Episode 127. Uncovering the 5 Habits of Healthy, Fit Individuals.

Episode 127. Uncovering the 5 Habits of Healthy, Fit Individuals.

In today's episode, we'll be discussing the 5 habits that healthy people have in common. As a nutrition coach and PT, we've seen firsthand how these habits can make a big difference in overall health and well-being. Whether you're looking to make some changes in your own life or just want to learn more about healthy habits, this episode is for you. Tune in to learn about the simple practices that can help you live your healthiest life.

The Habits:

1. They eat a balanced, nutritious diet: Healthy people tend to prioritize their nutrition by choosing a variety of whole, minimally processed foods and paying attention to portion sizes. They also aim to consume a balance of macronutrients (carbohydrates, proteins, and fats) and micronutrients (vitamins and minerals).

2. They stay hydrated: Drinking enough water is important for maintaining overall health and well-being. Healthy people make an effort to stay hydrated by drinking water regularly throughout the day.

3. They prioritize physical activity: Healthy people understand the importance of regular physical activity for maintaining a healthy weight, improving cardiovascular health, and reducing the risk of chronic diseases. They make an effort to incorporate movement into their daily routines, whether it's through structured exercise or incorporating more physical activity into their daily lives (e.g., taking the stairs instead of the elevator).

4. They manage stress: Healthy people understand the importance of managing stress and prioritize self-care activities such as meditation, yoga, or deep breathing. They also make an effort to manage their stress levels by setting boundaries, taking breaks, and finding healthy ways to cope with stress.

5. They get enough sleep: Healthy people prioritize sleep and understand the importance of getting enough rest for physical and mental well-being. They make an effort to establish healthy sleep habits, such as sticking to a consistent sleep schedule, creating a conducive sleep environment, and limiting screen time before bed.

Episode Relevant Links:

• The Ultimate Nutrition Guide for Beginners: https://www.in-situcollective.com/collection/p/the-ultimate-nutrition-guide

• 7-Day Environmental Overhaul: https://www.in-situcollective.com/collection/p/environmental-overhaul

• Reach Your Potential: A Guide to Setting and Achieving Your Goals: https://www.in-situcollective.com/collection/p/goal-setting-workbook
  

• (use code PINEAPPLE50 to get 50% off all shop items for the month of January)

Follow us or contact us here:

• Enquire about online personal training HERE

• Join us on YouTube HERE

• Join our mailing list HERE

• Find us on social media @jack.lgraham @mack.insitu

Check out our guides and eBook shop HERE

Try RecGen Clothing. Get $20 off when you shop with my link. Shop Now.

Welcome back to the Institute Health and Fitness podcast, everybody. In today's episode, we will be discussing the five habits that healthy people have in common as the nutrition Coach NPT. We've seen first hand how these habits make a big difference in overall health and well-being, whether you're looking to make some changes in your own life or you want to learn more about building healthy habits this episode. Is for you. Tune in and learn about the simple practices that can help you live your healthiest life.

00:42

Habits are what make us the people that we are. Literally everything that we do is habit based, and so if you can change your habits, then you can literally change who you are as a person and probably your entire life, really. So we're going to give you 5 habits that most healthy people have in common. Now when I say that we don't want you to go and change everything all at once and try and implement all of these five things because it's likely you'll end up just falling back into your old habits and stay as you are right now. So just take and. Just if you do need help or you feel like you're struggling and you've listened to this episode and you're like, yes, I want to change or I want to do one of these, you can always head over to our website. We have so many resources on habits, habit tracking, habit changing, how to identify habits and the ones that will suit you, all that sort of stuff. So make sure there will be a link somewhere in the show notes that everybody listening can click and continue. Now you continue. Thanks. So just take this with like a grain of salt. Just pick one thing that you think will be the easiest place for you to start and focus on that one single habit until you have mastered it and it is a habit and it is a part of who you are now. Just on the topic of habits and all that sort of stuff, everybody's like it takes 20 days for habit to be routine. Not necessarily everybody's different, every everybody's life. Circumstances are different. So yeah, it might have taken 20 days for your mate to achieve this one goal, to be a habit or whatever it is. It might take you a little bit longer and that is quite alright as well. Ready to get into it? Then let's go. What do you got for? OK, the first one I think is. The most obvious but also very overlooked and that is eating a balanced and nutritious diet. Hmm, so you might not think of your diet as a habit. As such, I think that that is just. In general, people may think that eating a cookie at night is a habit, but. Whatever you're choosing to buy at the shops is what you're going to eat, which is a habit. So if you're just like default, go to the, I don't know,

