In order to be able to maintain a healthy diet, it helps to have a wide supply of healthy snacks and teas on hand, especially ones that require little preparation. At the very least, it’s always helpful to be aware of different products you can try out in the future, whenever you feel bored of your usual go-to snacks.
Such products also help satisfy cravings, which prevents temptations from getting out of control. I know I personally love discovering new, healthy snack foods and drinks that require little preparation, so I’m excited to share a list of such products with you below!
As the name of my first recommendation implies, this is a type of edible flower that’s been ground up into a powder. It is often referred to as “blue matcha,” but actually is not matcha at all, as it is not ground green tea leaves.
It is called blue matcha because it has a mild, chalky, sweet taste akin to normal matcha powder, but is slightly milder, sweeter, chalkier and creamier. In contrast, traditional matcha tea (green) tastes stronger, earthier, thinner, and slightly grainier, in my opinion.
Butterfly pea powder can also be used as a healthier alternative to food colouring. It is naturally caffeine-free, so you can have it at any time of the day, without having to worry about whether it’ll keep you awake at night. Green tea matcha, on the other hand, naturally contains low amounts of caffeine, but is much richer in antioxidants. In fact, a study found that matcha green tea possesses 10 times the amount of antioxidants as regular green tea.
Decaffeinated green tea matcha exists but is more expensive and a lot less common.
I recommend making these drinks with hot milk, rather than hot water to heighten their naturally sweet, creamy flavour. A little bit of vanilla extract goes very well with matcha green tea in particular.
This whimsical tea bursts with A TON of flavour, and tastes wonderful in hot milk. It blends many strong flavours together seamlessly, including cocoa, peppermint, lavender, and vanilla. None of the flavours seem to overpower or compete with each other, but there is certainly nothing boring or underwhelming about it.
It reminds me a lot of this pack of tea samples I bought over 10 years ago from David’s Tea called “Sweet Tooth.” This collection of tea samples contained several chocolate-flavoured teas with strong herbal undertones, all of which had a very expensive and indulgent feel to them. I believe this tea is evenbetter than those teas, as I didn’t feel compelled to buy any of the tea samples afterward, even though they were good…they just weren’t good enough, especially for the price—whereas I can’t get enough of Christmas in Paris!
What I also love about this tea is that it is herbal, meaning that it is basically caffeine-free, except for the trace amounts of caffeine in the cocoa shells. So you don’t really have to worry about what time you’re having it at, and can have as much as you want (unless of course you are sensitive to trace amounts of caffeine). I personally love having this tea right before bed, when I’m craving something sweet, cozy and whimsical.
When I first tried this tea at a café, I immediately fell in love with its strong and unique combination of flavours. It’s been one of my favourite teas (tied with “Christmas in Paris”) ever since, as I’ve purchased it 3 times so far!
This is a dramatic kind of black tea that has a distinctive natural sweetness to it akin to cherries, perhaps due to its grenadine flavour (which is actually made of pomegranates). It also has a rich creaminess to it reminiscent of a high quality earl grey blend with vanilla overtones, as it does contain natural vanilla flavour (and black tea). It also contains soft floral accents, due to the addition of calendula and sunflower petals.
This creamy, sweet taste can be heightened with hot milk and a tiny bit of unsweetened caramel extract added to it (I’ve tried adding vanilla extract which is also good, but caramel extract is even better). It’s definitely more on the expensive side, so what I like to do is use half the amount I would normally use for a loose-leaf tea, and I just steep it for about twice as long, since I love this tea so much and it’s hard for me to find teas that I adore so much.
This tea has a flavour reminiscent of chai, but without the addition of black tea and caffeine. This means you can enjoy it at any time of the day and as often as you want, without it affecting your sleep!
It’s extremely cinnamon-y, so if you are a big fan of anything with cinnamon or chai-flavour, and are looking for something that won’t keep you up late at night, then this tea might be for you. It has a strong flavour, especially for a herbal tea, and naturally tastes very sweet, even without any milk (or sugar) added to it.
I drink this tea if I’m craving chai tea, but it’s too late in the day for me to have anything caffeinated or if I’ve already had my fill of caffeine for the day.
These are soooo good! It’s definitely one of my favourite treats to have in moderation, and my mom loves these, too! If you’re into lemon-flavoured things, I would definitely recommend you try these!
This sweet treat has a chocolate-like texture and feel, and taste very flavourful, especially for something that’s entirely keto. Because of this, I like to consume it as a healthy alternative to chocolate – even though it doesn’t taste like chocolate. Nevertheless, consuming this still somehow satisfies my cravings for it.
There are other flavours – even chocolate ones – but this one has the richest flavour and is by far my favourite!
If you really like popcorn, then you might really like this, as it has a light and airy taste and feel that is very similar to popcorn when popped.
To pop it, you can cook it like you would with kettle corn, over a stovetop as you wait for the seeds to pop. Or, you can boil and cook it (rather than pop it) in the same way you would with quinoa (but for about 20 minutes). You can find more detailed instructions on the different ways you can prepare and cook it online.
All in all, it’s a wonderful snack to have on hand for whenever you have the case of the munchies and certainly makes a much healthier alternative to chips!
As I’m sure many of you already know,these berries are a superfood. Known for their high vitamin A and C content, as well as their impressive medicinal qualities, they come packaged and dried, and are sweet without being overly sweet, especially compared to most dried fruits out there. Specifically, they have been linked to supporting eye health, immune function, sleep quality, mental health, healthy skin, and protecting against cancer.
I generally try to avoid eating dried fruits because they tend to be high in sugar, with hardly any nutritional value left. However, I make exceptions for these since they are so nutritious.
You can read more about their benefits, as well as their potential risks and interactions with drugs on the Healthline and Web MD websites.
This roughly translates to “cumin-flavoured wafer,” and is a type of Indian snack that is often gluten-free, as it is frequently made with lentil flour.
It’s kind of like a giant crispy chip, providing you with instant portion control in each serving. Before it’s cooked, it’s flexible like a wrap and then hardens and lifts a bit as you cook it. You can watch a short video of how to cook it here. It only takes a few seconds to cook each one on a pan or in a microwave.
I personally LOVE the cumin flavour, was NOT a fan of the black pepper flavour, and have not yet tried the other flavours. So be wary trying out other flavours – they are also likely to be either ‘hits’ or ‘misses,’ considering the varied customer reviews.
This is a spice mix that originated from India, and is made specifically for the purpose of seasoning “dal” (lentil soup). However, in my experience it tastes great when added to any kinds of beans or lentils just on their own, (not necessarily in lentil soup).
I season my already-cooked beans or lentils with it by simply heating ghee or butter on a pan and then adding the dal masala, followed by lentils or beans. Next, I add some salt and perhaps some cilantro for a simplified version, but feel free to add a lot more spices, herbs, and vegetables to it – such as onion, tomato, and curry leaves – to amp up the taste, as well as the nutritional value of the dish even more.
There are many different kinds of dal masala, but it typically consists of a mixture of the following spices: chilli, cumin, coriander, turmeric, pepper, garlic, cardamom, and ginger, just to name a few. If you’re a fan of Indian cuisine or anything spicy, then I definitely recommend that you give this a try!
Shirataki Noodles in a soup. Photo by Mae Mu on Unsplash
Also referred to as konjac noodles or miracle noodles, these noodles are made out of a root vegetable native to eastern Asia known as “konjac” or “elephant yam.”
These are vegan, gluten-free, and extremely light and keto-friendly, as they can contain as few as 2 grams of carbs and 5 calories per serving.
Despite its incredibly low calories, you do not want to have much more than the recommended serving because of its high fibre content, which can potentially cause digestive stress. I recommend consuming this in small batches, as a side dish rather than a main meal, or passing on this altogether if you are sensitive to high-fibre foods.
They come in a bag filled with fishy-smelling water, but it is actually just normal water that has soaked up the scent of the konjac, which naturally has a fishy odour. However, in my experience, it pretty much goes away after you rinse it.
If you tend to be picky about texture, you may not like these, as a few amazon customer reviewers have noted. Boiling them for about 3 minutes beforehand can improve their texture.
Of course, there is nothing wrong with the occasional binge. However, it can become very problematic if it happens the majority of the time. Regardless of how bad your personal situation might be, I’m here to tell you that significantly improving your eating habits is completely within reach. Changing these habits on the most fundamental level simply starts with becoming aware of your detrimental core beliefs about eating healthier and rewiring those beliefs, which I personally believe anyone is capable of.
