healthy living – By Justina

Feel stuck in a routine or standstill? Can’t move forward with your goals?

It’s the little things you do that often determine success or failure.

“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then is not an act, but a habit.” – Aristotle

Just like many, when the New Year starts I spend quite a bit of time contemplating what’s next for me, what have I achieved during the previous year and how would I like to better myself. I try to be as realistic and honest as possible – that is the only way this can work, the only way to improve and change your life, steer it in the direction of your choice.

It seems like not an easy task to change yourself. Trust me, I get you. Sometimes, you just gotta do it for you. And if you’re struggling to keep it all together then take a breath and start with this challenge outline of which I found on zenhabits.net :

How to Develop a Habit
Do a 30-day challenge, focusing on just ONE habit.

Write it out on paper, along with your motivations, obstacles, and strategies for overcoming them.

Commit fully, in a public way.

Log your progress.

Remain publicly accountable — report on your progress each day.

Have support for when you falter — either in real life or online.

Reward every little success.

If you fail, figure out what went wrong, plan for it, and try again.

Read full article here

Last year, one of the habits I vowed to myself to start is reading every day. Now, I have a book with me anywhere I go and read (mostly) on my commute which adds to about an hour a day. For then I can’t have a book with me or forget to put it in my bag, I have the Kindle app on my phone with a range of books already downloaded, just in case. Now I feel anxious if I don’t get to catch up on my reading! I try to read a different type of book every time. I alternate between non-fiction and fiction, self-help, historical novels, autobiographies,…

If you don’t read much or at all, this is probably the first habit I would recommend to pick up.

As Todd Henry writes in his article on inc.com:

You can’t draw water from an empty well. Do you take time each day to fill yours? The quality of input that you curate often determines the quality of your creative output. As Steve Jobs once quipped, “creativity is just connecting things”, but to do so you obviously need things to connect.

I encourage you to set aside time each morning or evening to fill your well, to read inspiring or challenging books, to watch videos or listen to talks, or to otherwise fill your well so that you have something to draw from when engaging in your work.

There are a number of new habits I would like to pick up this year but I think I will start with these three:

1. Meditation

It trains the part of your brain that is responsible for willpower and self-control. Basically, meditation gives you the ability to train your mind, be more in control of your emotion, focus on your goals and ultimately – achieve them. Meditation also increases your sense of general well-being which makes you more positive and happier.

2. Excercise

I have an on and off relationship with working out, which, I guess, is not that uncommon. However this year I will make it one of my main priorities to have a more regular and frequent workout routine.

I read somewhere that most people who start sticking to a

fitness regimen will often find themselves adjusting their diet as well

even if they’re told not to. Two birds with one shot sound good to me!

It makes sense because if you’re working your ass off, you’re less likely to eat junk food right after because you know it undoes all your hard work.

Because these two habits basically come in a package together, it requires a lot of willpower to maintain – so if you can make them into full-fledged habits, you’ll be able

to take on smaller habits with ease. The more you train yourself to adopt new habits the easier it gets.

It is also likely that whilst you are working on a new habit, such as exercise and better eating as a result of it, feelings of being tired or foggy are consistently replaced with feeling better with every workout and/or choice of healthier dinner. And if you start feeling better on a day to day basis it makes it much easier to start adopting other good habits. This ability to improve your body’s day-to-day function makes fitness and diet an extremely powerful keystone habit.

3. Trying new things

Keeping your routine fresh will help you stay on track! I am a firm believer of this and whilst working on including more consistent habits of meditation, exercise and diet, I want to make sure to mindfully include new things to mix it everything up.

From cactus water to matcha tea instead of my morning coffee, making your daily routine exciting is the game changer. It’s easy at first to stick to the same regime, but after a while, you’ll get bored. That’s why you need to switch things up!

It takes discipline & motivation.

In order to be motivated, we have to motivate ourselves every single day.

Motivation is like taking a shower.

Remember that every time you feel you are not and go take a motivational shower asap.

It’s up to you how much you’ll achieve, how far you’ll go or how fast you’ll get there.

Love,
Hewnly

Spring is here and days are getting warmer and warmer. That calls for a good, berry-rich smoothie full of summer flavors – to make the waiting for the best season of the year a little bit easier!

All you’ll need is some bananas, strawberries, raspberries, coconut sugar and I also recommend adding some concentrated goodies, like baobab powder or flax seeds, just to make it a super smoothie.

My smoothie for two, packs:
3 bananas,
500g strawberries,
150g raspberries,
2 tablespoons of coconut sugar,
2 teaspoons of baobab powder
and a couple of glasses of water (you can use coconut water or any of milk alternatives as well.

I usually make double portion smoothies, if my boyfriend is around, I share it with him, if I’m on my own, I make it a meal and drink it all by myself! In case it’s too much, just store it in the fridge or freeze it and later enjoy it as a sorbet/nicecream.

Now, how about nutritional values? According to cronometer.com, a double portion (if you manage to drink it!) boosts your vitamin C levels through the top! As well as fiber, vitamin B6 and Manganese. Most vital vitamins and minerals are around 50% of your daily requirements, energy: 761.1kcal (44%), protein: 10.3g (24%) carbs: 190.3g (55%) and Fat: 3.8g (20%).

Not bad, huh? More detailed breakdown and relation to daily requirements, click here. Please note, the parameters for daily requirements are based on vegan high-carb-low-fat diet*.

If you start your day with a smoothie like this, it will give you all the energy you need for the day and then some! I usually have a mono meal** for breakfast and then a smoothie for lunch, about an hour before going to the gym. But it is really your choice and you need to do what feels best for your body!

Love, Hewnly

*I follow this diet quite loosely but keep it as a reference. I’m planning on writing a whole post about plant-based diet/lifestyle soon!
**A meal consisting of 1 type of food, usually fruits like apples, bananas, oranges, etc.

Tag: healthy living

3 Daily Habits to Start in 2018

1. Meditation

2. Excercise

3. Trying new things

It takes discipline & motivation.

Home Wellness Items That Will Make You Zen

1 Clean Air Plants

2 Soothing Scent Candle

3 Zen Sand Garden

4 Relaxation Fountain

5 Himalayan Salt Lamp

6 Succulent Terrarium

7 Amethyst Crystal Paperweight

Summer Berries Smoothie