Easy Choices, Small Tweaks, And Lasting Change For A Healthy YOU

I recently saw a video on social media where a woman was sharing, what seemed to be, an instructional pep talk. 

But, the longer she spoke, the more it became apparent that her talk was meant to be humorous, you know, one of those ‘this is funny because it’s true’ types of things. 

She began each new point with “you need to,” or “you’re gonna want to,” and included items such as: 

“You need to eat kale and cut out alcohol.” 

“You’re gonna need supplements. Which ones? Every single one of them.” 

“And, you’re gonna need to load up on protein.”

“Get to the gym…”

“Lower your stress…”

“And, you’re gonna need to get 9 hours of sleep a night or none of this is going to work…”

The longer she went on, the funnier her statements became, and judging by the commentary, folks really resonated with this bit. 

Why?

Because, while so many of us desire to lead healthy lifestyles, truly wanting to make changes, shift priorities, and take care of our bodies, sometimes it can simply be overwhelming.

There’s no shortage of advice out there when it comes to improving your health and wellness. 

But, trying to adopt a laundry list of principles and practices all at once can often lead to a lack of success. 

Even the experts have weighed in on this matter, and research has proven, time and time again, that massive changes are commonly difficult to sustain. 

The thing is, there’s actually an easy solution to this problem! 

Just as studies have proven that taking on major changes can be difficult to sustain for long periods of time, these findings have overwhelmingly shown that small changes made regularly have a much greater impact, leading to a much greater rate of success for those implementing these habits. 

So, that’s where we’d like to focus our time today - looking at easy, healthy choices, small habits you can implement daily for lasting change.

Easy Choices, Small Tweaks, Lasting Change

Before we get into listing some practical habits you can incorporate to improve your overall health and wellness, let’s take a few moments to understand just how powerful these types of changes can be. 

Habits, efforts, and change each involve behavior. And science confirms that small behaviors done repeatedly can serve to essentially rewire your brain. 

This happens due to something called neuroplasticity, which is “the brain’s ability to reorganize itself by forming new neural connections.” And behavioral scientists believe this gives us a great picture of why small changes can be so powerful. 

BJ Fogg, behavioral scientist and author of Tiny Habits, states that small habits or behavioral changes are perceived as more manageable by the brain. 

Essentially, your brain views small changes as doable and therefore complies by going all in to form the needed neural connections to make these new choices a habit. 

“Small changes tap into the psychology of success: they’re easier to sustain, they build momentum, and they foster a sense of accomplishment…repeated actions, no matter how minor, gradually rewire the brain, making new habits automatic over time.”

Looking at the flip side of this, when we tackle too much at once, or when we try to make massive changes, this commonly leads to burn-out or even self-sabotage. 

But, small goals, habits, and choices work in an entirely different manner. 

In fact, believe it or not, small changes are actually the foundations of the big changes we often seek! 

This is due to something known as the ripple effect. 

The ripple effect describes how small, even seemingly insignificant, changes lead to greater impacts. 

When you incorporate even one easy choice on a daily basis, this can create ripples of positive change throughout your life. 

Then, as you achieve these small goals regularly this serves you in other ways as well, boosting your self-confidence and even instilling within you the desire and willingness to take on other challenges. 

So, now that we’ve established the science-based, brain-backed reality of the significance of small habits, let’s share some practical tips and ideas you can implement regularly.

5 Easy, Healthy Choices For Whole Body Wellness

Change is rarely viewed as a welcomed, easy thing. 

But, when it comes to health and wellness, change can feel heavy. 

Why? 

Because these changes can seem too big to tackle in some cases. 

And, that’s where these common proverbs come into play - 

How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. 

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. 

When making changes to prioritize your health feels overwhelming, take a step back, and remember those above sayings. Then, focus on implementing small habits to create big change.

Below, you’ll find a few easy, healthy choices that tackle the biggest areas of concern amongst those looking to prioritize wellness.

We advise (as do the experts) picking a few habits, those which best suit your needs and lifestyle, for instance. Then, seek to implement these until they become second nature. 

After your small changes become routine, feel free to build upon these habits for lasting, healthy change!

1- Hydration

Hydration is something we commonly overlook. But hydration, this is an absolutely crucial part of whole-body health. 

Water is essential for nearly all bodily functions. We need it to aid in digestion and transport waste, it’s needed for protecting your joints and organs, and it’s even needed for your very cells to function! 

Generally speaking, most medical guidelines suggest that women should drink 9 cups of water each day, and men should drink 13 cups.

So, building upon what we’ve learned about small, easy habits, let’s apply these principles in the following scenario: 

You’ve been drinking roughly 5 cups of water daily, and for the remainder of your fluids, you’re fueling with RedBull and Dr. Pepper. 

Of course, most of you likely know the latter two beverages aren’t doing you any favors when it comes to health and wellness, nor is a mere 5 (8 ounce) glasses of water each day. 

A massive change would mean dropping the RedBull and Dr. Pepper cold turkey, while also seeking to add between 4-8 cups of water daily. 