It is no secret that our thoughts affect our behaviour, so it should come as no surprise that one of the best ways to overcome detrimental behavioural patterns is by reframing our thoughts.
Unfortunately, it can be incredibly hard to eat healthy when there are so many unhelpful thoughts swirling around in your head constantly, especially if you are unaware of them. However, many of these thoughts are biased, completely false, and extremely unrealistic.
It can be tremendously helpful to recognize and observe these thoughts as they surface, and to immediately question and analyze them critically, especially when they carry the potential to negatively impact our behaviour. Being able to do this regularly may take some practise, but will be hugely empowering to be able to do and may even strengthen ourselves mentally and emotionally, so it’s definitely worth trying out! To help you with this, I have analyzed some of the most common negative beliefs that seem to hold people back from making healthier decisions below for you.
3 Most Common Beliefs Holding You Back from Making Healthier Decisions
. “I’ll start tomorrow.”
We are all no strangers to this age-old excuse when it comes to eating healthy, exercising, and practising any other kind of habit that we’re trying to adopt. But what many of us don’t consciously realize is that any time we use this excuse on ourselves, what we’re really saying to ourselves is: “I’ll eat healthier later in my life, when I’m less busy and there is more balance established in my lifestyle, and/or the conditions are perfect and it is easier to do so.”
I am completely guilty of thinking these thoughts to myself, as someone who has frequently sacrificed on self-care in order to meet deadlines or complete more work.But will there ever be balance? Will our life ever be perfect, or identical to our ideal visions for the future?
We shouldn’t just assume that these ideal days in the future will come and passively wait for them. Instead, we should actively assume responsibility for our choices and current lifestyle now. If we wait for perfect conditions to start doing what we plan on doing eventually, we may waste our entire precious lives waiting, and wondering why we didn’t start sooner.
It is completely okay to start planning how you will make healthier decisions slightly in advance, but actually start DOING it soon after. Never rely on perfect conditions to start doing things that are important to you, because the timing to start will never feel perfectly right.
. “I can just abstain from eating anything unhealthy at home and buying anything unhealthy.” Translation: there’s no need to ever learn moderation.
Let’s be honest; this isn’t the most realistic belief you’ve ever had. Often, you can make your environment work for you, especially in your own home. But sometimes, you will get cravings that you will “need” to satisfy, and that is okay and completely normal. And in many cases, the food that you are surrounded by is completely out of your control.
You may travel, eat out with your friends, or people may buy you very tempting, unhealthy food. When you go outside, you may pass by a bakery that smells absolutely delicious, there may be free pizza offered at work, your spouse/partner might constantly eat unhealthy foods around you, etc.
Being surrounded by a ton of junk food isn’t always avoidable; hence it is much more realistic to learn how to practise moderation than to expect the external world to always be ideal for you and overestimate your will power and ability to completely abstain from unhealthy foods at all times.
Abstaining from unhealthy foods in your own home is great, but relying solely on self-restraint is not the best or most realistic strategy to eating healthy in the long run. At some point, you’ll want to learn how to practise moderation in order to free yourself from this unstable, never-ending pattern of cycling through periods of eating very healthy for a while, and then not eating in a healthy way for long stretches of time, especially if you’re constantly surrounded by people or environments that challenge your will power. Developing this ability will be hugely liberating, freeing, and empowering, as you will generally feel much more in control of yourself when tempted.
. “Being hard on myself helps me to eat better.”
Doing this might work for a little while, but it certainly won’t work well long-term.
We tend to be hard on ourselves because we fear that being kind to ourselves will ultimately lead to us becoming self-indulgent.
However, contrary to what many people believe, constantly shaming yourself generally does not work in your favour, and actually impairs your will power and ability to resist temptation in the long run.
In fact, I find that those who are the hardest on themselves tend to be the ones who struggle with moderation the most, due to having very extreme black and white thinking about what is viewed as okay to do versus what isn’t.
This problematic thinking style often manifests as imposing on oneself extremely rigid rules and expectations regarding what to eat and when to eat. These expectations are often so harsh and restrictive that they are almost impossible to maintain—especially long-term or whenever life gets busier or more complicated.
For example, an extremely harsh and rigid rule that would be difficult to maintain long-term might be: “I’m not allowed to eat anything for the next 24 hours any time I binge or eat something unhealthy.”
Over time, such unrealistically high expectationsactually work against you by maintaining the vicious cycle of binge eating. When an individual possesses such unrealistically high expectations, failing to adhere to them long-term is inevitable. Nevertheless, this makes such a person feel absolutely terrible about themselves, as they believe that failing means that they are self-indulgent, lazy, and undisciplined (due to their black-and-white mindset), and mistakenly assume that the answer to everything is more discipline.
This leads them to place even more rigid, unrealistic expectations on themselves, since they assume they are “failing” because they haven’t been hard enough on themselves. Consequently, every time they “fail”—which occurs more and more frequently as their expectations become increasingly rigid and challenging to follow—their all-or-nothing mentality leads them further astray. It causes them to think, “well I’ve already failed, so there’s no use in still trying—I might as well allow myself to cheat for the rest of the day since I’m so pathetic!” This cheat “day” then turns into at least a week or two (but often longer).
Having an all-or-nothing mentality about success and failure—resulting in not allowing room for making mistakes—prevents people from ever developing the ability to efficiently bounce back from binges and practise moderation. Instead, it causes them to perceive failure as a fixed, final outcome, and so they often view mistakes or failing as reasons to give up on trying altogether, since they’ve “already messed up”, rather than recognizing them as opportunities to try again (which is really any moment).
People continue this vicious cycle of binging, failing to ever acknowledge the fact that being harsh on themselves actually makes things worse, and that they would be far better off long-term if they were kind and patient with themselves, allowing themselves time and space to “fail” as they learn to develop the skill of moderation and maintaining a healthy balance. It is so important to recognize that failure is inevitable, especially at first, since no skill can ever be developed sufficiently right away.
As cheesy as it may sound, self-love is ultimately what will allow us to keep trying, even when we don’t like what we see, go through a rough patch, feel unmotivated, and/or want to give up.It provides us with faith, grit, drive, and determination, as it is the part of ourselves that ceaselessly wants the best for ourselves and wholeheartedly recognizes our potential, so it never gives up trying to reach for it. It NEVER gives up on ourselves because it views situations and circumstances from a very wide and clear perspective, perceiving setbacks or difficulties as small experiences that are all necessary parts of our journey to achieving self-mastery.
So please note that being able to practise moderation skillfully might take some time, and try to be as patient with yourself as possible in the process. It may take an entire lifetime to learn how to practise it according to your standards, but I believe your health will still thank you in the long run and you will be far more proud of your progress if you treat yourself in a more loving and compassionate way, as long as you keep trying.
While the following points are discussed within the context of physical health, they really are relevant to almost any facet of life. All these negative beliefs are akin to the kinds of detrimental beliefs anyone might have when trying to achieve nearly anything, whether it’s adopting a healthy lifestyle, succeeding in a career pursuit, etc. Ultimately, by becoming aware of the logical flaws that exist within our deeply held beliefs, as well as by being kinder to ourselves, we can shift our mindset into a state conducive for success.
What kinds of false, negative health beliefs have you discovered within yourself?
I firmly believe that leading a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to be as hard or as daunting as most people make it out to be.
With the help of the internet — which contains a plethora of priceless information, advice, and research on how to overcome most problems people face — as well as a bit of creative thinking and habit formation, I truly believe we can always come up with clever, easy, and simple solutions to the problems we face, especially when it comes to leading a healthier lifestyle.
I’ve definitely struggled with healthy eating and committing to a regular exercise routine myself, but over the years, I’ve significantly improved in these ways, using a few simple and creative tips and tricks, which I share below:
For Healthier Eating:
Eat healthy foods first. This might seem like an obvious suggestion, but it’s surprising how few people actually do this when it would really help them.
Often times, no matter how pure our intentions to consume some healthy foods are, when we allow ourselves to give into temptation right away, the healthier foods we initially planned on having will seem dull and boring in comparison. As a result, we’ll not want to eat any of the healthy foods anymore. Or, we’ll unintentionally have more than one serving of the unhealthy foods, especially if we’re hungry, until we no longer have any room left for the healthier foods and then decide not to have them.
