Top 5 Steps to Make Healthy a Habit

"How do you get rid of old bad habits and build better ones?" A top requested topic lately.

Listen, beautiful.

Our habit loops are simply the things we repeatedly do that make up our thoughts, our actions, and our results. Habits are created in a act, reward, emotion cycle. Therefore, every habit we have somehow makes is feel good, acting as a reward.

So friends, if you’re trying to make adding kale to every meal a habit and you hate kale, well, hate to break it to you, but it’s just not going to fly.

Every habit we are looking to create needs to be one that we enjoy and find positive affirmation from. So you can see how that mid-afternoon sweet treat pick-me-up has become a habit. Your mind goes “Hey Shirley, I know you’re a little stressed and low right now, brownies make you happier.” And before you know it your knee deep in ooey gooey brownie.

That being said, looking to add MORE healthy habits, as opposed to getting rid of old self-destructive habits is much more efficient and productive, not to mention more fun!

Here I show you my top 5 tips (part one, wait until the end to see why) to making healthy a habit in your life.

Always ask yourself, “how can I make this fun?” And you will be well on your way toward a little more positivity, and a little less negative self-talk.

1. Be happy

During my training as a holistic health coach and transformation expert, I realized how truly important it is to be happy. Often times, we turn to food, alcohol, or extra Netflix and chill when we’re feeling overwhelmed, stressed, or just down in the dumps.

On the other hand, when we’re happy, we do life from a higher vibe place, we make decisions that are more self-serving toward our goals, and it’s easier to get up and off the couch to go for a walk or workout.

Some of my go-to ways to find happiness when it feels like my happiness has actually been hit by a bus nowhere to be found are:

• happiness quotes from Pinterest - a little quote motivation never hurt nobody.
• Set up routines. This is a doosey. My morning routine is key to my happiness. When I can start the morning slowly, enjoy my coffee, devotional, and personal development book, my mind gets into “happy mode.” On a good day I even listen to a podcast while I get dressed. Now sister, this doesn’t always last. But know there are numerous resources to get you back to that happy high vibe place. Some examples are, podcasts, going for a walk, get outside, call a friend, take a break, read a quick chapter of a self-growth book, grab yourself a latte.
• Notice what triggers you. What causes you to go to the dark side of I am not good enough, everything is going wrong, I’m not pretty enough, and why do I even try I can’t do this? Start to get SO GOSH DARN aware of your triggers so you can see them coming, develop a plan to get some armor and not let them bring you down like they used to. And most importantly, realize that this never goes away. Those people you think have their shit together and are happy 24/7? They’re not. But they probably do have a gosh darn amazing system to get themselves out of the shame and sadness spiral.

Self help and development books. My love language! Yo. Friends. Did you know that I recently wrote a book, “To Kale & Back: Ditch the Rules and Learn to Thrive in Food, Fitness, & Life.” Yep, I did the thing and I am SO STINKING EXCITED about it. Self-development books are apart of my morning routine for a reason. They help you reframe those limiting beliefs not serving you (I’ll never have a body I’m confident in, my hair never looks good, it’s just not in my genes to be healthy and happy, fill in the blank with whatever poop your inner critic feeds you), and they help you reframe them into new beliefs that support the best version of you and the life you desire (I deserve my most confident body, I have everything I need to make it happen, I am worthy of a healthy and happy life). They get your “I am a beautiful masterpiece that deserves to have a kick-a** day” thoughts going and kick you into a fantastic day.

Here are the links to a few of my favorites self-improvement books:

1. School of greatness

2. You Are A Badass 
3. The Happiness Project
4. Girl Wash Your Face      
   
5. Jesus Calling      

2. Grace 

Number two on this two part blog post is to give yourself some grace. I know, you hear this every day all over the place. But I’m telling you again so that you believe it. When you give yourself grace, your inner critic gets duct tape over its mouth more often than not. You know what the opposite of grace is? Beating yourself up? You know who beats you up? Your inner critic. There you go sister. Strive for 1% improvement every single day. One week of massive transformation when the next 3 weeks are full of “why can’t I sustain this, I’m such a failure for not sticking to this, I suck.” Instead, strive for baby steps. One day at a time. You don’t need go and pull a massive 180. Focus on being better than you were yesterday and before you know it the habit of being kind and finding grace will be able to tell your inner critic to talk to the hand because the face ain’t listenin’. Alright friends. These were dooseys. I broke this up into a couple of blog posts so that you could digest these steps, decide how you're going to implement them into your everyday life, and get used to acting on these before I give you my more logistic 3 more! Stay tuned. Or, if you’re late to the party (I see you, fashionably late, so glad you made it friend!), head to the next blog post for the remaining 3 logistic steps! I hope this brings you one step closer to your most confident, healthy, happy self. My goal in anything I do is to help you find more happiness and confidence every day. If there is something specific you’d like me to touch on, or that has really helped you recently. 

Please shoot me an email here, I’d love to hear from you!

XO Di