Week #6 of the 21 Weeks to Intentional Health! Welcome to your second week of intentionally working on better health. I’m delighted you’re here! This weeks Challenge is Say Good Bye to Unhealthy Habits.
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We are creatures of habit; and we develop positive habits like brushing our teeth every day and other times we won’t let go of unhealthy habits that hinder us from improving our health.
It’s hard to move forward with improving our health, when we have unhealthy habits we need to tackle. Please don’t be hard on yourself, at the same time be willing to change where applicable.
We’ll take on today’s challenge with this approach:
- Addressing 8 Common Unhealthy Habits.
- Brief information on exactly why the particular habit is unhealthy.
- Lastly, a plan to say good bye to this health inhibiting habit!
Are you ready???? to Say Good Bye to Unhealthy Habits? Let’s break free of them together!
8 Common Unhealthy Habits
Smoking. This is “the single most preventive cause of sickness and disease.” Here is a refresher on the harmful effects smoking has on our bodies; lung cancer, emphysema, raises risk of bladder cancer, leukemia, heart attacks, and causes mouth, throat and stomach cancer. Say Good Bye: It’s best to see your physician to find the latest process for quitting your dependence on nicotine. Their are many reasonable options for combatting the cravings and withdrawal effects when giving up this unhealthy habit. Habitrol Novartis Nicotine Transdermal System Stop Smoking Aid Patches – 28 Each (Step 1 – 21 Mg)
Excessive Food and Drink Consumption. Overall Americans eat bigger portion sizes and weight at least 20 lbs. more than even twenty years ago. We eat and drink high calorie food that is laden with sugar and it makes us craving more! The tendency to eat more is triggered by emotional responses, availability of unhealthy convenience food, and eating too fast. Say Good Bye: Be mindful of the food and drink you consume every single day. Eat more slowly and purposefully. Chose food with higher protein content to keep your body sustained longer with less food cravings.
Sitting All Day. We overall spend much of our day sitting down! We sit during meals, when we drive/ride, travel, working at a computer, watching television, reading a book, and if a student, during school. Sitting is being linked to muscle atrophy, back issues, increased risk of disease and mortality. The Mayo Clinic has a helpful article; “What are the risks of sitting too much?” Say Good Bye: Stand up and walk around every 30 minutes. Chose to go for a walk when visiting with a friend or co-worker. Set aside time to exercise and stretch your body every day.
Say Good Bye to Unhealthy Habits – Take the Challenge!
Not Drinking Enough Water. Our bodies not only need water to survive we need enough to thrive! We need water to fuel the major systems of our body. In other words your heart, stomach, liver, kidneys, intestines, skin, blood cells, brain, and lungs all need water to function properly. Water can come from the fresh fruit and vegetables we consume during the day. Say Good Bye: It’s time to stay hydrated! Purposefully incorporate fresh vegetables into your every day diet. Plan to drink water throughout your day. Owning a personal re-fillable water bottle will make you mindful of drinking water.
Consuming Too Much Sugar. A majority of people consume too much sugar in one day! Sugar is the leading cause of disease and contributes to weight gain and obesity. A daily diet of more than 20g of sugar can cause blood sugar fluctuations and type 2 diabetes. Inflammation and yeast thrive off our consumption of sugar. It effects our mood, ability to focus and drains or energy. Say Good Bye: Be mindful of the food you buy and eat each week. Instead of counting calories, count grams of sugar. Concentrate on learning to prepare vegetables more than grabbing a convenient food. Your body will need to adjust to the decrease in sugar, so give yourself lots of patience, eat protein rich foods & drink lots of water.
Say Good Bye to Unhealthy Habits
Not Moving Our Bodies Enough. We all need to exercise and stretch our bodies more. Stretching alone keeps our muscles flexible and strong. Exercise is a healthy preventative against disease and unhealthy weight gain. When we exercise it benefits both our muscles and bones. Say Good Bye: Develop an exercise or stretching routine you can put into action every week. One goal would be to walk 3-5 times a week and stretch 4-5 times a week.
Late Night Meals and Snacking. Eating and drinking late at night could be adding extra calories our body does not need. Late night snacking can interfere with our natural sleep and wakefulness cycle, commonly referred to as our circadian rhythm. Our bodies often produce more inflammation when food is consumed late in the evening. Another issue is raising our blood sugar levels right before going to bed. Say Good Bye: Aim to finishing eating and snacking two hours before falling asleep. To curb that late evening hunger, snack on gluten free pretzels, grass fed meat slices, organic turkey slices, boiled eggs, tree nuts, homemade high fiber granola and gluten free crackers with a hard cheese.
Electronic Overload. Another way of phrasing this is “digital overload”. Our brains remain in hyper alert due to our constant exposure. Common symptoms are restlessness, inability to sleep well, agitated easily and frequent headaches. Our brains are taking the biggest health hit. Digital overload lessons the ability to memorize and it shortens our attention span. Studies are still out on the health damage it does when we have our cell phones on our person all day long. Say Good-Bye: Set aside time during the day to put electronics down and shut them completely off. We need to practice mindfulness and be aware that our brain needs rest. Challenge yourself to have formulate activities that do not require electronics. Leave your phone and earbuds at home and experience the outdoors, either in the form of hiking, walking, bird watching, gardening, outdoor chores, or bicycling.
Say Good-Bye to 8 Unhealthy Habits
Whew! We did it! We (I) sure can easily form unhealthy habits quickly. I would love to know which unhealthy habits you would be tackling right now. I can always work on adding more stretching and walking to my week. The reminder to be mindful of my sugar intake is a plus.
Would you like to accept the Challenge and Say Good Bye to an Unhealthy Habit (or two)?
Share which challenge(s)you accept; one of 4 ways; by commenting below, commenting on my Facebook page, Instagram page or email me your acceptance. Use #accept21dayhealthchallenge on your social media comments.
Together we’ll be on our way to excellent health!
Amy says
I want to move around every 30 minutes and stretch daily. And continue to drink more water.
Michelle says
Amy, great goals for your health! I’ll do them right along with you. Have a wonderful week! ☺️