THE ROAD TO HEALTH: Creating Healthy Habits

We all have some habits of our own. However, we are not always aware of them. They could be putting your keys always in the same place, brushing your teeth after getting up, starting your day with a glass of water, or eating chips while watching a film. It’s a good idea to consider which habits prevail in your case: the good or the bad ones. If you feel there’s a lot of work to be done in this field, you’re in the right place 🙂

 

What are habits? 

Let me share a few facts about habits with you. The easiest way to describe a habit would be to call it an automated activity, acquired as a result of exercises (repeating a given activity).

Learning a new habit and implementing it takes from 20 up to even 70 days, but the most common amount of time is about 30 days. What does it mean? This implies that by repeating a given activity every day for 30 days your body will get used to it so much that you will be able to perform the activity without thinking. Simply put: do you remember when you started learning to drive a car? You thought about turning on the lights, adjusting the mirrors, depressing the clutch before starting. Having repeated these steps hundreds of times, you now get into the car and do it automatically 🙂

 

Today we are talking about nutrition, so what are eating habits? Or, can they be learned?

Eating habits make up our diet. These are all kinds of eating activities performed on a daily basis. We can distinguish both the good and the bad ones here. Bad habits are often associated with addictions.

Many people find changing eating habits impossible. Of course, it takes time, a bit of willpower and determination. It all depends on the motivation and awareness of the purposefulness of the actions we take.

I hope that the recipes I share with you show that healthy food doesn’t have to be boring, time-consuming and tasteless. If you need help in planning healthy meals, try my app Diet & Training by Ann.

 

Do you eat healthy?

People are more and more aware of the need for healthy nutrition but what does it really mean? 

1. How many glasses of water do you drink a day? 
2. Do you take sugar in your tea or coffee?
3. How many times a day do you have fruit and vegetables?
4. How many meals a day do you have?
5. What intervals do you make between meals?
6. How many times a week do you eat fish?
7. How many times a week do you eat groats?
8. Do you snack between meals?
9. Do you smoke?
10. Do you pay attention to the ingredients of the food products you buy?

 

What’s your score? Is there something you could improve? Set your priorities. 🙂 A lot of people have problems with drinking enough water. In my app Diet & Training by Ann you can control the amount of liquids you drink. Remember to always have a bottle of water with you 🙂 możecie kontrolować ilość spożytych płynów.  Pamiętajcie, żeby zawsze mieć przy sobie butelkę wody 🙂 On average, it is recommended to drink about 30 ml of fluid for every kilogram of body weight. It’s easy to count how much you need!

It is not a strict rule to have 5 meals a day, but regular meals at healthy intervals (between 3 and 5 hours) are really the optimal solution, everything should be adapted to your lifestyle so that you are able to stick to these rules.

 

The time is always right to make healthy changes 🙂

You had the opportunity to answer a few questions about your diet in the first part of this post. I would like to tell you that changing your eating habits doesn’t have to be hard and scary. In fact, gradual changes bring permanent visual and health effects.:) 

The most important thing is to have a plan adapted to your possibilities and find a person who will support you. Start now. Actually, you’ve already started if you’re reading this. For some of you all this might be new, others will just consolidate what they already know.

 

Decide today what 3 things you will start working on, and give yourself 30 days to build each habit 🙂 The effects will come. The last topic on the blog was about junk food, so I suggest you start with cutting it off or significantly reduce it. Snacking is for most people just a way to deal with boredom. What can you do about it? Make a list of things you want to do and enjoy in your free time. Trust me, it really helps 🙂

 

Be patient and don’t give up despite small failures, as they are just a normal part of the process. Also, remember that your health should be your priority 🙂 

 

Bibliography:

1. Charles Duhigg. Siła nawyku. Dlaczego robimy to, co robimy… Pwn, 2013
2. Ewa Sosnowska-Bielicz, Joanna Wrótniak. Nawyki żywieniowe a otyłość dzieci w wieku przedszkolnym i szkolnym. Vol 32 (2013), 147-163
3. Mastalerz‑Migas A., Danecka M., Zywar K. (2009). Wiedza na temat prowadzenia prozdrowotnego stylu życia w rodzinach dzieci przedszkolnych oraz jej zastosowanie w praktyce.