We may even tell ourselves that we’ll do this “just this once,” when it ends up being the way we handle our cravings the majority of the time. So, by following the above suggestion, you can avoid experiencing this altogether. Also, by delaying instant gratification in healthy and realistic ways, you will likely be more committed to doing this long-term and will develop more discipline. As a result, practising moderation will get easier over time.
Place the amount of junk food or dip that you intend to eat on a separate plate or dish (and save the rest for another time), rather than eating it directly from its packaging.
Before you start eating anything, put the rest away so that it isn’t as convenient to grab more, which will reduce the chance that you will grab more. But even if you do grab more, remember that it is okay (we all do this sometimes, we’re human), and just do the same thing all over again—place the amount you want on a separate dish, and then put the rest away, out of sight, before you start eating it.
This strategy works great because it allows you to not just rely solely on will power to signal when to stop eating something unhealthy. While it is important to learn how to listen to inner bodily cues and develop strong will-power, relying on these strategies alone to stop you from eating too much junk food all the time aren’t the best methods to depend on long-term, as people tend to be unrealistically optimistic about these abilities. However, with the suggested method, you now have the added visual cue of the amount of junk food remaining on your plate to signal how much of it to eat.
Add a versatile kind of leafy green (e.g., spinach) underneath your food (as shown in the image below). This will increase the nutritional content of your meals. Also try adding a bunch or small handful of spinach to smoothies – you won’t taste it (unless you overdid it).
Have a wide supply of delicious and fairly healthy seasonings, sauces, and condiments at your disposal to quickly jazz up healthy meals and snacks (especially bland vegetables!) in a pinch. It is incredibly helpful to have a wide selection of this to 1) satisfy various cravings and 2) help you whip up a healthy meal or snack in little time and effort.
Similar to my last point: sneak as many herbs and spices into your foods as possible. You would be surprised how much more antioxidants can be added to a dish with the help of a few extra spices and herbs. For example, I like to add a bit of turmeric to any savoury food I’ve added pepper to, since turmeric has a fairly mild flavour for a spice, as well as powerful nutritional benefits. As nutrition expert Jolene Hart explains in her book Eat Pretty Every Day(Amazon) on page 207:
“A few shakes of turmeric add important beauty benefits—including a reduction of inflammation and a dose of powerful antioxidants—to any meal thanks to its potent phytochemical curcumin. But if you remember to season with black pepper as well, you’ll increase the amount of curcumin available to the body by a whopping 2000 percent. Even a pinch of black pepper does the trick, to more completely nourish your beauty and your health.”
– Jolene Hart, Eat Pretty Every Day
On a related note, read 1 page of Jolene Hart’s book Eat Pretty Every Day (from Amazon) for a paragraph of health-related inspiration each day of the year “for nourishing beauty, inside and out.” Definitely worth the purchase in my opinion.
Keep a list of healthy snack alternativesfor any kind of craving in highly visible areas, such as on your fridge, cupboards, or anywhere else where you can use a powerful reminder of what other foods you could have to satisfy cravings in healthier ways.
Also keep a list of your favourite healthy, quick, and easy meals to make in highly visible areas (e.g., on your fridge, etc.). Doing this can reduce how often you feel compelled to eat out when you’re feeling tired and you think about how much effort goes into cooking in general, since these meals will ideally involve very little effort and time.
Keep healthy foods highly visible and unhealthy foods out of sight. Because we have the tendency to eat what we can see, as well as what we think about (and we think about what we can see), it is ideal to regularly re-arrange foods in your fridge, cupboards, pantry, and elsewhere so that your healthier foods remain highly visible at all times. Doing this will reduce your chances of forgetting about them, especially when an unhealthy craving strikes. You’ll also want to keep unhealthier foods out of sight as much as possible so that you’re not constantly reminded of them, as that can re-ignite your cravings.
Drink Lots of water. This is another one of those basic, but great tips we hear everywhere and agree with, but never actually put into practise, even though it could really help us! Ideally, strive to drink 1 cup of water before each meal, and another cup (or 2) after meals. I started doing this recently and it has really been a game changer for me. After doing this, my desire to eat junk food after meals is significantly reduced – I have no idea why I haven’t done this before!Also, always bring lots of water with you, wherever you go, and always keep it near you, in highly visible areas at home. You can store the water in a visually appealing bottle, pitcher, glass, or jar, to make drinking seem more compelling to you. You can even try flavouring your water with different fruits, herbs, vegetables (e.g., cucumber), edible flowers, or herbal teas to make the act of drinking water seem a bit more tastey, interesting, and easier to remember to do.
Prep a few simple, healthy snacks in advance or keep a constant supply of ready-made ones available. For example, if you like veggies and dip, always having a healthy dip on hand, such as hummus, and a few veggies, can be extremely helpful. Make sure there is something prepared for both sweet and salty/savoury cravings. I have found that prepping snacks, such as by simply chopping vegetables beforehand, dramatically increases the chances that I will eat them.
You can even do this for foods that can be eaten as-is and hence don’t really need to be prepped (e.g., by chopping apples, slicing strawberries, etc.), if doing so will make them appear much more appetizing to you, as that will also improve your chances of eating them.
Prep aspects of your meals in advance or purchase a few ingredients that will make cooking meals a little easier and more convenient to do (i.e., shredded cheese, cauliflower rice, minced garlic, etc.), especially if you hate cooking. While these kinds of foods tend to be more expensive, creating a meal with such ingredients yourself is still much cheaper than eating the same kind of meal at a restaurant would be, and might even still be cheaper than fast-food! I also like that cooking with these kinds of ingredients often makes the cooking process significantly less messy (and obviously quicker). Personally, I know I tend to be thankful whenever I purchase these kinds of ingredients.
But you can also try making these conveniences yourself, in advance of the cooking process (i.e., by shredding a big batch of cheese, creating zoodles, peeling vegetables, etc.), to save money as well as time in the future to actually make the meal. I don’t like to cook entire meals in advance because I highly value the freshness of recently-made meals, so I prefer to leave the actual cooking process to the end, and will instead just prep the vegetables and any sauces in advance (if I know they’ll last well in the fridge for a few days).
Similarly, wash produce as soon as you return home from grocery shopping, so they’re ready-to-go as soon as you want to eat them.
Even though washing produce is such a quick and easy thing to do, if you are tired enough, you won’t do it when you want to eat your produce. You may even opt for junk food instead simply because it’s more convenient to eat, but if we can simplify all the steps involved in preparing produce and healthy snacks/meals in general as much as possible, then we are much more likely to maintain healthy eating habits over the long haul, despite how we might feel in a given moment.
It is so important to never assume that you will always have abundant energy, time, and motivation to do these seemingly simple steps, so if we fail to plan for the worst, then we plan to fail, since we can’t always guarantee that we will have optimal external and internal (e.g., mental, emotional) conditions 100% of the time.
Avoid multi-tasking while eating, if possible. Multi-tasking can cause you to enjoy the process of eating your food less, since we’re not really paying much attention to it, which can actually cause you to eat more in an effort to try to satisfy yourself.
Similarly, we tend to overeat while watching T.V. and other forms of entertainment to try to make the experience of entertaining ourselves as enjoyable as possible. However, the issue with doing this is that entertaining ourselves often takes up more time than eating does, so if we like to eat the entire time we watch a show, for example, then we will eat as much extra food as we need to until we’re done watching it.
Doing this can definitely lead to regular over-indulgence and should ideally be kept to a minimum. Strive to eat mindfully instead by focusing your attention on the tastes, smells, and textures of your food as much as you can.
Regularly find new, inspiring recipes each week that you’re excited to try out. Try to find at least 1 new recipe to try out each week, and do not gather more recipes than you can make for the week, as you ideally want all the recipes to feel relatively “new” each week, otherwise your inspiration and excitement for them might fade over time, and you may feel less inclined to make or eat them.
Also strive to obtain at least 1 recipe that is quick and easy to make, since you can’t always guarantee that you will have as much time and energy as you may think you do to devote to cooking throughout the week—it is always ideal to be realistic with yourself to ensure that you will be able to sustain a habit long-term.
Become aware of the mistaken, detrimental beliefs you have deep down that prevent you from making healthier decisions, and reframe your thoughts about them. You can enhance your awareness of them and the inherent biases that they are based on by reading my post about them here.
