HoW to Form Healthy Habits

I don’t know about you but when it comes to keeping habits, I am usually a little all over the place when it comes down to it. Of course, the intentions are always good, but sometimes I lose focus, lose interest and my big plans usually fall flat.

After many attempts at fighting the desire to form a habit and then rebelling against what’s expected I have figured out some secret weapons informing and keeping habits.

· Tip #1: Learn how YOU operate.

One of my favorite things I did last year was take the Myers Briggs personality test and learn more about me as a person. When you learn more about how you operate it can make all the difference in how you begin to approach things like forming habits.

For Example as an ENFJ, I know that I can be a bit, well VERY idealistic. In order to combat this, I need to reel myself in a bit and start small with forming habits but keep my big ideas at the forefront to keep me motivated!

You can find the test HERE https://www.16personalities.com/free-personality-test and use your results and the next three tips to start to build the healthy habits that you want!

· Tip a#2: Give yourself a time slot.

Sometimes if I know there’s no definite ending point I won’t even begin trying, even if it’s something I actually want to do. So instead start with a week-long commitment and when the week is over, start your week goal over again.

This way if you have a hard time committing to something long term by keeping things simple you’re more likely to continue with it, especially if you realize you actually enjoy doing it.

· Tip #3: Show yourself some Grace

Okay so one thing I find about forming habits, after a few weeks (or days) of staying on track something might get in the way and you have the time, forgot, or maybe just chose to not do it. In these situations, I usually get discouraged and quit since my plans for perfection have been derailed. This is where the grace part comes in.

It’s good to remember that nobody is perfect no matter what their Instagram feed looks like or how they come off. Everyone gets derailed, and it’s OK the only thing you have to worry about is to keep moving forward.

· Tip #4: Remind yourself WHY you started

When you first decide what habits you want to form write down a list of WHY you want to make the habit. If you want to go to bed early because you don’t want to be grumpy with your family in the morning then write it down. This way if you start to move away from your new habits you can take a look at the list and use it as motivation to stay on track!

Hopefully, with these tips help you feel motivated to form and keep those healthy habits!

Thank you so much for stopping by and checking out this post!

As always, lots of love and have a wonderful day!

-Sonya

How to Stop Emotional Eating

Emotional Eating

I don’t know about you guys, but when it comes to how I snack it all comes down to emotions. I say snack because eating three balanced meals a day is easy. I look forward to my smoothie breakfast, my salad for lunch and my hot meal for dinner. This is all good and well until I look in-between the lines, where I see the secret snacking and quick bites of food here and there. Then there is the “I AM SO STRESSED THAT I NEED THIS CHOCOLATE ANYTHING TO RELAX AT NIGHT”….Yeah so maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but maybe it’s not…?   

I find that I eat when I am disappointed or proud of myself, I eat when I am bored, when I feel happy or sad and for any other occasion in between. This is not to say that all is lost and I have no way of changing the way I eat. The real situation is that I have the power to change my habits and rituals, but that it takes time effort and a willingness to do what it takes despite how scary it feels.  

Eating in general is an extremely emotional experience that is often tied with memories and feeling of guilt, pleasure, pain, etc. This emotional experienced paired with a life that encourages mindless eating can wreak havoc on personal goals health wise. We don’t only have to deal with the emotional aspect, but that food is at the ready for us 24/7 and opens the opportunity to easily eat on the run  or while we are preoccupied. I don’t know about you, but the opportunity to sit for half hour to enjoy a meal is a rarity and the busy lives we lead don’t exactly encourage creating homemade nutrient dense meals.

The problem we face here is the loss of connection with food as well as with our emotions, we can however work towards improvement. Here is a good starting point to become a more intuitive eater in order to stop the emotional roller coaster of eating in-between.

·         Start a Journal.

Yes I understand you might have heard this before, and it is daunting thinking about tracking the food you consume, but let’s take a step back and look at this tool a little differently.

If you feel like it is too overwhelming, start out with journaling 2-4 days per week. With your journal entries don’t just focus on food, but focus mainly on how you were feeling, whether or not you were actually hungry, and in what setting you were eating in. If this is confusing here’s an example from my own personal journal.

“…Today I entered the kitchen tired and slightly dehydrated. It was an hour past when I normally ate lunch and had worked out that morning. I felt happy and confident from my accomplishments that day. Once I opened the fridge I grabbed ingredients for a salad and then proceeded to instead toast some bread and ate an egg sandwich, two slices of cheese and half of my salad. In between I snacked on random bits and pieces from the meal as well…”

This might seem like a lot of detail, but it helps you to determine the situation you put yourself in around food and how easy it was to go off track. I could have gone for lunch an hour early to prepare a well-rounded meal and focus more on taking the time to sit down and eat.

This tool helps your brain to connect the dots and realize when you are choosing to eat based on emotion or hunger.

Now Emotional eating is not something to be ashamed of or worth giving up over, it is a struggle that even though it is small, still causes harm. Instead of giving into the temptation of something familiar, work on becoming uncomfortable. Start a journal and make a plan to stop the bad habits and create new ones. The more you take the time to understand why you are turning to food the more power you have.

I don’t know about you, but I don’t want food to be my safety net, rather I want it to be a tool. A tool to help me stay healthy and active with my children and family. I want to put aside my obsession with food and instead God with worshiping him rather than food and allowing Him to have the control rather than passing it over to myself. I want a life that is simple and pleasing to God, where I don’t have the overwhelming focus of food to distract me from the life He has lead me to lead.  

This week I was reading in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 and found it an encouragement to remember the importance of the process…

 “For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven: a time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to break down, and a time to build up; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance; a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together; a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing; a time to seek, and a time to lose; a time to keep, and a time to cast away; a time to tear down, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak; a time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace.”

Hope you all have a lovely week! 

-Sonya