AD – This is a paid advertorial but all thoughts are my own
Pandemic or not, January and the start of a new year is always a time where people are going to want to make positive changes in their life. From personal development goals, new habits, a healthier lifestyle and more. Although that’s bound to look a little different this year with the UK starting a new year in yet ANOTHER lockdown, it can still be a hugely motivating time for a lot of people. Me included.
I know you’ve heard over and over again how to lead a healthy lifestyle. Exercise a bit more. Drink more water. Go out in nature. Eat your veggies. All of this is drilled into us since the second we’re born, I really don’t need to remind you. So today I wanted to shift your focus to ways which you can ENJOY a healthier lifestyle this year.
Because I don’t know about you but when I hear “HEALTHY LIFESTYLE”, I’m not jumping for joy, I gotta admit.
There is so much more that goes into enjoying and living a healthy lifestyle than vegetables and HIIT workouts. I’m not by any means saying that those things aren’t important but a healthy lifestyle just isn’t sustainable if you absolutely resent what you’re doing and it’s making you miserable.
So here are 5 ways you can enjoy embarking on a healthier lifestyle this year!
Try something new
This is where today’s incredible sponsor comes in because this brand are definitely something new for me this year. Exotic Fruits source and import some of tastiest and fresh exotic fruit of which are hard to get ahold of in your every day shops here in the UK. Did you know, there are over 3,000 fruits in the world with only 5% being available in the UK?
They sell selection boxes of varying sizes full of exotic fruit which is delivered straight to your door. Either on a one off basis or a subscription. You can find their full range of exotic fruits which are used within their boxes here and I was kindly sent a selection box, packed of exotic fruits to try for myself!
I was pretty impressed with the box when it showed up and there were plenty of different fruits in there to try! From what I could identify myself, in the box was:
- 1x baby pineapple
- 1x mango
- 1x kiwano
- 1x star fruit
- 1x persimmon
- A bag of lychee
- 1x dragon fruit
- 2x passion fruit
- 3x prickly pear
- 1x custard apple
There’s also something else which I couldn’t identify, despite using the Exotic Fruits Full Range page. But that’s okay! I don’t mind a surprise! Of all of the above, I’ve tried 3 of them; mango, lychee and passion fruit. And even then, the passion fruit I’ve tried has only ever been in a Martini, so not sure you can even count that one.
All the fruit arrived in good condition. Nothing was bruised or damaged in transit, which is great considering how delicate fruit can be. There’s a really good amount in here too which should last you a fairly long time (ripeness / weather / storage considered). I know this lot will last us a while!
I’m really excited to dig in and give these different fruits a go and introduce some new flavours into my diet!
Find what works for you (as opposed to following everyone else)
I spoke about this in my blog post around How To Be Mindful With Your Self Care and the same absolutely applies for health and well-being too. Finding what works for you is so important when it comes to living and ENJOYING a healthy lifestyle. For me, I don’t run because I HATE running. I just don’t enjoy it, it hurts my shins and I get annoyed at myself easily when I’m running. So I don’t do it.
Use this time to educate yourself
Although this lockdown is absolutely bloody crap and everyone is feeling the effects of it, it’s also a great time to educate ourselves as we have more time on our hands. If you’re serious about living a healthy lifestyle and you like learning, perhaps now could be a time to enroll in a nutrition course, start life coaching or research different exercises and their benefits.
Balance is KEY so don’t deprive yourself
Balance is such an important part of enjoying a healthy lifestyle. I love food. I love cake. I love afternoon naps and a martini and a takeaway at the weekends. I’m sure as heck not going to deprive myself of the things I love because the only thing that’s going to do is make me miserable and make me crave those things more. Some days are for 6am runs and a smoothie, others are for sleeping in until 10 and pizza for dinner.
Experiment and make it fun
This point kinda combines all of the above but I think one thing to consider here is the word “lifestyle”. Which contains the word “life”. YOUR life. And you don’t want to spend it doing a ton of things you hate for the sake of a smaller number on the scales. Try something new, experiment in the kitchen, play around with different exercises like Yoga or HIIT workouts. Make it fun. And make it YOURS.