Do a few reps of at least 1 kind of exercise every day(squats, lunges, sit-ups, etc.), ideally in the morning. This will ensure you won’t forget to do it throughout the day. For example, every morning I do 60 bicycle reps, since I really enjoy this kind of exercise and my stomach is my “problem spot,” but feel free to choose a different kind of exercise each day for more balanced muscle development. Doing something, however little it may be, is certainly better than doing nothing.
Get in the habit of moving during breaks in-between your work sessions. This can be as simple as doing some light stretches, and there are many that can be done while sitting (e.g., if you’re in an office setting).
The goal here is to learn to do this spontaneously during any short gaps of time (e.g., while cooking, being on hold during a phone call, etc.), without needing to constantly remind yourself to do this. Doing this can potentially provide you with so much more energy and physical activity throughout the day, WITHOUT trying too hard. You can try setting alarms or reminders on your phone to remind you to keep doing this at first, until it becomes an automatic habit that is seamlessly interwoven into your everyday life.
Take the stairs, and walk or bike wherever possible, of course.
Use either a full-sized exercise bike or a mini exercise bike (i.e., for underneath a desk). Mini exercise bikes (Amazon) are great if you love to multi-task and maximize your productivity, as long as you have a tall table or desk to put it under, since most desks and tables would be too low to use these without hitting your knees on them.
However, if you intend to use it while listing to audiobooks or watching T.V., then this is not a problem at all, especially in tighter spaces, or if you just want to keep it conveniently stored under a desk. But if space is not an issue for you, then it might be better to use a real indoor bike (Amazon), as they often have a greater range of motion and more resistance levels to work with which will offer you a better, more challenging workout. You might even be able to find some bikes that come with mini desks attached to them, which combines the benefit of being able to do work while getting a better workout (compared to mini bike).
Indoor bikes—both mini and large ones—are great for improving mobility, if that is an issue you struggle with. Compared with treadmills, bikes are often much more affordable, while also being significantly more gentle on the joints, which is why I actually prefer them myself.
Only challenge yourself to workout for 5-10 minutes or so, WITHOUT changing your clothes (once those 5-10 minutes are up, you can always workout for longer, if you feel up to it). I do this whenever I feel extremely lethargic and am in dire need of energy. When you feel this way, even changing into workout clothes can feel like it requires a ton of energy, which can serve as another obstacle that significantly reduces the chances that you will actually workout.
Oftentimes, the hardest part of doing any task is simply STARTING it, and hence requires a disproportionate amount of motivation and effort to do. As my mother would always say, “95% of the work is starting it.”
If you remove the mental pressure to change into exercise attire, then you are essentially removing a barrier that is preventing you from working out, which removes a step involved in the beginning stage (where most of the “work” lies, as it requires extra motivation and effort). This makes the concept of exercising seem much easier.
Also, as healthy as it is to sweat, sometimes you don’t want to get too sweaty for various reasons (e.g., if you won’t have time to shower afterwards, if you have plans afterwards and don’t have time to shower beforehand, you don’t want to make your clothes smell like body odor, etc.), which can become yet another obstacle that prevents you from working out. However, the great thing about working out for only 5-10 minutes is that you probably won’t sweat as much, or you can control how much you sweat by simply stopping as soon as you start to sweat too much.
Ideally, you want to pick some form of physical exercise that is somewhat convenient and simple to do, and isn’t excessively challenging, to alleviate some of the pressure involved in working out (you can always make it more challenging after you’ve already started doing it or you can do high-intensity workouts separately, in addition). You certainly don’t want the concept of working out to feel too daunting and intimidating, as that will only dampen your motivation and attitude about it over time. The idea here is to make exercising seem as simple, realistic, doable, and pleasant as possible to improve your prospects of sustaining a realistic workout routine over time.
The way I personally like to spend this time is by dancing, but of course choose whatever appeals to you. If you also like dancing, you can find lots of fun dance workouts on YouTube. My favourite YouTube videos for dance workouts are on growwithjo’s YouTube channel, which is what I’ll often do for only 5-10 minutes, as suggested above (even though her videos are often 25 minutes or longer), to simply overcome my mid-day slumps. I would imagine that doing her workouts with a friend would be very amusing and fun (but I haven’t tried this), which leads me to my next point:
Try new sports and forms of exercise with others, or physical activities that you haven’t done in a long time. This can be a productive way to bond with others, while allowing you to get some exercise in a fun way. Ideas for novel sports to try include: tandem biking, tandem kayaking, rock-climbing, attending a trampoline park, hiking, white-water rafting, doing a marathon, etc. Make a list of activities you always wanted to try or miss doing and pick at least 1 new activity to try each month.
What are some tips and tricks you use to help you eat healthier or exercise more? Let me know in the comments section below!
To state the obvious, wasting food is never fun. It has been predicted that there will be extreme food shortages in the next few decades, and being aware of this only makes wasting food feel even worse.
When food spoils, you aren’t just annoyed about having to waste it when not everyone has food, but you are also resentful about wasting the money you used to pay for that food, making it a pet peeve for almost anyone.
To reduce the occurrence of this unpleasant experience, it helps to first know which factors affect the lifespan of foods, which I have listed below.
Foods parish faster with increased exposure to the following factors:
Heat
Oxygen
Moisture/humidity
Light
Spoilage bacteria, of course
With this knowledge, we can reduce food waste by exerting more control over these factors by storing all foods in airtight containers or ziplock freezer bags (to reduce exposure to oxygen, moisture, and spoilage bacteria), and/or storing them in the freezer (to keep them cold and away from light). Additionally, regularly cleaning out your fridge and wiping down all surfaces (ideally with something gentle, natural, and CULINARY SAFE) should also reduce any amount of spoilage bacteria lurking in your fridge, which will likely also benefit your health.
Freeze Food to Reduce Food Waste
Did you know that frozen produce can sometimes be even more nutritious than fresh produce?
Nutrition and health expert Jolene Hart states the following in her book Eat Pretty Every Day (Amazon) on page 199:
“While we often think of fresh produce as the most nutrient-dense option we have access to, frozen produce can actually have higher levels of nutrients than fresh, especially if fresh food travels long distances or sits in storage before arriving at your market. Carrots, apples, beets, and other produce are often stored, unfrozen, in a warehouse (or your fridge) for months, loosing nutrition all the while. Frozen produce—which is often frozen immediately after being picked in a process that locks in its nutrients until you defrost or cook it—is an undervalued beauty food resource, inexpensive and incredibly convenient.”
Foods that freeze well include anything that you plan on making a liquid out of (e.g., smoothie ingredients, soup ingredients, etc.). This is because as these foods melt, release water, and loose their shape, you won’t really notice these less-than-ideal attributes if they are blended into a liquid. Foods that you intend to cook with also generally freeze well since the heat (from cooking) helps evaporate some of the ice that melts off it.
For a list of specific kinds of foods that last well in the freezer, as well as instructions on how to ideally store them in the freezer, please refer to my list below titled “Foods That Freeze Well & How to Store Them.”
Generally speaking, most foods last fairly well in the freezer for up to 2-3 months.
Be sure to label all foods with the date it was added to the freezer so you know when to ideally use it up by, before it’s likely to become freezer-burned and loose some of its nutritional value. Also strive to freeze produce at their peak ripeness, for heightened nutritional benefit.
Other Actions to Take to Reduce Food Waste:
Purchasing produce with the stems and/or roots intact help to preserve them.
Buy fruits and vegetables that still have the stems and/or roots intact. This keeps produce fresh for a longer time, leading to less food waste.
Recognize which fruits and vegetables you repeatedly buy, just out of habit, thinking that you’ll use it but it always goes bad. Say “no” to these foods, at least for a short while, unless you actually plan on using it for a specific recipe. For me, these foods are cucumber and avocado, simply because they’re so versatile.
I also always feel tempted to purchase packaged avocados because they are generally much cheaper for the amount you get, then purchasing them individually. But if I only use up 2 of them, then what is the point? It would have been cheaper for me to have just bought 2 individual ones (not to mention less wasteful), but it is so easy to overestimate how much healthy food you’ll actually end up eating, thinking that each time will be different. I know people who do the same thing with lemons and limes, as they, too, surrender to the temptation of buying them in bulk, when they almost never use more than 2 or 3 of them.
Plan your snacks/meals in advance, prior to grocery shopping. This will enable you to know exactly what to buy and how you intend to use it, so that you don’t buy too much food. Try to plan meals and snacks that require many of the same ingredients, to ensure that they all get completely used up in a timely manner.