03:00

cookie aisle. Maybe that's what your diet is made-up of. Hopefully it's not just cookies, but that's a habit, right? So if you can change your habits, right at the very root of. The cause? I suppose then you'll change your the overarching habit of eating a balanced and nutritious diet. And I love this one to start with, because you can pick the **** out of. Everything you ate and you can layer it so many times as well. So you've just said, like, you know, the habit isn't eating the cookie at night, it's going to the shops and buying it. You can even not go to the shops. So you can order everything online and click, click and collect. So you take that out as well so you don't even have to worry about it. So there's just so many things you can unpack with your diet. Yeah. And I think that if this is the point that you want to focus on, then starting at the very. Bottom, I suppose, is the best place to start. Don't just say, OK,

04:48

Don't just say, OK, my habit is going to be to eat a healthy, balanced, nutritious diet, because, one, do you even know what that is? is? How do you get there and how do you do that consistently? So when we say a balanced, nutritious diet, we mean having the right portions of protein, carbohydrates and fats for you and your goals and also. A wide variety of micronutrients, so they're like vitamins and minerals. So also just in that one point, there's like 6 different areas that you could choose to start with. Like, do you want to start with the habit of having more colors in your diet, like more fruits and vegetables? Do you want to start with the habit of having protein at every meal, like. Yes, this is an overarching habit that healthy people have, but also it's important for you to spend time on. All of the little areas So what I would recommend. First, if this is where you want to start, is choosing what you think will be the easiest? So if you want to eat a balanced, nutritious diet, what's the easiest place for you to start? Like? Is it adding one extra vegetable to your dinner plate? Like, do you already go to the shops and you already buy some vegetables, or you already have vegetables delivered weekly? Can you just add one extra 1? And I also think it's important for to build habits. That are daily habits, you know, so don't just decide that you want to build the habit of eating. One healthy meal a week because you don't do it frequently enough for it to become a habit. So think of it as something small, the smallest thing you could possibly do every single day to gradually improve. Your diet, yeah, and probably the most easiest example, and the most recent one I've had is a client trying to change their afternoon snacking window. A lot of us fall into that trap of having a cookie or a. Chocolate bar or whatever in the afternoon in

07:00

that, you know, three o'clock slum type thing. And all I said was have a piece of fruit before you have the chocolate bar or whatever it was and it just you have that bit of fruit. Sometimes you then go to the chocolate bar, but after a while it's only every second day that you go chocolate bar and then you can sort of add in a piece of fruit and maybe a carrot and then all of a sudden that chocolate bar gets further and further away and you're not even buying it anymore so. It sounds silly and simple, but just those little changes do add up overtime. Habits should be silly and simple, right? Otherwise they wouldn't be our habits exactly. OK, the second point is staying hydrated. Also overlooked. Very overlooked. Uh. And I think this is actually a really good one to start with because it's very basic, right? Like the one we just spoke about. There's so many different aspects and avenues you could go down. But staying hydrated is simply drinking enough water and water is everywhere. It's not like. No, no, no. Food, like water, is more accessible than food these days. Yeah, well, maybe not. But in Western society, yeah, you can. Like, there's no reason why you can't drink water. Yeah, so how? I'm very good at drinking water. To be honest, I probably drink too much water, but maybe you can shed some light on how you increase your water intake. In the morning, wake up and have a glass of water. It. Surprises me how many people don't do this, but it's so important. You've just slept, let's just say 8 hours. You haven't had any sort of water for 8 hours. You dehydrate, so your body sweats overnight. You breathe out water when you breathe. If you sleep with your mouth open so all the water is out of your body, you are dehydrated when you wake up, no matter what. So having a glass of water, ideally something with some electrolytes in it as well, however you want to get your electrolytes, whether it's salts, a