And, from what we’ve learned, these efforts don’t seem sustainable. 

However, if drinking more water (or replacing less than healthy beverages with water) is your goal, what if you sought to begin your journey by adding only 1 cup of water to your daily intake? 

Or, what if you replaced one RedBull and/or one Dr. Pepper with 1 cup of sparkling water? 

Each of these options incorporates a small habit or a simple swap. But over time, that extra cup of water will become second nature, even allowing you to feel better which may prompt greater change. 

For instance, after you’ve gone one month successfully incorporating this small change, what if you added to your efforts by replacing one more soda with a glass of lemon water? 

See how starting with a simple swap or a small choice can cause a ripple of healthy change?

2- Coffee

While we’re talking beverages, what about coffee? 

Conventional coffee commonly contains mold, mycotoxins, heavy metals, pesticides, and more…each of which can wreak havoc on your health, even negating many of the healthy benefits rightly associated with coffee. 

Then, even if you’re drinking clean, organic, mold-free, toxin-free, heavy metal-free, chemical-free coffee, like Lifeboost, what if your daily java routine involves additions of sugars, syrups, sauces, and conventional creamers…you know, where you end up with more unhealthy additives than actual coffee. 

Each of these scenarios, with only a few (or less) simple changes, can make a huge difference when it comes to your health. 

For instance, if you’re drinking conventional coffee, simply switching to Lifeboost could mean you’re removing a source of gut-harming molds, toxins, chemicals, and more.

Now I get it, that sounds a bit self-serving. But, the proof is in each clean, healthy sip. 

We grow our coffee on small, family owned farms, never use chemicals in our growing process, only use single origin, organic, low acid Arabica beans, 3rd party test every batch of coffee for mold, mycotoxins, heavy metals, and 450+ other toxins, and as our coffee plants are shade and elevation grown amidst surrounding plant and animal life, they are slowly grown to maturity, yielding a clean, nutrient dense bean. 

So of course, with health in mind, we absolutely recommend this easy swap, simply switching any conventional cup for a clean, delicious cup of Lifeboost coffee. 

Then, if you’re already drinking Lifeboost, consider these other small changes for better health: 

• If you traditionally use conventional coffee creamer, which commonly contains emulsifiers, high amounts of sugar, and other artificial ingredients, consider simply switching to a touch of organic heavy cream in your brew. 
• If sugar is a must, try scaling back by one teaspoon. Then, as you become accustomed to this reduction, see if you can scale this back another teaspoon, etc. 
• You can also swap traditional sugar for options like raw honey or pure maple syrup. Some have even found that the simple addition of pure vanilla extract or a ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon can add a natural sweetness that negates the need (over the course of time) for sugar altogether.
  

3- Just 30 More Minutes

Sleep is another vital need, one we often sacrifice for a variety of desires, few of which truly serve us well. 

And, what do we typically do? We commonly make a vague goal of ‘getting more sleep,’ yet without a plan set into place, we rarely accomplish even minimal steps towards truly getting more shut eye. 

Instead of a vague goal, opt for a small, but solid, change. 

Plan to go to bed 30 minutes earlier each night. 

At first, if your body is used to staying up later, you might find it difficult to fall asleep. 

But, after only a small amount of time, you’ll train your brain to accommodate your new bedtime, and before you know it, you’ll be consistently getting 30 more minutes of sleep each night. 

Of course, if you’re seriously lacking sleep (7-9 hours nightly is the accepted recommendation for adults), you may need to move up your ‘bedtime’ by another 30 minutes, incrementally, until you’re finally getting a healthy amount of sleep.

4- Move More

The need for exercise is not a new concept. 

We’ve known for some time that exercise is highly beneficial to physical, mental, and emotional health. 

However, even looking at the recommendations for how many steps adults should get in a day can seem daunting. 

So, instead of committing to 5-6 workouts a week - an hour on the treadmill and an hour on the elliptical 3 times a week with 3 days of strength training as well - let’s break this down to some small habits that can take you much farther on your journey. 

If you’re looking to move more, consider starting by taking the stairs instead of the elevator at your office. 

Park in the back of the lot to get in some extra steps. 

Or, instead of seeking to go from your daily average of 4,000 steps to 10,000 daily steps on day one, try setting a goal of 5,000 daily steps for a few weeks (or a month). And, once you’ve developed this new habit, shoot for 6,000 daily steps, etc. 

Then, consider viewing all exercise efforts in this same manner. 

Personally, last spring I set a goal of exercising just 30 minutes a day, 5-6 days a week, where I alternated strength training and cardiovascular workouts daily. 

This was a huge change in mindset for me, as I tend to be an extremist. 

But, this small change, just 30 minutes a day, has allowed me to be consistent. 

And now, instead of feeling like a failure for quitting a running routine which demanded 15-20 hours of movement per week, I’ve built a habit that’s produced noticeable results physically, mentally, and emotionally!

