Ok so I am going to keep things real. I’ve never had the best eating habits. It wasn’t until literally this year that I have finally decided to make healthy changes to my diet. My eating habits have been terrible. I’ve been indulging in unhealthy foods and overeating on top of that. Recently, I cut out fried foods, processed foods, and most carbs. It’s been a huge change, but I feel great. Taking care of our bodies is important for business. People focus so much on the external things that affect our business, but don’t realize that our mindset and body’s health are just as important.
And it’s super easy for busy entrepreneurs to neglect their own health!
Personally, I have been overdue making lifestyle changes. Working from home sitting in front of my laptop all day plus eating unhealthy and never exercising was not a good mix! I am improving my eating habits and getting my mind right about health – which is why I have asked Brya Bromfield from Brya Bromfield.com to give us some serious advice on how to improve the way that we eat. Let’s learn a bit about changing our mindset and improving our health so that we can thrive in life and business.
Change Your Mindset, Change Your Life: Helpful Lifestyle Changes to Become a Healthier You
I remember in high school when my health and fitness teacher told our class “if you force yourself to eat something enough, eventually you will like it.” I thought she was insane. Why would I force myself to eat something I didn’t like? It didn’t make the least bit of sense.
Fast forward five years and you’ll find a healthier me, craving spinach salads like they were going out of fashion. I ate so cleanly that year that I had 0 cravings for anything bread related after cutting it out of my diet completely and I was actually excited to eat my veggies for lunch! Why? Because I knew that is what my body needed and I changed my mindset about it, forcing myself to eat it and eventually enjoying it.
This may sound crazy or the complete opposite of self-love, but hear me out. If you eat enough of anything, your body will start craving it, right? When people eat too many carrots, they start to turn orange. That’s how our bodies work. (I do not recommend eating that amount of carrots though, unless you want to save money on a spray tan). So, if that is how our bodies naturally work, why not fill them with good stuff that helps them thrive instead of the easy-to-access junk food that we are so used to reaching for?
They say it takes 80% nutrition and 20% exercise to be a healthier you. I can attest to this fact because when I became a healthier me, I had dislocated my knee from volleyball so further exercise was off the table. I ended up losing 50 pounds in the coming months because of my diet change, losing that fat while nearly completely sedentary. Notice I use the term “lose fat” here instead of “lose weight”.
While the term “lose weight” is used so often in our society, it’s important to remember that our value isn’t based off of a number on a scale. I personally prefer saying “lose fat” because that is what my goal is. I have excess fat that is counterproductive to my health. If I weigh 20 pounds heavier but those pounds are made of muscle and I feel great, who cares if I weigh 20 pounds more?
Trust me when I say, I am not someone who practices good self control in most things. Junk food, impulse buys; if I want it, I usually cave even if it isn’t the best decision for me. If I can lose that much weight, so can you. Here are some helpful ways to start your journey:
#1 Change Your Mindset
None of this will be possible until you change your mindset on healthy eating and what you deserve to become the best you.
There were many times that I would negatively self-talk myself into a corner that would leave me sitting on a couch just eating when I wasn’t hungry (another point we’ll get to later).
To be able to become a healthier you, you need to actually believe you deserve it and are worthy of it. Hating the look of your body does not make your journey easier, if anything it holds you back. Try to be positive when thinking of your body. Sure, you may not enjoy the way you look or maybe it’s just the way you feel; but the body can be sculpted both physically and emotionally.
Stop Blaming Others for Your Bad Decisions
Here’s a tough love reality check: many, many people are guilty of blaming some outside source for their failings, myself included.
I often made excuses for my eating habits like “I’m on my period, I can eat junk food”. Sure, my body is intensely craving it because of my hormones and having a few cookies or a bowl of ice cream is okay. Eating 3 bowls or a box of cookies? Not really okay, period or not.
Coddling doesn’t work in this journey either, full stop. You are responsible for your achievements just like you are for your downfalls. No one force fed you that bowl of ice cream or made you skip that 30 minute exercise session. You are responsible for your priorities and taking accountability of your decisions is one of the first things to learn in order to succeed.
#2 Drink Your Water!!!
I can’t even stress how important this is!
I’ve always been a water drinker, even as a kid. Even so, I never came close to drinking the recommended amount of water every day (8 cups or 64 ounces). When you go from not drinking water much to drinking it all the time, 8 cups can seem daunting. It really isn’t once you make a habit of it. Here’s a few ways to get that H2O into you:
- Get comfortable carrying a water bottle around.
○ Find yourself a regular sized water bottle of about 16 ounces, carry this with you and refill it four times throughout your day – expect more bathroom breaks than you’re used to.
- Schedule your water into your day if you find it hard to do naturally. ○ For instance, I have an hour commute to work and would make sure I would drink a full water bottle to and from the workplace, that way I’d only need to worry about drinking two water bottles throughout my work day.
- Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning before breakfast.
○ It will also help you stay fuller and avoid overeating.
#3 Only Eat When You're Hungry (See Point 1)
This ties into the “change your mindset” point above. It is so easy for us to immediately run to the fridge at the first pang of hunger. Don’t.
Instead of immediately going to the kitchen, do a self-assessment of your hunger.
Are you hungry because you haven’t eaten in a while? Are you hungry because you are actually thirsty? Or, a common one: are you hungry because you are bored? I often suffered from the last one just like many others do.
#4 Don't Give In To Cravings
Easier said than done, right? Here’s a little fact for you: you will give into cravings, 100%. We all do and nobody is going to fight you on how good chocolate tastes.
The trick is to forgive yourself when you do give in, and love yourself enough to keep going.
The more you resist the cravings, the easier it is to resist in the future because healthy eating combined with your water intake, is getting rid of all that junk in your system that is making you crave these things.
#5 Give Yourself Room for Mistakes
No one gets this the first time (and if you do, holy heck, good job!).
The trick is to keep getting back on the horse.
There were many times (usually late at night) where I would just binge eat everything in sight. Not exactly conducive to the end goal I was working for, right? At first, I’d often make myself feel guilty for giving in until I realized later down the road…shaming myself wasn’t going to get me any closer to my goal, and it was actually keeping me away from achieving it.
It is important to remember you are nurturing the body of a human being and that includes all facets of that body, physically and emotionally.
You need to be kind to yourself because being kind to yourself is the reason you’ve started this journey to begin with, right? While as previously mentioned, tough love is a helpful asset to have; you have to balance it with remembering you are a human being with human limitations. If you trip up and eat a few more cookies than you were supposed to, so be it. The kindness bit is understanding your fallback and letting yourself be okay with it, the tough love portion is making yourself get back on the horse.
Are You Ready?
I’m not going to lie, this road will be difficult but it’s worth it.
No one can make this decision for you but you, and it’s no one’s responsibility to keep you accountable but again, y-o-u. Starting this journey means starting to think of ways to better yourself and changing your mindset to want to change into the healthiest version of yourself. Your life and body won’t get better or healthier until you decide it will. Are you ready?
About the Author
Brya Bromfield is a freelance content marketer and copywriter for hire. A lover of words and a teller of stories, she loves teaching readers new things through her writing. Her work can be found on her website at https://bryabromfield.com/, her Instagram account @content.you.can.count.on, or on her Medium account at https://medium.com/@brya.bromfield
Ending Notes...
What a great post! It’s so easy to overlook your health and let it decline when you’re a busy entrepreneur or a busy mom, like me! I honestly feel so much better since I started making healthy lifestyle changes – and I am sure that you will too 🙂
Please feel free to comment below and let me know how you are going to take steps to improve your health!
Comments? Questions? Ask them below! I will answer as soon as I can 
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