The small changes that make a big difference to your wellbeing

Words by Penny Weston

As the year draws to a close lots of people are looking to make changes to their lives, whether that be changes to their jobs, appearance, weight, fitness levels or relationships and wellbeing.

It can feel particularly daunting when you’re trying to make a change but I’m a firm believer in the power of making that first step and of the benefits you will reap if you start to make small changes.

In time, these small changes can have a huge impact on your health, wealth, and happiness.

Some of the most important small changes that will make a big difference are:

Stop comparing yourself to others

Try to avoid comparing yourselves to other people’s bodies and their fitness, whether that’s people on the television, online or even your friends.

The important thing is to remember that all of our bodies are different, and that being healthy and happy are the most important things and are key to living longer.

And also I think it’s always reassuring to remember that no matter how bad we might think we look or how out of fitness we are, we can all make positive changes to our bodies, whether that’s trying to do more exercise or eat a healthier diet.

At our wellness centre we don’t do before and after photos, because the journey to health and fitness is based on so much more than that. It’s important to remember your overall wellness and it may be that you’ll never have legs as long as a supermodel, or a bottom as pert, but that doesn’t mean you can’t be happy.

Prioritise self-care

No matter what the last year has brought about for your health and wellbeing, it’s important that going forward you start to prioritise your own self-care.

I was listening to an interview with Kate Garraway on the radio recently and she said something along the lines of that you can’t captain a difficult ship if you’re not well fed, rested and looked after yourself. That encapsulates perfectly why self-care is so important.

Schedule a few hours a week to go to bed early for example, or to read a book or put on a face mask. It will help to maintain your physical and mental wellbeing and better equip you for change.

Try resilience meditation

Focus on your wellbeing from a positive point of view by looking at ways that can build resilience. Focus on character building activities like yoga and meditation.

These can help you learn to adapt to change and be strong for all that is coming. I have resilience meditations on https://welcometomade.com on demand, perfect for improving our emotional intelligence.

Go for a walk

Research suggests that just 30 minutes walking every day can increase cardiovascular fitness, strengthen bones and boost muscle power and endurance. It can also reduce your risk of developing conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis and some cancers.

Whilst walking might not be the most strenuous form of exercise, it is certainly an effective way to get in shape and burn fat. Although you can’t spot-reduce fat in specific areas by walking, it can help to reduce overall fat and doing it for just 30 minutes can burn approximately 200 calories, depending on factors such as your speed and bodyweight. You can look to burn more calories by varying your terrain and walking uphill for example, or walking faster.

It also increases the amount of blood the muscles in your legs need to move and studies suggest that walking for at least 30 minutes a day five days a week can reduce your risk of coronary heart disease significantly. Studies also suggest that it may reduce your risk of developing a cold or flu by boosting your immune system. It does this by increasing the amount of white blood cells circulating in your blood. These are the cells that fight infection and disease as part of the body’s natural immune system.

Don’t starve yourself

Restrictive diets can be dangerous for a number of reasons, such as the fact that they can lead to a loss of muscle. They can also lead to feelings of extreme hunger and cause fatigue and lethargy, as well as deficiencies in essential vitamins and minerals.

Over a long period of time they can result in women’s period’s stopping and can affect fertility. There’s also the tendency for people to get sucked into a starve/binge cycle and it can actually become harder to lose weight because of the fact that the metabolism is slowed down. I’m a firm believer in eating a healthy, balanced diet rich in all the essential nutrients that come from plant-based goodness, such as lots of fruit, vegetables, grains, pulses and plant-based proteins.

This, combined with regular exercise, is in my opinion a far healthier way to achieve a healthy and sustainable weight and help you to live longer and happier.

Go vegan

Veganism could be the secret to living longer. A study published in The Journal of Nutrition looked at how various diets impact biomarkers and found that vegans have the most antioxidants in their bodies – probably because of their higher intake of fruit and vegetables. If you don’t want to go fully vegan, you could try reducing your intake of red meat.