How to Live a Healthy Lifestyle in 21 Simple Ways (Mind, Body and Spirit)

When we think of living a healthier lifestyle, the first thing that comes to mind for most people is “stop eating junk food, greasy food, bad carbs/etc” but it’s not just your physical health that matters, your emotional health, and spiritual health are also extremely important!

In this article, we’re going to talk about how to live a healthy lifestyle in all 3 areas of your life. I can’t stress enough the importance of having all three parts working in harmony.

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How to start living a healthy lifestyle

We all have choices. We choose what we want to do, what we eat, and how we react to things. Our entire life is a result of all the choices we’ve made up to this point. I know. That’s a hard pill to swallow but that’s the reality of it.

Keeping that in mind, it’s a lot easier to figure out how to live a healthy lifestyle than you think. It’s up to you to decide you want one. It’s up to you to make the decision to change your life and choose healthier options for your body, mind, and soul.

It’s all up to you! Period.

There’s no secret formula, no tricks, no magic wand.  You need to decide that living a healthy lifestyle is what you want and then start taking action towards that. The hardest part is deciding to do it and start making those tough life choices (like giving up your donuts for breakfast!!)

So how do you start living a healthy lifestyle? You choose to do so!!!

I found this really amazing video on YouTube where Joe Rogan talks about how to live a healthy and happy life. What he says is pure common sense!!! Check it out here.

Do you seriously want to live a healthy lifestyle?

I mean really super duper serious about getting healthy? In all areas of your life? Are you?

Before I begin I have to tell you a little personal story so you can see where I’m going with this. The other day I was looking at my body in a full-length mirror and I was horrified by the reflection. I used to be a gym rat and pride myself on my physical health but in the last 6 months, I’ve let it fall to the wayside.

I’ve been indulging in terribly unhealthy foods (read daily chocolate bars, bags of chips, french fries, etc) and I’ve been feeling so crummy lately. Even my skin looks gross.

One morning I woke up and decided enough was enough. I knew that if I wanted to get healthy it was up to me to make the decision to start making some serious life changes in order to start living a healthy life.

I knew all the things I had to do on how to live a healthy lifestyle. I just needed to implement them.

So I did.

Getting healthy for me, especially my physical health was at the top of my priority list and I was done whining about how crappy I look and feel.

I tossed out all the garbage food I had in the house, went to the market and bought all healthy stuff, read a few blogs on the keto diet (we’re not going to talk about that here but you can check out this blog for info on the keto diet and see if it’s right for you) and bought some resistance bands to start working out at home again.

Yay me!!! And I gotta be honest, just making those small changes and that big decision already made me feel a million times better!

A healthy lifestyle is more important than you think

I want you to think of your body, mind, and soul as a car. I’m gonna use this analogy because it really breaks it down in nice digestible pieces that are easy to understand.

So many of us take better care of our cars than we do ourselves. We wash and polish it. We take it to the garage immediately when it’s broken. We get checkups on it every few months. We shield it from elements. We detail it. Heck some of us even give it a name! You name it, we do it.

Why? Because cars cost a lot of money and you want to maintain your investment to the best of your ability. I get that. We want to take pride and joy in our car/investment.

But………

What about your body, mind, and soul? Aren’t they an investment too? I mean let’s face it, you have these 3 things for your entire life. Your car? Maybe 10 years? Your whole being? It’s yours for life.

Why aren’t you taking better care of it then? Doesn’t it mean that much to you?

So you take the time to learn how to take care of your car but have you taken the time to learn how to live a healthy lifestyle??

You should.

It should mean everything to you, even more than your car. A healthy lifestyle should be more important to you than taking care of your car. Won’t do any good to have a nice shiny car in the driveway if you’re too sick to drive it.

21 Steps on how to live a healthy lifestyle

Before I share the 21 tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle with you I want to make one thing very clear because it’s so crucial. A healthy lifestyle is more than just physical health. We think that if we go to the gym and eat our veggies that we’re good and healthy.

There’s more to it than that.

What about your emotional health and your spiritual health? Don’t they matter? Of course, they do!!

That’s why I’ve decided to not only share healthy lifestyle tips on your physical health but your emotional and spiritual health too. Remember the car analogy? The whole car has to work properly in order to function at an optimal level.

Same with us. All of our parts have to work together and properly in order to live a healthy lifestyle. Capiche? Hence, my sharing healthy lifestyle tips on every one of our parts.

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7 Tips to Improve Your Physical Health

Let’s start with our bodies first shall we? Now obviously I don’t know what kind of shape you are in now but I’m guessing if you are reading this, it might not be that great or maybe it is but you want even more awesome tips on living a healthy lifestyle!

Here are 7 simple things you can do today to improve your physical health.

• Park your car a little farther away from your destination and walk!

• Gym not for you? Find a good workout video on YouTube you can do it in the privacy of your own home! Make sure you make a plan to do it.

• Instead of slouching over your computer desk adjust your screen so it’s more aligned with your vision. Catch yourself slouching and sit up! Shoulders back, back straight, tummy tucked in, head held up high!

