Making your New Year’s Resolutions count (Part 5)
We’re adding another healthy habit this week. So if you missed them, these were:
1. Understand that long-term consistency trumps short-term intensity. 2. Be thankful and grateful daily. 3. Hydrate more. Drink water more. 4. Walk more.
This week we will add a couple of habits and I hope that these are things that you can sustain as you aim to live a healthier lifestyle: 5. Eat more vegetable and fruit. 6. Sleep earlier.
It’s true that some people don’t really eat their veggies and fruits. I was once staying at this coffee shop while someone bought a heavily sugared beverage for his dinner (you can imagine my shock). As processed food has become more convenient, our population has slowly forgotten nutrition principles in exchange for convenience. Why more veggies and fruits? Besides having more fiber that can aid in your digestion and weight loss, it is also filled with vitamins and minerals that aid in your bodies’ processes for optimum health. So you can have calories from that doughnut that doesn’t have as much nutrients as your banana, or you can eat your nutrients.
In our uberly wired society where we can’t let go of our gadgets, sleep has slowly become quite a luxury. Why is sleep so important? That’s when our body grows, repairs and recovers. Further, it is when we sleep that growth hormones are released which aids in fat loss and retention of lean tissue. Poor sleep can cause poor concentration, increased risk of weight gain, anxiety, higher risk for heart disease, and is overall just bad for you.
So don’t cut down on sleep and aim for at least seven hours of sleep with at least two hours coming in before midnight.