Become mindful of the quantity or volume of produce you tend to actually consume each week (or until your next shopping trip), and try to only buy that amount of produce for every shopping trip. You can become aware of this by keeping track, in-between shopping trips, of how much food you bought, which foods spoiled, and the quantity of foods that spoiled, as well as which foods and how much of those foods were consumed.
For example, the amount of produce I often purchase on a bi-weekly basis includes the following:
5-7 handheld fruits, such as apples, pears, or peaches
1 other kind of fruit, such as grapes or 1 batch of bananas
1 kind of leafy greens (e.g., spinach), 1 large batch of a vegetable (e.g., tomatoes), OR 1 larger kind of vegetable, such as squash, eggplant, or a small pumpkin
2-3 of a smaller kind of vegetable, such as cucumbers or zucchini
1 more small kind of vegetable—for the sake of adding additional flavour to foods, such as an onion
Wipe down and air out your leafy greens, as well as the containers they come in, to remove as much moisture as possible. Or, if they came in bags, replace the bag with a dry one. You can also loosely wrap a dish towel or paper towel around them (inside the bag or container they’re stored in) to keep them as dry as possible from condensation. I got this tip from my mother, who airs out and wipes the wet parts of her spinach each day (since it goes bad so quickly), and loosely wraps a paper towel around it. These are also great tips to follow with herbs like cilantro or parsley.
Buy produce that comes in an ideal size for multiple single uses, if possible (e.g., mini cucumbers instead of English cucumbers). Don’t you hate having half-eaten onions, cucumbers, etc.? As I’ve explained above, produce obviously goes bad faster when it’s been cut (open), since that exposes it to more oxygen. Hence, it is better to purchase produce that is smaller in size so that when you use it, it gets used up entirely, one at a time. Doing this instead makes a lot of sense if you only use a little at a time. For example, I often only need 1 mini cucumber for a sandwich. It is far more practical for me to use up an entire mini cucumber (which is the prefect size for what I need it for), rather than a small portion of an English cucumber, as cutting it open would significantly shorten its lifespan. It is better to just use things up right away, if possible.
Foods That Freeze Well & How to Freeze Them
Vegetables:
Cauliflower, broccoli, peas, green beans, carrots (peeled), potatoes, corn, and okra: prep and chop them first for easy, convenient use in the future, and simply store them in airtight containers or thick ziplock freezer bags with as much air squeezed out of them as possible.
Spinach: lying horizontally flat down in a ziplock freezer bag, in a fairly thin layer, with the leaves somewhat spread out, to keep them from sticking to each other too much. Freezing them this way will also make it easy for you to grab an amount, since they will hardly be sticking to each other, allowing you to easily break off any amount of leaves. Squeeze out as much air as possible from the ziplock bag prior to freezing it.
Herbs: same way as with spinach. Herbs that freeze well in my own experience include: oregano, rosemary, and basil.
Other leafy greens may work well, but I haven’t tried this. My guess is that any leafy greens with thicker and larger leaves probably work best.
Onions: like most people, I hate chopping onions, and will often avoid cooking with them because I don’t like that they make you cry. However, if they were already chopped for me and ready to be used, then I would feel much more inclined to cook with it. I also like my onion chopped very finely, which of course means extra chopping and extra crying.
So to make chopping and cooking with it so much easier and tear-free, I will finely mince it in a food chopper (Amazon) or food processor (Amazon) and freeze them in ice-cube trays, ideally ones with a lid to keep oxygen and moisture out as much as possible. The volume of each cube is approximately equivalent to 2 tablespoons of minced onions. Of course label what is in the ice cube tray for easy identification because minced onion, garlic, and ginger can often look very similar to each other when frozen.
Minced ginger and garlic: you can also mince this in a food chopper or processor, but be sure to mince the ginger first so that it doesn’t end up tasting a bit like onion or garlic, which have very overpowering tastes. In between mincing onion or garlic, I would also wash your food processor or chopper so that the taste of each vegetable does not get affected by each other (unless you plan on always cooking with them together anyways).
Place the minced ginger and/or garlic in an ice cube tray, preferably one with a lid. Label it with what it is since, again, onion, ginger and garlic can often look very similar when frozen.
Fruit:
Bananas (peeled), avocados (pitted with the skins removed),berries, pitted cherries, and seedless grapes: simply prep and chop these vegetables and then store them in the freezer, in airtight containers or ziplock bags, with all the air squeezed out. With bananas, I personally prefer to simply halve them because 1) I often only use half of a banana at a time and 2) so that I know exactly how much of a banana I am using for my recipes.
Other:
Milks, creams, or sauces that you don’t use very often with an approaching expiry date. I often only need a little bit of coconut milk or full-fat cream for a recipe, which has led me to unintentionally forget about the rest of it, causing it to spoil. So, freezing the remaining amount makes a lot of sense for me, as the next time I need some, I can simply defrost the amount that is required for a recipe, rather than buying more (and unintentionally wasting it all over again). Store it in ice-cube trays and be sure to label what they are so you don’t get them mixed up and accidently use the wrong kind of milk, cream, or sauce. You can purchase silicone?? ice-cube trays with lids on them (to keep them airtight) here.
Egg whites and egg yolks: separate the egg whites from the egg yolks and mix each with a tiny bit of salt, if you intend to use it for a savoury recipe, or sugar, if you intend to use it for a sweet recipe, as this will help to preserve the texture of the eggs.
You can store them in ice cube trays with larger cube sizes (or regular ones if they fit), or containers that are the right size for being airtight. If you usually cook with multiple egg whites or egg yolks at once, then feel free to store more than one together in the same container, but remember to label how many there are in it. I normally only need one egg yolk or egg white at one time, so I personally prefer to keep each one separate from each other.
Fish and other forms of meat: I’m not too familiar with the ideal way to do this, as I am pescatarian, so you can read more about how to ideally store them in the freezer here. But as with anything you freeze, be sure to store your meat in airtight ziplock freezer bags or containers.
Bread: in a thick bag and perhaps double-bagged to protect it from freezer burn, with parchment paper in-between each bread slice to prevent them from sticking to each other. If the bags aren’t transparent, label what’s inside so that it doesn’t get forgotten.
I personally believe that one can never get enough self-love and care. Often, people understandably confuse self-love or self-care with selfishness, when there is certainly a difference between the two.
When looked at from a wider perspective, one can clearly see that selfish self-indulgence doesn’t benefit anyone, including ourselves, and especially not over time. It is also addictive.
In contrast, genuine self-care is not an addictive act, nor is it harmful to ourselves or others in any way. On the contrary, consistent self-care helps us to altruistically maintain the capacity to truly help others and continuously treat them well, while also truly improving aspects of ourselves (e.g., our state of mind, our feelings towards others, etc.) in the process.
The very best parents, friends, and caregivers that I have ever known all happen to be those who perform the most self-care, namely engaging in practises that mostly benefit the mind, emotions, and spirit.
The reason for this is clearly illustrated in Arianna Huffington’s quote:
“If you take care of your mind, you take care of the world.”
~Arianna Huffington
This explains the simple fact that when we’re unhappy, others are unhappy.
For example, have you ever noticed yourself feeling sad after witnessing the suffering of a character on T.V., even if it’s completely fictional, as silly as that might sound?
Or, have you ever noticed yourself feeling depressed or drained after you hear about something terrible happening to someone on the news, and you carry this feeling around with you for quite some time after that? This negative mood might even impact our perception of others, or the world at large, and how we treat people for a while after that, even if this “only” manifests as an inability to be present around them.
Our behavior, and even our internal thoughts, attitudes, and emotions then negatively impact the mind and behavior of those that we interact with, as they also sense some degree of suffering within us, who then influence the behaviors and internal states of those they interact with, who then pass this emotional domino effect onto even more people, and so on.
This continuous pattern of passing on one’s emotions (and perhaps behavior) continues itself, until it either gradually dies down, or someone who possesses more conscious awareness, mindful discipline, resilience, and self-love—perhaps due to regular self-care—breaks the cycle by instead passing on positive energy, which can be done through something as simple as smiling or holding the door for someone.
This cycle demonstrates the importance, power, and value of self-care, which many people remain completely oblivious to, perhaps because they have been conditioned to believe that self-care is selfish and frivolous. Or, they might believe that they don’t deserve to care for themselves or are unworthy of it, because, again, they have been conditioned to believe that it is a selfish, frivolous indulgence, which couldn’t be further from the truth.