• If the gym is for you; then hurry up and join! Take a Zumba class, a yoga class or go lift some weights but just get your butt there!!

• Give up those breakfast muffins, that plate of french fries, those fast-food burgers, bags of potato chips and donuts, and start choosing healthier food options.

• Carry an apple (or another piece of fruit) or a bag of nuts or whatever with you so you aren’t so tempted to stop and get a donut in the coffee shop drive-through.

• Replace your soda and juices for water always. If you don’t like plain water, squeeze a lemon, orange, or lime in it!! You can spruce up water any way you like very naturally and easily.

I find the best way to change up your diet is to do some research to see what you can replace junk foods with. Find out what the good carbs and bad carbs are. Do some meal planning so you aren’t tempted to cheat.

I really love the site Healthline.com and they have an amazing article on good vs bad carbs. I think you might like it.

But with that said, having a treat once a week isn’t such a bad thing either. A reward if you will.

7 Tips To Improve Your Emotional Health

Can we talk about emotional health for a minute, please?? Why people don’t think this is important is beyond me. Did you know that your emotions play a huge role in your physical health as well? Yup, they sure do.

Check out this book by Louise Hay (click the link or the image).  Your mind will be blown, trust me on that.

Our emotional health plays a huge role in living a healthy lifestyle. It’s all connected!!

You Can Heal Your Life

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Try to remember a time you felt really angry with something or someone and how that made you feel. You probably got a headache, migraine, you maybe even threw up or totally lost your appetite. That’s just a small example. You get the idea.

Here are 7 tips to improve your emotional health

• Take time to mentally forgive everyone who hurt you. Yup. This is a hard one to do but it’s so powerful. When we let go of all that hurt, we are finally free. Check out the 2 articles below for more on this.

How To Free Yourself From Emotional Pain

6 Reasons You Must Forgive and Move On

• Stop complaining about things. The more you complain, the more things you will have to complain about. Stop it now. It’s negative and ugly.

• Find the good in a bad situation. Not every day is going to be rainbows and lollipops. Instead of getting mad over something that happened, find the lesson or the bright side of it.

• Stay away from drama. Yuck. Remove yourself from any situation that makes you feel anything but happy. Drama included. All that is is toxic energy. A time vampire. Walk away immediately.

• Watch your self-talk! Stop telling yourself you’re so stupid or fat or ugly. One day you will believe it and your self-esteem will plummet. Start telling yourself happy loving things. Give yourself a hug every day. Pat yourself on the back every now and then. Be proud of you no matter what.

• Don’t react to an angry person or fight back. Take a big deep breath and walk away. Fighting back will only harm your emotional health as well as your physical health. Leave the room and tell the person you will deal with them later when you are calm.

• Take time to do the things you really love to do. Too many of us put others first. Don’t do that. You are number 1. Go and do something that brings your heart ridiculous joy!

7 Tips To Improve Your Spiritual Health

And finally, 7 tips to improve your spiritual health. Now before I start this part please remember being spiritual has nothing to do with religion. So many still confuse the two. Spirituality is simply this (my personal definition):

Spirituality is being connected to a higher power (and yes that could be God for some), nature, humanity, and our hearts and souls.

It’s about understanding that there is more to life than things and situations. It’s about being finding and connecting to inner peace. 

That’s what I believe spirituality to be and I am a firm believer that our spiritual health is linked to our emotional health which in turn, is linked to our physical health. Remember the car? All the parts need to work properly.

Living a healthy lifestyle includes all the parts. Don’t forget that.

Here are my 7 tips for your spiritual health.

• Practice gratitude every single morning. As soon as you open your eyes say thank you for life, your bed, the sunrise, the rain falling on your roof, whatever. Everything. Say thank you first thing in the morning.

• Be kind more often. We are all struggling with things in our life. Treat a stranger with kindness today. You may be the only person who does that day. We are all in this together.

• Journal daily. You could either keep a gratitude journal or a positivity journal. Journaling is a great way to quietly appreciate all you have and to bring more joy, peace, and love in your heart and life.

• Sit in nature for an hour alone (or with your furry critter) and just be still. Watch the clouds roll by, listen to the birds, sit by the ocean, and watch the waves. Leave your phone turned off for this. Just sit and be in peace.

• Try yoga!! It may not be for everyone but at least just try it once. Yoga frees the mind and soul and helps you become one with your body and soul.

• Meditate daily. I get that this is hard for some people. It was really hard for me at first but now I can’t go a day without it. Even if you have 5 minutes you can still meditate. This article might help you:

How To Meditate In Under 5 Minutes in 5 Simple Steps

• Do one thing daily that nourishes your heart, mind, and soul. Whether it be singing or drawing, listening to awesome music, painting, or volunteering at an animal shelter. Nurture your spirit and do the things you love to do more!

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How to live a healthy lifestyle isn’t as hard as you think

You can see that living a healthy lifestyle is easy to do! The hardest part is making the decision to change and finally get doing it. It’s so easy to sit in our comfort zones even though they aren’t very healthy for us.

I want you, today, right now, to make that decision, take back control of your life, and start getting healthy, mind, body, and soul.

I love you xo

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