4 Healthy Habits for Staying in Best Shape Possible

Getting and staying in shape is hard for most of us. What sounds easy in theory is often difficult to put into practice. If you’re among the many people struggling to meet a weight goal or overall health goal, there are many simple habits that can help you get there. Setting lofty workout and diet goals is great too, but incorporating a few new healthy habits into your routine, you can start boosting your fitness without even thinking about it. Below, learn about a few healthy habits you can start today for lifelong fitness.

Rethink Your Grocery Run

Whether you shop for groceries online or in person, it’s hard not to make a few impulse purchases that you may regret later. However, there are a few things you can do to ensure your cart gets filled with better food. For starters, Spoon University says you should never shop while hungry. Shopping with cravings makes it so much harder to resist the temptation of going down the snack isles. Not only will avoiding impulse buys help your waistline, it will also help your wallet.

It’s also beneficial to stick to the perimeters of the store, which is where you typically find the healthiest food, like fresh produce. Moreover, reading nutrition labels is always beneficial, even for foods that claim to be healthy or are packaged in a way that makes them appear better for you than they really are.

Meditate Each Morning

You probably already have a few morning rituals such as drinking your tea or coffee or reading the news. However, you might also want to try meditating. According to HeadSpace, meditation has been shown to cause actual changes in your brain, such as thickening the prefrontal cortex, which is responsible for higher-level thinking and behavior modification.

Aside from the benefits of meditation itself, simply getting in the habit of meditating can be beneficial for achieving other health goals. When you follow through with your routine each morning, it will give you a sense of accomplishment that inspires you to work towards achieving your other goals.

Drink Enough Water

Water is essential for our health, but a lot of people don’t drink enough of it each day. While you can boost your intake through foods that contain a lot of water, such as fruits and vegetables, it’s also important to make sure you’re actually drinking enough enough fluids throughout the day.

There’s an old adage that the average person needs eight 8-oz glasses of water each day, but this doesn’t apply to everyone, according to Henry Ford Health System. For example, if you’re more sedentary, you might need less. If you’re very active or spend a lot of time in warm weather, you may need more.

If you live in an area with poor water quality, it’s important that you take action and find a solution. Getting a water filtration system is a great way to purify your tap water by removing contaminants, bacteria and other harmful substances.

Make an Exercise Goal that You Can Achieve

While the CDC recommends that adults get 150 minutes of exercise a week, you don’t necessarily have to start with that goal in mind. It’s okay to start small and work your way up. With this approach, you can ease into better fitness without getting too sore or tired to continue on your path.

It’s easy to incorporate a bit more fitness into your day. For example, if you find yourself camped out on the couch, make a goal of getting up and exercising each time a commercial comes on or your TV episode ends. Even if you’re indulging in a binge watching session, doing a few pushups, jumping jacks, lunges or squats between shows will make you more active. Just imagine what would happen if you did that every time you watched TV!

Many people want to get healthier, but achieving this vague notion of better health is often difficult. Starting a few small habits such as meditating, drinking more water and incorporating more exercise can actually go a long way towards helping you reach your goal.