Over time, I’ve been able to increase weights while strength training, I have more stamina when doing cardio, and frankly, my self-esteem has greatly improved (not to mention I’m sleeping better and am more motivated to make healthy choices nutritionally as well). 

And, if traditional exercise isn’t your cup of tea, don’t overlook the outside of the box options. 

If you want to get moving but aren’t ready for the gym, sign up for a line dancing class that meets once a week, add an after dinner 10-minute walk to your nightly routine, take a kickboxing class, find a nearby yoga class, etc. 

Bottom line, if you’re seeking to incorporate regular exercise, set small, realistic goals - such as a weekly class, 30 minutes of exercise a day, adding 1,000 steps to your daily total, or opting for the stairs. 

Then, stick to your new routine and allow your brain to reorganize, making this new change a habit.

5- One Healthy Food At A Time

Prior to his tragic passing, I used to follow Dave Hollis on social media. During this time, he and his ex-wife Rachel used to post motivational videos to Instagram, and at some point they extended a challenge to their followers. 

They called this challenge 5 To Thrive. 

The premise essentially embodied everything we’re talking about today, incorporating small habits regularly for optimal health and wellness. 

Generally, I would tackle nutritional changes in an all-or-nothing manner, a practice that obviously resulted in little success. 

However, one powerful tool I took away from this challenge was the notion of making healthy swaps, one food at a time.

So, to illustrate this point, I’m simple going to share with you two suggestions from this challenge: 

• If you desire to eat more nutrient dense foods, prioritizing health through nutrition, start by making only one change to your current routine: add one vegetable per day to your meals. Just one. 

Maybe that means you’re including a small salad with your lunch now, or maybe this means you’ll be setting out on a mission to try a new veggie each night with dinner. Either way, just one more veggie a day, and try your best to make it exciting and enjoyable. 

• On the flip side of this, be honest with yourself. Evaluate what you’ve been eating, then take one food that you know isn’t serving you well, and swap that for a healthy alternative. If you have a cookie or some other dessert every day for lunch, then one more serving (or more) after dinner, swap that dinnertime Oreo for a cup of strawberries/blueberries/apple slices. 

For the original challenge, these practices were meant to be incorporated for 30 days, but I can tell you, now several years later, some of these habits are still part of my everyday routines, all by starting with a few easy swaps or additions that over time created a sustainable healthy practice.

Promises Kept

To close things out, I wanted to leave you with another tip I learned from the late Dave Hollis. 

The small habits we’ve covered today are simple choices really, nothing too intense, just some easy goals to foster long term healthy habits. 

But, these can go by the wayside too in the absence of one more, highly important, healthy choice…the choice to keep the promises you make to yourself regarding your health. 

Mr. Hollis would regularly encourage people to keep the promises they make to themselves:

• If you promise yourself that you’re going to add 1,000 steps to your daily total, keep that promise. 
• If you promise to swap the daily Snickers for a serving of peanuts and dates, keep that promise. 
• If you promise to add a green vegetable to your daily meals, do it. 

…and on and on. 

If we promise others we’re going to do something, we generally do it.

We keep our word. 

We wouldn’t dare let our friends, family, or coworkers down. 

But, part of prioritizing health and wellness is realizing that you’re equally as worthy as anyone else when it comes to making and keeping promises. 

In other words - Friends, you are indeed worth it! 

So, here’s to keeping the promises we make to ourselves! 

And, here’s to small changes and easy choices…for a healthy me and a healthy you! 

Check out Lifeboost Coffee Grata Medium Roast.

Medical Disclaimer
This content is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to provide medical advice or to take the place of such advice or treatment from a personal physician. All readers/viewers of this content are advised to consult their doctors or qualified health professionals regarding specific health questions. Neither Dr. Charles Livingston nor the publisher of this content takes responsibility for possible health consequences of any person or persons reading or following the information in this educational content. All viewers of this content, especially those taking prescription or over-the-counter medications, should consult their physicians before beginning any nutrition, supplement or lifestyle program.

References:

https://www.instagram.com/bigtimeadulting/

https://www.timeetc.com/resources/how-to-achieve-more/the-surprising-power-of-micro-habits-little-changes-that-lead-to-big-results#

https://www.drakhu.com/blog/the-ripple-effect-how-small-changes-lead-to-personal-freedom#

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372797967_THE_RIPPLE_EFFECT_How_Small_Actions_Create_Big_Changes

https://www.mindmatterscollective.com/blog/small-steps-to-lasting-change-achieving-your-goals-with-tiny-habits

https://health.ucdavis.edu/blog/good-food/why-its-important-for-you-to-drink-water-and-stay-hydrated/2022/07#

https://www.goodrx.com/well-being/diet-nutrition/is-coffee-creamer-bad-for-you

https://www.webmd.com/fitness-exercise/ss/twelve-habits-super-healthy-people

https://health.clevelandclinic.org/11-simple-health-habits-worth-adopting-into-your-life

https://msrachelhollis.com/2022/01/03/five-to-thrive/