are up again at 7am with a bowl of brekky in hand, you’re not giving your body a chance to use up the previous day’s glycogen stocks and burn stored fat.Ideally, if you finish eating at 8pm, have breakfast between 7-9am and if you end up snacking on the couch until 10pm, wait until 9-11am for your first meal of the day, making sure you break your overnight fast with good quality fuel, like protein, veggies and healthful fats, to set yourself up for an energy-packed day!If you’re an early morning exerciser and need something in your tummy before you train, try something light like half a piece of fruit, a few nuts, some coconut water, or a few sips of black coffee.Disclaimer: this is a tip for people in good general health. If you have any illnesses or metabolic disorders, this tip may not be relevant for you... check in with your doctor first! Move every 30 minutesSitting still is the new smoking. Your body needs movement of all sorts to stay sharp, keep your mind tuned in, your immunity fired up and your body healthy and mobile.When you’re constantly sitting still for hours at a time, your vitality goes downhill and it’s harder for your body to stay hydrated, deliver nutrients where they’re needed, remain limber and burn fat.The result? Your skin is less healthy and will age more quickly, your body will feel tighter, you’ll be more likely to suffer headaches, back ache and ‘brain fog’, plus you’ll gain weight more easily. So that’s what happened the first time you scored a full-time job! Lightbulb moment, right?Making movement a priority in your day is easier than you think – use the stairs, walk around the office when you’re on the phone, set your alarm to go off every 30-40 minutes to remind you to take mini ‘movement breaks’, stretch at your desk whenever you can, or install a stand-up desk and alternate every half hour of sitting time, with an equal amount of time on your feet. Ditch nasty goal settingA lot of people set fitness goals that are pretty self-critical. Things like wanting to lose 10kg, or drop a few dress sizes, getting smaller legs, ditching cellulite, learning not to ‘hate cardio’ so much… you get the idea.It can be really powerful to change that around and set goals that actually feel positive and make you want to stick to them. Try committing to a month of three consistent sessions per week at the new group fitness gym that’s just opened up nearby, or nourishing your body with ten days of drinking soothing herbal teas for dessert, rather than having sweets. If you have an overseas trip coming up, a great goal might be completing a strength session 2-3 times per week in the lead-up to going away, so you’re strong enough to carry your bags without it feeling ‘hard’.Small goals that are simple and positive are not only easier to stick to, they put you in the right frame of mind and often bring bigger changes than bigger, more negative goals do anyway – I’ve seen more girls drop weight and keep it off from setting achievable, positive intentions than any other way. Greens before caffeine!This is my personal rule – start the day with a supergreens supplement (I love Passion Projects Supergreens or Nu-Zest Good Green Stuff mixed with veggie juice, or Synergy Natural Organic Supergreens in pill form, taken with water).Just this one habit, performed consistently, can help reduce acidity and inflammation in your body, boost vital nutrients, increase immunity, aid the liver in detoxifying your body, slim the legs/hips/thighs and help you respond to stress more effectively.Not bad, right? This is one super easy habit you can add to your lifestyle without much hassle and it will seriously maximise your health!