The undeniable fact of the matter is that our emotions—whether they’re good or bad—are contagious. We don’t enjoy seeing anyone suffer (unless someone is very psychologically ill, they might), including ourselves, of course. This is especially the case as we become more conscious of our own suffering and the suffering of others, as we develop greater compassion and love for ourselves and others, causing us to relate more deeply to the pain of all beings.
In this way, we share the wellbeing of the collective, so rather than being viewed as a frivolous, selfish indulgence, self-care should be viewed as necessary and helpful, for both ourselves and for all of humanity.
I think it is absolutely essential to practise self-care, and on a regular basis, too, if we wish to remain healthy emotionally, mentally, physically, and spiritually.
We all need to take proper care of ourselves in order to stay healthy in multiple ways, feel our best, be less affected by environmental stressors, remain kind and helpful to others, and to feel genuine happiness, so there is no shame in devoting a specific amount of time each day to self-care.
While most people seem to think that our happiness has everything to do with how favourable our external circumstances are, it actually has everything to do with the quality of our thoughts.
It doesn’t matter how great our life seems to be externally—if we don’t work on improving our mind, then we won’t be able to truly appreciate anything. At the very least, everything will bore us very quickly, no matter how “perfect” our life might appear to be to the outside world.
Since it is impossible to constantly avoid unpleasant external situations, as they are not always within our control, the Buddha has famously said, “It is foolish to guard against misfortunes from the external world and leave the inner mind uncontrolled.”
After all, our entire experience of life gets filtered through the mind, and our mind is the only aspect of life that is completely within our control.
Additionally, we need to be in an optimal state internally to be able to see situations clearly for what they are, without allowing conditioning and our own biases and preconceptions colour our view of the situation at hand. We will also be better equipped to help others from this higher perspective of non-judgemental, understanding, compassionate, and loving openness.
For all these reasons, I believe it would be ideal for most people to try to work some form of self-care into their schedule on a daily basis. If it’s not possible to do some form of self-care every day, then even doing it on a weekly basis is better than nothing and truly does make a difference.
However, there are so many creative ways to work different forms of self-care into our routine on a daily basis, making it very possible for us to be able to do it on a regular basis.
For example, if our work isn’t too far from our home, we can try walking or biking to work. Or if we commute via public transit, perhaps we can devote the time we commute to a form of self-care, such as journaling. And waiting in line for something can be utilized as an opportunity to practise mindfulness.
In fact, I firmly believe we can potentially practise mindfulness during any activity, anytime or anywhere. I also believe that if we look hard and honestly enough, we can find plenty of gaps (like the ones I just mentioned above—e.g., during commutes) in our schedule that can potentially be used for such purposes.
Below is a list of the most effective—yet surprisingly financially accessible—forms of self-care that exist to my knowledge, as they all hold the tremendous ability to help one physically, mentally, spiritually, and emotionally.
Meditation, yoga, or other mindfulness practises:
As I’m sure many of you know, there are countless reasons why you should meditate, as it has been shown to greatly improve mental health, mood, self-discipline, self-awareness, the digestive system, lowers blood pressure, reduces fears, and alleviates insomnia, just to name a few.
In fact, it might even be the most potentially advantageous self-care practise that exists because it seems to hold the potential ability to help you in every possible way.
However, many of us are less inclined to turn to meditation when we are in need of it the most because of the physical nature of the reality we live in. In a world where only tangible things seem to be real, it can feel as though we aren’t really doing anything for ourselves when we meditate, as it is not a physical form of self-care.
For example, pouring ourselves a drink or two to “calm our nerves” in the moment might feel more proactive than the thought of meditating, but it’s definitely not the best long-term solution to easing away our stress.
When things go wrong or we’re simply unhappy, we often feel obligated to do something active, physical, and concrete to correct our situation. Since meditation is not something that we think of when we hear those words, the thought of meditating might sound very unproductive, silly, or even pretentious to some.
The truth is, most of the problem lies in the suffering derived from the problem, and less so from the problem itself. If our problems didn’t cause us any suffering, would they really be considered problems?
Suffering itself is completely internal, so it should come as no surprise that one of the best ways to overcome it is through a method that is also almost entirely internal—meditation. While meditating will not fix the problem that exists in the external world, internally, it can do wonders to work through and reduce your pain, allowing you to become better equipped to handle problems externally, and with greater resilience, too.
If you do not know how to meditate yourself, there may be meditation classes offered in your area. There’s also plenty of meditation apps available, many of which are free (but may also offer a premium version).
My personal favourite app to use is Insight Timer, because it has thousands of different kinds of meditations, all of which are organized into different categories, including: guided meditations, sleep meditations, music meditations, meditations for anxiety, etc., and it is FREE (but also offers a paid, premium version with additional features, which I will get to in a moment).
Additionally, it has a search engine function, so you can find the exact kind of meditation you want, depending on your mood.
These meditations are rated and reviewed by participants who have tried them. These ratings are clearly visible to anyone, so you can clearly see from a distance how much others like it, if it’s what you’re looking for, and if it is even worth your time.
In the premium version, you are able to sign up for meditation courses and can download as many meditations as you want, allowing you to listen to them offline (without an internet connection), at any time.
Journaling:
I cannot stress enough how beneficial journaling has been for me. It has given me such a greater level of clarity and understanding of myself, as well as the world at large, which has enabled me to grow tremendously in so many ways. Additionally, it can serve as a powerful emotional outlet that simultaneously allows you to express yourself creatively in a completely safe and non-judgemental place.
In this way, a journal can almost act as a wonderful friend that is always there for you when you need it the most, and relentlessly accepts you unconditionally for who you truly are. The truth is, this wonderful friend is actually you—your highest, most loving self, which you can potentially become well-acquainted with through this process.
Understandably, not everyone is very comfortable with exposing their vulnerability. If you’re one of these people, remember that you can always write as little or as much as you want—you are the boss, and no one ever needs to see it. You can always add to it later or even destroy it right after, if you wish.
Physically spending time in nature, looking at nature imagery (through pictures or a window), OR listening to nature sounds:
One of the many things I learned about back when I was a university student that really stuck with me were the incredible psychological and physiological benefits associated with spending time in nature, or simply feeling as though you are in nature.
One remarkable statistic that blew my mind is the following, reported by Dr. Joe Dispenza:
“Listening to two hours of nature sounds a day significantly reduces stress hormones up to 800% and activates 500-600 DNA segments known to be responsible for healing and repairing the body.”
~Dr. Joe Dispenza
In fact, even just looking at pictures of nature can be highly advantageous, as a Swedish study finds. Specifically, it showed that “heart surgery patients in intensive care units could reduce their anxiety and need for pain medication by looking at pictures depicting trees and water.”
Similarly, a study examining the effects that nature views from a hospital window have on patients who just had abdominal surgery found that those with a view of trees recovered faster and with less complications and pain medication than those faced with a view of a brick wall.
These are incredibly useful facts to be aware of, as they show that you don’t even necessarily need to be outdoors to enjoy the powerful benefits of nature. They demonstrate that the benefits of nature are so potent that even just simulating or viewing small aspects of it in some form can significantly help you in a number of different ways.
Of course, if you can spend time in nature directly – by actually going outside – then that’s even better!
Unsurprisingly, spending time in nature has also beenlinked to an improved mood and mindset, an increased ability to pay attention, inhibit impulses, and delay gratification, as well as a lowered rate of behavioral disorders and mental illnesses in general.
Exercise:
Besides its obvious physical benefits, exercise also improves mental clarity, memory, and brain function in general, boosts mood and energy, enhances sleep quality, nourishes your skin, and decreases stress. You can workout outside to combine the benefits of exercise with those associated with spending time in nature to get the most out of your time.
Practising gratitude:
This can be done mentally, verbally, or via journaling, and can instantly put you in a good mood. For this reason, I like to practise gratitude in the morning (along with my other morning rituals), to put me in a good mental space right away before I start my day.
One very simple way to do this is by verbally stating what you have been feeling grateful for lately to someone you live with over breakfast, or as you’re preparing it. When doing this, try to muster up as much reverence as you possibly can for at least one thing (quality over quantity is key), in order to benefit as much as possible from this exercise. In addition, spending some time feeling deep appreciation for every single person you know who will serve you in some way that day is also not a bad idea.
