Welcome to
my 101 series, which explores 101 little things you can do to improve your day
to day life, and the world, just a little bit.
Our second post is: MAKE ONE HEALTHY DECISION EVERY DAY
Our lives
are made up of thousands of little decisions, most of which are subconscious.
Our brain is a pro at saving energy and it often does that at the expense of
what’s best for us.
That means
driving instead of biking, eating quick, high calorie foods instead of
preparing something healthy, watching TV instead of playing with the dog and
browsing online instead of reading a book.
It doesn’t
help that our decision-making capacity is limited. Like our energy levels, it
is a resource that is depleted during the day and requires sleep to renew. So,
you’ll find it easier to make good decisions in the morning and more
challenging at night.
This week I
am challenging you to take back some of those decisions from your hind brain.
At least once a day, change a bad decision to a good one. Have the apple
instead of the chocolate bar. Drink more water. Eat more fibre. By the cruelty
free bacon. Go for a walk in your lunch break. Chew gum instead of smoking a
cigarette.
Maybe you
can’t make a radical change in your diet or go to the gym every day or quit
smoking, but every healthy decision you make is an unhealthy one you didn’t
make. It improves your health just a tiny bit.
When you get
the hang of making one healthy decision every day, you can step up and make two
healthy decisions every day. Then you’re eating fruit for breakfast and going
for a walk. Or drinking water instead of soda and smoking one less cigarette a
day.
Slowly,
these healthy choices can become more frequent. Good habits can replace bad
habits if you are patient and diligent in making a change. Even one small thing
a day is better than nothing.
Just
remember not to reward good habits with bad habits. Don’t eat a cake to reward
yourself for saying no to a cookie. Reward good habits with more good habits
instead. Skipped a soda with lunch? Reward yourself with funky neon laces for
your sneakers. Smoking less? Reward yourself by borrowing some audio books from
the library to listen to while you’re exercising.
One healthy
decision every single day is really going to mount up in a year. So what is
your healthy decision going to be today?
For more
ideas on healthy rewards, have a look at this article with 100+ fun rewards on
Fitness for Weight Loss:
http://www.fitnessforweightloss.com/reward-ideas-for-your-weight-loss-journey/
