Balance Your Workouts with Self-Care Using These Healthy Habits

If you’ve kept up your healthy New Year’s resolutions this far into the year, you’re on the road to a healthier you. Maintaining healthy habits takes dedication and determination, but that’s not all. You also need to maintain healthy lifestyle habits and take self-care seriously. You can work out every day, but if you’re not eating right, getting enough sleep and feeding your soul, you can’t truly consider yourself healthy and happy. Think of self-care as the other half of a well-rounded routine. Here are a few key habits to help augment your health regimen.

Get a Healthy Start

Your work day is stressful enough, so the last thing you need is to start it off with a hectic scramble that has you white-knuckled and breathing heavy before you even get to work. So, use your weekday mornings as an opportunity for some self-care. For example, take a few minutes to do deep-breathing exercises to calm your mind and lower your blood pressure. If you’re a morning workout person, follow it up with a good run to get those pleasure-inducing

hormones working for you. Cap off your morning workout with a nutritious breakfast so you’re energized for a challenging day at the office.

Work Your Stress-Relief Routine

Exercise can help in a lot of ways, but you need to find other ways to work off stress. That means making time for activities and hobbies that make you happy. Create a relaxing space where you can read without interruption if you love getting lost in a good book. Or, consider adopting a pet for some loving companionship and fun: it’s a great way to take your mind off your problems. If there’s a hobby you’ve been wanting to pursue or one that you put down, it’s

time to give it a try. Hobbies are a great way to relax and de-stress, plus they can open the door to new passions.

Nutrition

There are plenty of old sayings about leading a healthy life. However, there’s one that’s just as true today: “You are what you eat.” If you’ve exchanged unhealthy high-fat, high-salt foods for dishes with plenty of fiber and protein, you can attest to the truth of that old maxim. If you’re not getting the nutrition your body needs, you can’t maintain a hectic pace every day and remain effective. Keeping your energy up all day long means eating regular, healthy meals — no skipping breakfast and lunch or settling for a quick run through the nearest drive-through for the same old burger and fries.

If you’re short on time, turn to an electric pressure cooker for a quick and healthy dinner. You can cook, brown, boil, and steam your favorite foods quickly and easily. How about some creamy chicken and wild rice soup? A couple of chicken breasts, some wild rice, seasoning (parsley, pepper flakes, etc.), carrots, celery, and onion and you’ve got a satisfying and healthy dinner in under 30 minutes. That’s just one example of a wealth of recipes you can create with tools like a pressure cooker or slow cooker.

Your Gut, Your Mood

Your gut has a tremendous amount to do with your physical and mental well-being. Neglecting your microbiome affects digestion, the immune system, organ health, as well as mood. Following a high-fiber diet and taking a probiotic every day can keep the trillions of microorganisms in your gut in balance, leaving you well-fortified and energized. You can also look to foods like yogurt, kimchi, sauerkraut and tempeh to keep your gut happy and healthy.

Keep Moderation in Mind

Balance is important for good physical and mental health — that includes keeping exercise in perspective and not letting it take over too much of your life. Losing weight is a worthy and healthy goal, but it can quickly become an unhealthy obsession. An exercise regimen can overwhelm your time just like spending too much time at work, so keep a careful watch on how many hours you’re spending at the gym.

Much of self-care can be boiled down to basic good health habits you’ve been aware of all your life. Balanced meals, seven to nine hours of sleep each night, and 30 minutes of exercise a day can keep you in good shape physically and in good spirits emotionally. However you choose to approach self-care, strive to maintain a healthy, mindful balance throughout your daily life.

Written by Shiela Olson

A fitness trainer for five years, Sheila Olson created Fit Sheila to spread the word about her fitness philosophy. She believes the best way to achieve physical fitness and good health is to set and tackle small goals.