This practise has made me feel appreciative of things that I would initially take for granted or hardly even notice before. I even feel appreciative of things that don’t even seem to be too good at first, as I am reminded that it could be so much worse. I have also noticed myself feeling gratitude for very small, common acts of decent behavior, which I seemingly used to just expect from others before.
For example, when the pandemic was much worse and I had to be out in public for essential reasons, I noticed myself feeling very grateful anytime someone would keep a generously safe distance from me and would follow health and safety protocols. Originally, I seemed to just expect others to adhere to safety protocols out of common courtesy, and would feel nothing when people would do so, even though I really wanted people to follow them in order to protect others, as well as myself.
My attitude about this and so many other unrelated things have since changed due to my daily gratitude practise, causing me to have less expectations (no matter how reasonable they may seem) about how people “should” behave, which has in turn allowed me to feel less affected by the undesirable actions of others. My initial entitlement about having my seemingly reasonable expectations be met more often became replaced with an unconditional acceptance of others, which manifested as a lack of expectations. But when an ideal action does happen, I often experience a strong and expansive feeling of gratitude, rather than the “nothingness” I would “feel” before I started doing this practise.
After doing this for a while, you might just find that your mind is noticeably stronger and naturally complains much less than it did before. As with myself, even the smallest things may make you feel genuinely happy.
You may also find that doing this will become a habit that becomes effortlessly interwoven into your daily life, and greatly contributes to the baseline amount of joy that you experience naturally throughout the day.
This practise definitely does not take too long, and can be done anywhere and at any time, so it’s definitely worth trying out! Again, the more gratitude you can muster up, the more powerful this activity will be for you.
Affirmations:
The concept of reciting affirmations to oneself can definitely feel silly at first. However, I personally think affirmations are great, not just for the sake of manifesting external goals, but also for manifesting internal goals, like improving your state of mind and developing desirable skills, qualities, and traits.
I commit a considerable amount of time to doing affirmations each day, which I wouldn’t do if I didn’t thoroughly believe in their manifestation potential myself.
The entire reason I believe in it so much is because I have personally witnessed the positive differences that they have made in my own life.
For example, here are a couple of affirmations that have greatly helped me to ward off feelings of overwhelm, anxiety, lethargy, and apathy that sometimes plague me from completing the work that I need to do:
When I really tune into my inner nature, I can see that I already possess all the motivation, energy, determination, grit, skills, and other qualities that I need to succeed.
I won’t waste so much time thinking about doing things, and will instead just do them.
Likewise, the mantras I use to inspire and encourage me to maintain healthy eating habits are as follows:
I can and will eat healthy and take care of my body on most days of my life. Taking care of myself helps me to be the best version of myself that I can possibly be. I truly want the best for myself and deserve to glow with radiant health, rejuvenation, wellbeing, and self-love. I deeply value the privilege I have to take care of myself and eat healthy, nourishing foods, which I will gladly honour by consuming such foods the majority of the time.
As you say your affirmations, try to really mean them with a strong sense of conviction, rather than just passively saying them without really absorbing what you’re saying. Ideally, you want to try to say them with as much emotion as you can to benefit from them as much as possible. You can even repeat each one a few times, if needed.
My only other suggestion is to try to use affirmations that are at least slightly believable and realistic, otherwise they won’t have the impact on you that they should, and might not even work. This can be done by adjusting the wording of your affirmations until they sound believable by using more general, vague language and qualifiers—such as by replacing the word “always” with “often.”
Read at least 1 page from a book that inspires you in some way every day:
Even reading just a little each day to inspire you—like reading only 1 page or a passage of an inspiring book—can be a great way to keep your spirits up in little time, while exercising your mind and allowing you to potentially learn something useful in the process.
This book offers inspiring information and suggestions on how to achieve your best physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual health “for every day of the year to transform your mindset, your routine, and … the way you look and feel.”
The book isn’t too large and each passage is no more than the size of a large paragraph, so reading one entry from this book each day never takes too long, and is well worth the inspiration it offers to the reader.
These entries consist of suggestions for simple self-care practises, recipes, mantras, quick summaries of interesting studies regarding mental and/or physical health, information on the health benefits of various kinds of foods, and so much more.
I genuinely look forward to opening this book and obtaining all her little gems of information and wisdom, as well as renewing my sense of harmony and control over my body each day.
I cannot express how much this book has helped me to maintain healthy habits, especially in regards to my diet. I’ve noticed that whenever my healthy eating habits have gone astray, I haven’t been reading Hart’s book consistently, and as soon as I start reading it again, I immediately start to improve my eating habits and feel noticeably more motivated and inspired to take better care of myself in general.
It’s truly incredible to see how much reading one little passage a day can transform our habits in such an enormous way.
Even as I’m writing this, I’m realizing just how tremendously useful this book has been to me, and I hope to pass on these incredible benefits—as well as the inspiration and motivation derived from reading this book—by sharing it with you! Feel free to continue spreading the joy by gifting it to others—it would certainly make a lovely addition to a gift!
Digital detox:
Avoiding something that isn’t healthy or good for us in excess can be just as much a form of self-care as actively doing something that’s good for us. For example, reducing our exposure to digital forms of entertainment (e.g., T.V., social media, our phone, etc.) can be a great form of self-care.
It is so unbelievably easy to get distracted and waste a ton of time on our phone, computer, and T.V. These digital pastimes can also be insanely addictive, leaving us feeling drained and preventing us from doing things that are actually important in the real world or make us feel truly alive and fulfilled.
It can also make ordinary life seem incredibly drab, mundane, and uninteresting, which can make us crave it even more, as a form of instantly gratifying escape and entertainment. Unfortunately, these cravings often only increase the more we give into them.
Even if we only use digital devices once in a while, but end up spending far too much time on them the few times we do happen to use them, it can still feel very draining and even toxic.
This is especially the case if we’re using them primarily for social media, where we are constantly bombarded with various forms of negativity—via subliminal messages conveyed, conditioning, specific people, etc.
Personally, I never feel like I’m living my best life when I spend too much time engaging in these shallow forms of entertainment. Instead, I often feel empty, bored, drained, and an even stronger need for rejuvenation and escape. In fact, whenever I take a break from work and use it to scroll through social media, I almost never feel “refreshed” from that break.
We mistakenly assume that we don’t feel rejuvenated when we’re using social media because we haven’t spent enough time on it, so we think the answer to this dilemma is to spend even more time on it, thinking it’ll make us feel refreshed, when it only burns us out further, and at a faster rate, too.
We associate it with fun and happiness and so we naturally assume that the more time we spend on it, the more restored, and less burned out we’ll feel. As a result, we end up spending more time on it then intended because we’re unconsciously waiting for it to refresh us, but it never does.
So, one form of self-care that can potentially be very mentally, emotionally, and spiritually rewarding—especially for those of you who are more addicted to these technologies—would be to reduce your use of them. By reducing your screen time, you also provide yourself with more time to engage in things that actually matter to you and practise other forms of self-care, in addition to reducing your exposure to the rampant negativity on social media. So by doing this, it’s almost like we’re completing 3 self-care practises in one.
I reduce my exposure to these technologies by using a FREE app for my iPhone and a FREE chrome extension for my computer to track and limit my screen time, which has helped me tremendously to become much more intentional and aware of how I spend my time on these devices. I use RealizD for my phone and Intention on my computer.
Listing your recent achievements and other things you’re proud of (no matter how small they may be):
You can do this on a weekly or monthly basis or whenever you’re feeling dissatisfied or insecure, or even if you’re feeling proud of yourself, and wish to give yourself a little more praise.
Simply read this list to yourself whenever you’re experiencing these feelings, or are craving a little self-love. Keep adding to it whenever you complete something you are proud of.
Some form of expressive art:
This can include visual arts (painting, drawing, sculpture, photography, filming, etc.), improv, singing, dancing, baking/cooking, designing something, writing, and anything else that involves creativity.
If you find it challenging to share your thoughts and feelings with others, and/or communication is not your strongest suit, expressing yourself through some form of expressive arts may be especially helpful for you.
The primary advantage of expressive art is that it allows you to channel your innermost thoughts and emotions into an activity that feels safe to you, instead of allowing them to wallow inside. There is also something so special and freeing about releasing your creativity into the world and producing a physical manifestation of it.
If you don’t know where to start, struggle with creativity, or are afraid it will turn out “bad,” remember that no one has to see it but you, and you can always trash it or repurpose it if you think it’s bad (at least if it’s tangible), such as by applying primer to a painting you don’t like and doing another painting on top of it.