09:00

supplement, whatever, having a glass of water in the morning. Easiest thing. Like literally, you can have it on your bedside table, you wake up, smash your water, or wherever you go to 1st. Or you can just make it a habit of getting out of bed, walking in the kitchen, having some water. I know a lot of people will actually have a bottle of water with their electrolyte in on their bench in the morning, so it's just the first thing they see, the first thing that they get attracted to, like their eyesight in the morning. Simple, easy, done. That's right there. Yeah, I definitely. And I think another way like if you can start your morning with water, that's a great way to just start the day in general. But then throughout the day, I suggest to clients that they either one always like get a big water bottle so you can actually see how much you're drinking because you might think you're drinking a lot if you're drinking glasses of water. But then if you can get a water, water that's a leader and you can't even drink one of those a day, then that's just like you. Know where to start at least. Another option, I think people just genuinely forget to drink water. So setting a timer on your phone every two hours or however long depending on the size of your water bottle to go and fill your water bottle. Or get a glass of water. Or just do a water check. Like how much water have I had today? Am I thirsty? Do I feel hungry? A lot of the time when you don't drink enough water you just end up feeling hungry, so that's another super easy way to incorporate. Water. I feel like there's another one that I always suggest, but I just can't remember it for the life of me. Yeah, I was just, I was gonna say the big water bottle. That's probably been the biggest game changer for me and I obviously recommend it to all my clients as well. I was drinking like, what? We go back 12 months now. I was drinking enough water, but same thing. I'd just sort of fill my bottle up like I had a smaller water bottle or a glass and I'd fill

11:00

it up every now and then. Not really. Not really sure how much I actually had the thing. It was enough, but then I got a 2.2 water bottle, so I know if I drank all of that of minimum I've had 2.2 water so. I think seeing a water bottle like you can even get water bottles that have little notes on the side of them as you drink more, it's like good job or keep going or you drink this much or you're hydrated or something like that, just. It's a good, like, reminder to yourself, like, yeah, I can like, it's not that much if you have it in front of you. Like maybe it does look pretty big, like Jack is pretty big, but if you've drank half of it like that, actually wasn't that hard to drink, that amount of water and dehydration does affect your body massively. So if you're putting all this effort into eating the right foods, exercising properly, and you're dehydrated, you might as well not even do those things because your body can't digest the food properly. And it can't deliver the nutrients throughout your body without water. And if you're dehydrated going to workout, same thing, your body can't pump blood around your body to get your muscles moving to get them activated. Your brain works slower, so you're not connected with your body during the workout. So again, hydration actually affects everything else you do. So make sure you put some effort into that. A lot of people will get it wrong and put all this effort into eating right, exercising, and then not drink anything. Yeah, so drink. Be hydrated, that's what. Finish off there. Moving on. The third habit is prioritizing physical activity. So not just exercise, but I would say physical activity in general. So taking the stairs instead of the elevator, sweeping instead of using the blower thingy for the leaves. Just little things like that I think are also habits as well as having a solid exercise routine.

13:00

Yeah, so if you think about it. Like you might go to the gym for an hour, but technically you're probably only working, like actually exercising for 40 minutes maybe like if you take in all the rest times and all that sort of stuff. So you actually physically only moving say 35 to 40 minutes in that hour. It's not a lot, so I've spoken about this before with neat and all that sort of stuff. So neat is all the exercise you do outside the gym, like it's just general activity. But because we are so inactive now, you almost need to put. That into like neat. You almost need to schedule in as in like you just said, I will sweep the pavers outside instead of just blowing them actually need to physically. Think about it and do those activities to increase your daily activities. I have noticed with like friends and stuff that we have that are generally I would say considered a healthy person. They're habits. Like relating to like prioritizing physical activity. If you were to go for a coffee on the weekend, walk to get your coffee or go for a coffee and take your coffee for a walk like. I don't know, they just seem to. I feel like we do it all the time. If we meet with anybody, we walk. Yeah, it's always like a walking date. I know it's pretty common now for people that actually like romantically dating to have a walking date because it's just nicer. You're out in nature, you're getting fresh air. It's a lot easier to talk to another person when you're walking. There's just something about it. But just incorporating it like. You want, like we said at the start, a habit is who you are. So be that active person. Be the person that invites friends for a walking coffee date. Like. Be the person that always takes the stairs or parks further away from work, or prioritizes going to the gym at 5:00 o'clock on a Friday afternoon even though all your friends are out drinking like. I think when it comes

