I have never been an intense new year’s resolution kinda girl. I like to take this time of year to reflect, set new intentions, and put my best foot forward – without the pressure of official “resolutions”. I find setting unrealistic expectations of new habits only sets me up for failure. This is especially the case when it comes to habits such as working out and eating sensibly (sound familiar?). Today, I want to share some small, attainable ideas to start your 2020. These are approachable tidbits that I apply in my day to day life that help me feel my best – both physically and mentally. I hope these inspire you to do the same. Time to get into it!
Disclaimer: This blog post is sponsored by Health Warrior.
All opinions are my own.
Never leave the house without snacks. Be prepared!
Busy is an understatement these days for so many of us. It’s hard to avoid! I am personally always on the go and traveling. I am constantly balancing the activities of social life, work-life and travel. Leading a busy life is not a bad thing. All it takes is a little bit of preparation to set yourself up for success. If you are like me and bring a backpack or large bag with you everywhere – pack snacks! My go-to snack bars for years have been the Health Warrior bars. They are compact but help bridge me between meals. I don’t think I have left the house without one of these Health Warrior bars in years! No joke, if you stop me on the street for a Health Warrior Chia Bar, I will have one! There are two bars – the Chia Bars and the Pumpkin Seed Bars. What I love about these bars is that they are SIMPLE, and taste AH-MAZING. I truly believe that these Health Warrior snacks can help start the “health warrior” in you, this year!
The Pumpkin Seed bars are crunchy and have a base of pumpkin seeds and honey or maple syrup. They have 7-8g of protein and can be enjoyed in so many ways. I actually love using it as a topping or an ingredient in muesli (check out my recipe here). The Health Warrior Pumpkin Seed bars come in 5 flavors! All good – but my fave is the classic Honey Sea Salt.
The Chia bars are chewy (in a good way) and delish! They come in 11 flavors, have 3g of sugar and are a good source of Omega 3s. They are a great snack size, too (sometimes I even enjoy 2 at a time!) My favorite flavors are Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Caramel Sea Salt and Vanilla Almond. You can get a sampler pack here if you want to try more flavors!
Experiment with One New Vegetable a Month.
We all know that eating a lot of veggies is good for us – but sometimes, it can be intimidating to cook with some of them. Take it slow. Each month pick one or two new veggies that you will base a few meals around. This way you can learn new methods of cooking and preparing them. For example, broccoli and brussels sprouts are 2 of my favorite vegetables. Spend a few minutes on Instagram or YouTube and pick out a few easy recipes that look appealing to you and plan to make them. Once you get the hang of cooking these new veggies, it will become less intimidating. The less intimidated we are by cooking more vegetables and enjoying more greens, the more we will do it. See – the small steps!
Commit to One Form of Movement.
I want to touch on exercise because I often see people committing to an “all or nothing attitude” in the New Year that doesn’t get them past January 31st! It is not realistic for most to go from 0 days a week to 6 days a week and taking up spinning, yoga, barre and jogging all at once. My advice would be to pick ONE new form of movement you want to start making a habit. My personal fave is barre. When I started, I tried to get to a barre class 1-2 times per week for a month to make it a habit. If you want to do more as you start your routine, great, but don’t put the pressure on. This way, it is way more likely you will actually follow through. Forming habits, especially with movement, takes consistency! Consistency will not happen if you are overdoing it. Just start slow and small. Eventually, you can build up to more and more.
Add one mindfulness practice to your routine.
Mindfulness practices were a huge game-changer for me in 2019. I started my meditation practice and I started gratitude journaling. The thing is – I did each of those things one at a time and found ways that they work for me in my day to day life. Just like exercise, if you try to do it all at once, you will likely not keep up with it. Start with one. Let’s say it’s meditation. Start by doing 2 minutes every other morning/night. You could just do one minute. Download an app and follow along. Getting in touch with breath has helped my anxiety in tremendous ways. BUT it took me some time to get there. I started small, formed the habit and then expanded from there. I cannot stress how important that is! If meditation is not your thing and you just cannot get on board, try doing something else to keep you mindful throughout the day. That can be writing down 3 things you are grateful for each day, reading inspiring quotes, or even listening to calming music without any distractions. Whatever you choose to start doing, make sure it is something you can sustainably keep up with and embrace with patience each day.
Drink Water Before Coffee First thing.
The first thing I do every single morning is to drink a massive glass of water. And yes, that is before my coffee! This was a habit I set as a New Year’s intention a few years ago, and I have actually not gone one day without it. I put a large glass of water with a reusable straw beside my bed every night. When I wake up, I drink the full glass while sitting on my bed. This helps me start my day hydrated. This has truly been a life-changing habit for me!
That’s all for now! I hope you found these tips helpful and inspire you to start off this year with your best foot forward. Thanks for reading!
Cheering you on! xo, Sari
For more recipes using Health Warrior products – click here!
