Simple ways to stick to your health kick this year

Once Christmas and New Years are over and we've all filled ourselves to the brim with turkey and wine, it'll be the time of year when we all tell ourselves, 'new year, new me'.

January is the month of well-being and health as everyone tries to shed their Christmas weight and promises themselves this is the year they're going to make loads of healthy choices.

Maybe you've made a new year's resolution to start yoga or start eating more fruit and veg. We all have the good intention to start fresh and make this year the healthiest yet. But with busy lives, we get side-tracked and we often give up our resolutions after just a couple of months.  

But there's some really simply ways to start the year off healthier and actually stick to it.

Eating healthy

It’s not easy to fight those unhealthy cravings and it’s ok to give in to them sometimes. But there are loads of ways that you can make sure you stick to a healthy diet.

Invest in healthy cookbooks:

There’s loads of cookbooks out there and there’s plenty that offer recipes full of healthy goodness. With a growing number of vegetarian, vegan and gluten-free cookbooks appearing, you can one that’s suits you. 

Plan your meals:

Plan your meals in advance and buy all of your ingredients in a big shop. By planning what you’re going to eat and when, you can avoid those temptations to eat out or order a takeaway full of unhealthy fats and sugars.

Buy healthy snacks:

We’ve all been bored at work and craved a bar of chocolate. But swap out those sugary snacks for a healthy piece of fruit. It’s another small change you can make and it’s one that’s relatively easy to stick to.

Exercising

It can be hard to find the motivation to go to the gym after a long day at work, especially during winter when it’s cold and dark outside. All you want to do is go home and snuggle up on the sofa. With our hectic lives it can be a struggle trying to find the time.

Try some short home exercises:

There’s lots of easy ways you can fit small bursts of exercise into your day without even entering a gym. Try doing some short exercises at home. When you’re waiting for the kettle to boil, why not do some star jumps? Or when you’re brushing your teeth, try squatting. There’s loads of little home exercises you can do to get more active.

Take up yoga:

Yoga’s a really gentle way to start doing more exercise. Previously the province of hippies and eccentrics, it's now an exercise that's spread throughout the world and is used in hospitals, schools, leisure centres and many other places. There's a good reason why. 

It has loads of physical health benefits such as strengthening muscles, improving flexibility and protection against conditions like arthritis and back pain.

But, it also has lots of mental health benefits. Yoga has been successfully used to help those suffering with depression and stress. So join a yoga class or if you can’t find the time, practice some yoga for half an hour a day in your living room.

You don’t have to spend ages doing it, but that little bit of time to yourself could really improve your well-being.

Improving your mental health

We need to make sure we take care of our mental health so we can live full, happy lives.

Meditation & Mindfulness:

Have you ever tried meditation or mindfulness? You may think ‘meditation’s just for hippies’. But oh how wrong you are! Meditation is a fantastic, proven way to improve your mental well-being and create a happier, healthier you.

If you haven’t heard of mindfulness before, it uses techniques like meditation, breathing and yoga to help us learn how to manage our thoughts and feelings, so we can become happier and more positive. Mindfulness has proven to help with anxiety and depression.

There’s loads of courses and apps out there with easy exercises you can learn. Even just 3 minute breathing exercises a day can make a huge difference. So why not give it a go?

Whether you're goal is to eat clean or exercise more, there's plenty of ways you can stick to your new years resolutions. This way everyone can become a happy hippy!