15:00

to physical activity, because it takes time and you have to go somewhere to do it, there's a lot more control required than maybe staying hydrated and going to the supermarket and only buying vegetables. Yeah, definitely a lot more disciplined. I was going to say a lot more discipline to actually get there and get it done because it's like you can sit on the couch and drink a glass of water. Yeah, exactly. But to go and go to the gym or go for a walk or be active. Like actually commit to an takes planning and time and scheduling, and I think it's important to just have it as a non-negotiable part of your routine. I agree, OK. #4 is managing stress. I really like this one because stress is inevitable and. It's inescapable. Just quickly dive into the effects of stress on your body. Like we're in relation to hormones and that sort of stuff. How do I even start to that? So I guess it also depends on the degree of stress, but. I'm sure we've spoken about like everyone talks about fight or flight mode. Like if you are stressed then it's a lot harder for your body to rest and digest and recover from exercise and just replenish energy, use the nutrients that you're consuming. It's also requires a lot of energy like cognitively on your brain. It makes it harder to focus, makes it harder to. What am I forgetting? Everything. Really. Everything, yeah, makes it just harder to function as a healthy human being, or even just a human being. So. A lot of the time when people say I just can't stick to this habit, I just can't. Get to the gym. I just can't lose weight. A lot of like they often forget about stress as a factor that influences this. It like messes up your hormones,

17:00

and if your hormones aren't in the right place then it's really hard to lose weight. It's really hard to be motivated to go to the gym if you're stressed, it's really hard to get enough sleep. If you're stressed so then you have even less motivation and less sleep throws you up. Like it's just the domino effect, it ruins everything. If you are stressed, it ruins every other aspect of your life. Obviously you can't avoid it, so you have to manage it and. Exercise is a stress on your body. So this is what a lot of people will get wrong and they they're already stressed out, whether it's life, work, relationships, all of the above. And they're like, I just need to destress. So I'll go and do a high intensity workout that is stress on your body. Like when we say manage stress if you've got a high. Stressful life already and you go and add in a high stressful workout. You're adding to that stress and might feel like, you know, yeah, that's a bit of a release, but you're just getting a dopamine hit from the workout. But it's in the end, it's still adding more and more to your plate. Or your cup or whatever metaphor you want to use. So managing your stressful life with a yoga or a Pilates or a walk or something, just breathing, being outside, breathing techniques, all that sort of stuff there is and there's that much information out there on breathing and yoga and all that sort of stuff now that you can just YouTube it and do one. So it is easier to do that and manage that stress with exercise so you sort of ticking. A few things there, like yes, you're moving, you're getting your activities in, all that sort of stuff, but you also destressing if you choose the right exercise. So I just want to. I think, uh, I'm just trying to. I just keep reminding myself that the type of person we're talking about, which is a healthy, healthy person. And really, it's also important for people

19:00

to when they prioritize their self, their health, they set boundaries. And I think that that comes into the topic of stress a lot. Like if you can't set boundaries for your family or your friends and say like this is the time that I go to the gym. Or whatever it is. This is the time when I need you guys to just let me meal prep or let me do yoga in peace, or let me go for a walk by myself. Or like I don't work past this time, or I don't work on weekends or whatever the boundary has to be, I think that. People just need to realize that boundaries do need to exist because. Everyone just seems to say yes to everything. People feel like they can't say no. Can say saying no is a good stress release. Yes, and a good way to balance stress as well. Yeah, we all, everybody is in just the. The mindset of pleasing everybody and saying yes to everything. And when you say yes to everything, you don't leave any time for yourself. And I say this to all my clients all the time. I'll probably say it in a podcast a lot. Like you've got to look after yourself when you're on an airplane and they're going through the safety thing. They always say put your mask on before you help anybody else because you need oxygen to breathe so you can help other people. If you don't do that, then you can't help anyone. And it's exactly the same with life and stress is. Your oxygen. If you've got too much stress, then you can't help anybody, you can't help yourself. But if you take the time and say no to all these other things that don't actually matter and focus on you and decreasing your stress. Then you can help other people. Much better than what you are now. Yeah, you'll be a better worker, a better parent, a Better Business owner or a better friend. Whatever it is, you'll be better. And the people like health and fitness people understand that and that's why they do take

