Learning to make informed healthy living decisions

Each day offers the opportunity for a new lesson, especially when it comes to healthy living. Since I’ve been into the healthy living mix for over three years now, I’ve had the chance to make a lot of daily decisions, both good and not-so-good.

Here are some things I’ve learned along the way that have influenced my healthy lifestyle and choices:
(please note that healthy decisions are different for each person. What’s right for me might not be right for you. These are simply tips for a starting point, so you can form your own opinions!)

1. Understand labels
This is a tiered tip, because I’ve learned a lot about food labels (vegetarian, soy, lactose-free, gluten-free, etc.), and also about product labels.

There’s always a new trend for healthy living – whether it’s following a paleo diet, or going vegan, or eating for your blood type. I haven’t tried many of them, for a few reasons: I’m not a fan of plans that force counting calories or excluding foods. For obesity/health hazard-related reasons, I think calorie counting could help initially, but I’m not into crunching numbers for my own personal fitness. I’ve learned to mix up my plate, eat only until full, and not to eat too late at night. This has worked for me!

I’ve also learned to flip items around and check out the product ingredients. A few key things I try to avoid: soy lecithin, sodium laurel sulfate (for health and beauty products), high fructose corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, and words I cannot pronounce.

While I try to avoid them, it isn’t always possible! I don’t want to drive myself nuts scrutinizing every product label to determine what is “healthy”or not for me. Sometimes, I’ll give up that product entirely, and sometimes, I try to ignore it and give into a craving. I don’t beat myself up over it if I happen to slip up.

2. Rest days are ok
When I first decided to turn my life around and start exercising, I went a little overboard. I went from essentially no physical activity to 5 days a week. Being young and full of energy, I was able to keep up with it, but after awhile, I found that I was easily prone to injury. After running my first half marathon, injury forced me to slow down, almost to a complete halt.

I knew I didn’t want that to happen again. Now, I exercise smarter, adding in rest days, and not pushing myself to run every day, even while training for spring races. Occasionally, I’ll even have unplanned rest days, sometimes due to a stressful project at work, or feeling that I haven’t eaten enough that day to support my fitness habits. I’m happy to report that I haven’t experienced a single injury all spring, and each workout has left me feeling rejuvenated and ready for more!

3. Refresh the schedule
I was really into Zumba (still am!) when I first started exercising a few years ago–so much that I would do it four times a week. It was great at first, I noticed the weight loss after only a couple of weeks, but then I reached a point where I started to plateau. I still enjoyed the class, but wasn’t losing weight. My goal at the time was weight loss (but I realize now that I was improving my stamina and also keeping my heart healthy by keeping up with the routine!).

Determined for something better, I added running to my routine, and started weight training. This boosted my weight loss so much more! I’ve since learned that you should try something new to challenge your body every 4-6 weeks. Weight training + cardio made sense. Running and Yoga make sense together. Basically, I kept my body guessing about your physical activity, and results continue to show!

For food, this tip is also true. In college, I could live on pasta, chicken, and granola bars. And I did. I hardly touched fresh foods, nor did I eat a variety of foods. To stay healthy, I know now that I need to mix it up frequently. By becoming too dependent on certain types of foods, I was unknowingly depriving my body of mixed nutrients, and often running myself into the ground. Because of that, I upped my intake of caffeine and chocolate/sugar, which both gave me bursts of energy, but it was never sustained.

Now, I purchase fresh food items weekly at the local farmers’ market, have started to grow some of my own fresh produce at home, and have developed relationships with food nurturers in the area.

4. Find a workout/healthy living buddy
Shane was on board with my healthy lifestyle initiatives from day one. He even paid for me to receive my first fitness certification in Zumba! He was very excited to see me so happy, and making a positive change in my life. I’ve been so lucky to have that kind of support.

Recently, just this spring, I’ve started running with a buddy (heyyyy Cindi!). This has improved my running so much; I know she’ll be there waiting, so I had to show up. Now, I’m always itching to run on running days and find myself craving it!

5. Question the source
I question the origins of my food sources. How long did it travel to reach me? How many resources were used to create and/or ship that item to me? Where is the plant/animal a native species (fun fact: apples are from present-day Kazakhstan, not native to America!)?

Now, my interests include wild foods, and I’ve recently started experimenting with fermentation (sauerkraut, kimchi, and kombucha).

These didn’t all happen at once; it’s really more like a cascading effect: my interest in exercise collided with my interest in better food options, which led me to start questioning the sources of food, which led me to a community of like-minded individuals! One small question can lead to ten more, and all of it can lead to a healthier, happier lifestyle.

Do you have tips for healthy living? What do you do to move toward a healthier lifestyle?