Or, consider hiring an art therapist or an expressive arts therapist to help you (see my next point), if you have the financial resources to do so. All levels of artistic ability (including beginners) are more than welcome.
Psychotherapy, counselling, art therapy, or expressive arts therapy:
If you struggle with severe personal or mental health issues, OR simply wish to receive support from a professional, it might be worth your time and money to invest in some kind of therapy.
I understand that therapy can often be very expensive, so I want to point out that some charities and other organizations might offer some of these services for free. Also, for a much lower price, you can do therapy in different formats, including online, by phone, or via texts.
In conclusion,
remember that what works for someone, might not necessarily be the best practise for another. Keep in mind that it is not selfish to love yourself and treat yourself very well; in fact, it is actually VERY necessary for maintaining a healthy mind, body, and spirit. Treating yourself poorly benefits no one, nor would anyone in their right mind enjoy seeing that.
Most notably, self-careimproves our life, both internally and externally, since it enhances our state of mind, and our mental state creates our external reality; therefore, following a self-care routine is definitely worth the time investment.
What self-care practises do you do? How have they improved your life? Let me know in the comments section below!
I cannot stress enough how awful the COVID-19 pandemic has been for most people in so many ways. So many of us, as well as our loved ones, have become horribly sick or have even lost their loved ones. In addition to that, the pandemic has enormously impacted countless people’s mental health. Businesses have also had to permanently close, due to financial hardship and/or lockdowns, resulting in entire areas being shut down in many parts of the world.
While I am certainly not happy that all this has happened, I do want to share some good things that have happened because of the pandemic.
I am doing this in the hopes of helping people to feel less pessimistic about it, even if it’s only to a slight extent, to help people accept the current situation (regarding the pandemic). Accepting the current situation is going to do a lot more for us than resisting it and living in the past ever will.
Personally, I have found that consistently reminding myself of the following points have helped me tremendously to evade excessively negative states of mind, and I truly hope they will have the same effect for you.
We have become more aware of how we manage our time (and hopefully more skilled at it):
The pandemic has made me much more conscious of where I put my time. Working in the comfortable and relaxing environment of your home requires so much more discipline and time-management skills than working in an already structured environment, like a typical office setting, where there are little to no distractions around us, there are very clear deadlines and task assignments, and we can clearly see everyone else being productive (which motivates us to be productive via social accountability).
As a result of these changes, there is now an increased need for these skills. Without having that additional environmental structure, and unless we develop these skills, it is so much easier to get distracted and remain unfocused in the freeing privacy of your own home.
Having complete control over how we manage our time forces us to have no choice but to become increasingly aware of how we use our time, which blatantly highlights any struggles we might have with it. Whereas in a formal work setting, these areas of struggle are often masked by the many productivity-boosting aspects of the environment.
Hopefully, this increased awareness is resulting in us actually becoming better at managing our time, but even if that’s not the case for most of us, at least we now have a better idea, more or less, of where and how we can improve. While it might not seem like a big deal, possessing this knowledge can actually be a very useful and wonderful sign that we truly are growing (but perhaps extremely slowly!) and are on the right track, as the very first step to lasting change always begins with the simple awareness that there is room for improvement. After all, making long-term improvements in your life doesn’t happen overnight and there is often a steep learning curve involved.
I know I definitely had many days where I would just do nothing, and this phase lasted longer than I’d like to admit. But the important thing is I was eventually able to overcome it, which was just a matter of recognizing my areas of struggle, coming up with small, simple strategies that could help me in these ways, and sticking to them consistently.
For example, I started imposing a time limit on getting ready in the morning, even on days where I had nowhere to go, since I found that I frequently wasted most of my time in the mornings, spending a lot of it either on my phone or chatting with those who live with me.
If you also struggle with time management, you can easily figure out where most of your time is going by using time tracker apps on your phone and/or your computer, to enhance your awareness of your time even more, so that you can become more intentional with it.
On my phone, I use RealizD to track my screen time, which is FREE.
On my computer, I use a FREE screen-tracking chrome extension app called Intention.
We have become more self-aware in general:
Increased time and opportunities to self-reflect have allowed us to become increasingly aware of our internal experience of the world. Specifically, many of us now have a better idea of how we feel about the way we are living our life, if it’s in need of a change, and what exactly we are doing in our life that increases our energy, versus what drains it. Again, this increased awareness—whether it involves discovering good things about ourselves or bad things—is truly a blessing, as it’s a necessary precursor for positive self-transformation.
We are specifically becoming more aware of our relationship with solitude:
What is your relationship with time spent alone like? Does it feel healthy, refreshing, light, natural, and necessary, or does it feel depressing, claustrophobic, heavy, toxic, and empty?
Unfortunately, practically everyone is far too well-acquainted with their responses to these questions, as a result of the increased amount of time spent alone at home.
If your relationship with solitude feels toxic, this may signal a need to work on the quality of your thoughts so that you can enjoy the time you spend with yourself more.
Many people unrealistically expect happiness to be something they can stumble upon effortlessly. However, even those with the most fortunate lifestyles often end up being miserable, as our state of mind has little to do with outside circumstances, and is almost entirely an internal dilemma. The fact of the matter is that everyone needs to constantly work on the state of their mind and spirit to keep it strong and healthy, so there is no shame in giving it the attention it both needs and deserves.
We can tend to our mental health by regularly engaging in self-care practises that nurture our mind, emotions, spirit, and body, which leads to my next point.
We are taking self-care more seriously:
This relates to the last point, as becoming more aware of one’s mental health can emphasize the necessity, importance, and value of nurturing oneself through the practice of self-care. Many people I know are starting to take self-care more seriously because the pandemic happened and they’re becoming more aware of their burn-out, as well as their harmful and negative thought patterns, which they are now seeing need to change in order to improve their quality of life. This might have never happened if it weren’t for the pandemic.
I wrote a post about financially accessible self-care practises that seem to be the most beneficial from a holistic perspective, with a special emphasis on practises that predominantly target the mind, emotions, and spirit, which you can read here.
We are becoming bolder and more courageous:
For many of us, not being in the public eye as much, and hence being exposed to less scrutiny from the outside world, can be quite a blessing. With the greater amount of privacy and time allotted to us due to remote work and more time spent in the comfort and safety of our home, many of us feel more free than ever before to explore and experiment in different ways, whether it’s with starting a new business venture, going on a very adventurous and/or risk-taking trip, or simply trying out new, bolder looks or hair colours.
These changes can cause us to feel more alive, spontaneous, inspired, spirited, creative, and free, as well as in awe of all the abundance, opportunities, and beauty around us, which we might not have noticed as much before.
We are spending more time outdoors:
We are spending significantly more time outside in nature than we normally would because so many places have shortened hours or are closed due to the pandemic, providing us with much fewer options in terms of places and events to attend that aren’t outdoors. This has especially been the case when entire cities—let alone provinces/states, or even countries—have been in lockdown.
This has caused many of us to develop a stronger appreciation for nature. One person I know who never thought he would ever want to go camping now wants to go camping and do outdoorsy things all the time!
We feel more gratitude:
The pandemic has taught us to value and appreciate the little things in life that we may have taken for granted prior to the existence of COVID-19.
Especially when the pandemic was more serious and vaccines weren’t yet publicly available, some of the many things we realized we missed dearly during that time included being physically present at work or in school, dining at cafes and restaurants, and even just being able to touch and be closer to things and people, which enhanced our experience of them (for one thing, it’s definitely harder to hear people through a mask and/or a face shield). Many of us even missed things we thought we hated, like our commutes to work. Luckily, however, most of these things have since gone back to normal in many countries.
We now also feel more gratitude for the things that are still available to us, but are less frequently experienced because of the pandemic. For example, I miss how much longer stores used to be open pre-pandemic, so when I come across a store that has longer-than-normal hours, I tend to notice it and appreciate it more than I used to before. And because stores often close sooner than they did before, we now have to be more intentional with how we plan our time, (as I’ve mentioned in my first point), otherwise we might not be able to complete all our errands in time before places close.
We might have never noticed how much happiness we derived from these so-called “little things” if the pandemic hadn’t prevented us from experiencing them to some extent. So when we are lucky enough to experience them again—especially now that things are slowly picking up and are returning back to normal—our appreciation for them is consciously felt, and on a whole other level, as well.
What aspects of the pandemic have been beneficial to you? Let me know in the comments section below!
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