21:00

time. And I've got many of my clients say this is the time I go to the gym. And that's the time they go to the gym and that's just a non-negotiable. Like it's just like a meeting like. So yeah. Manager stress. OK, last point. Can you guess what it is? Drumroll. Sleep. Getting enough sleep, I think. This is also a fantastic place to start because. Like with your diet, there are so many avenues and different things you can do to improve your sleep, your sleep routine, your sleep hygiene. I think it's being quite named at the minute. But without sleep, obviously your mental well-being isn't that great. You can't perform well in the gym, you don't have as much self-control, you have messed up hunger, fullness cues and you cannot have all over the place stress. Very well. Yeah so. What do I even what do we even say about? Like, there's so much? So many different ways that you could improve your sleep. And just improving your life. Everything else we've talked about, yeah, it's very important, but just improving your sleep just a little bit can have huge effects on everything in your life, yeah. So the habits that I would say. Suggests that you should prioritize to improve your sleep. First and foremost would be. No coffee past 12? Yeah, that's probably the first habit that I would. Recommended because no caffeine, no caffeine, sorry. So that includes like green tea, black tea, drinks, energy drinks because and I know lots of people say that they can have a coffee and go straight to sleep but the quality of the sleep and the depth of the sleep is affected useless so and I think that

23:00

just delaying. Not delaying, I'm in the wrong part of the day, just stopping your caffeine intake by 12. Is something that is very manageable and easy to do without even changing any of your night time routine yet. And if you're well hydrated, you won't feel like you need an afternoon coffee. Yeah, yes. The next thing, the next habit I suppose that you could focus on to make sure you get enough sleep is just pre decide on how many hours of sleep you need. So if you are like me, I definitely need 8 plus hours of sleep to feel good. And then from that you can decide, OK, if I need 8 hours sleep then I need to be in bed by this time because I have to get up at this time. And that's just like, it sort of makes it very obvious to you how much you are sort of shortchanging yourself if you look at it like that, because a lot of the time people just go to bed at 10 or 11 and then they have to get up at 6:00 for work. But they don't really consider how many hours they're actually spending in bed. So if you can just like, zoom out a little bit and look at how much time you need, then you can work backwards from there. And that's a really easy way. To start. And. I was just going to say consistency on that as well. Yeah. Oh my goodness. Consistently going to bed at the same time and getting up at the same time. For us, has had the biggest impact out of any other behavior or habit that we've ever spoken about before on the podcast. It's just like anything, like consistency matters the most and even if you go out. Like we're not saying never go out or do things or anything like that, but if you do still get up at the same time, like consistency, as much as possible, don't just go. I had a big night, so I'm gonna sleep in a little bit more. Yeah, you can get up still if you go out till 12 and then get up at 6:00

25:00

and then have a nap later, that's better than sleeping in till 10 because then it just throws your whole body clock sideways. Um. Yeah, they're probably the biggest ones. I mean, we've done podcasts on sleep before. You guys know that it's important. We've done heaps on site, you can go our website and just search sleep. Blog post, podcast, all that sort of stuff is there, yeah. Cool. We better wrap it up. Yep. Go over again. All right, of course. OK number one, eat a balanced, nutritious diet #2. Stay hydrated 3. Prioritize your physical activity, activity, 4 learn how to manage your stress, and #5 make sure that you get enough sleep. Always. And there's probably a lot more out there. But these are the five we think we'll have the biggest impact on your health, Wellness, and. Goals, no matter what they are so. Incorporate these like we said, don't go changing everything at once. You might be excited, but just choose the most simplest thing to change that and then keep adding on from there. Might take you 12 months, but in 12 months you would be you would be considered the person we're talking about today. Exactly. As always, if you've got something out of this, please share it with a friend or family member. We've gone over a lot of info in this podcast, so I'm sure you've got something out of it and I'm sure you know somebody that will get something out of it as well. And by sharing this. It does help us reach more people. And by helping more people, we can get more quality content out there for you guys as these podcasts grow. So thanks again and we'll talk to you all in the next episode. Bye.