Start at the Beginning

Setting out to improve your health can be daunting, as you uproot old habits and replace them with healthier ones. The truth is, that transitioning to a healthier lifestyle is a journey, made up of many small steps. 

Like any journey, your health journey will be most successful when you start at the beginning. Wait, what? That sounds pretty obvious, but allow me to explain. Let’s say you decide that you want to go on a day hike and climb a nearby peak for the first time. First you make the decision to go, and you set a date. Then you start planning-- Perhaps you enlist some friends to go with you. You research the different trails, prepare supplies, get ready, drive there, then finally start your climb. On your hike, there will be some flat areas during the hike that are easier, then other more steep parts that will be challenging. There may be stretches where you trip and fall, and will even feel like you want to give up and turn around. But when you stick with it, you’ll be rewarded with the biggest sense of accomplishment, and the most amazing views at the peak.

The process of planning your hike and getting to the peak is perfectly analogous to your health journey. You probably wouldn’t start your hike at sunset, without a map or any supplies! This is true of health goals too-- you will accomplish your goal when you start by deciding to make changes, setting the intention for success, having the right mindset, and PLANNING to actually achieve your goal.  It will also greatly enhance your chances of achieving your goals when you have other people with you-- like some friends, family, or partner who are willing to make healthy changes as well. Perhaps you hire a professional guide for help with the planning part, and for accountability-- this is where your naturopathic doctor comes in! Together we can come up with small, realistic, and actionable steps you can start adding into your routine. This is like giving you a customized map for your journey. 

Start with a Healthy Mindset

Here’s a list of reflection exercises, to help you on the first step of your health journey-- establishing a healthy mindset:

• Get a beautiful new health journal: This is to have a dedicated place to write out your goals, and to help you process through any stumbling blocks and emotions that may come up along the way. Writing out your goals in a journal helps you to be very clear about where you want to get to, and the steps needed to get there. Getting these goals out of your head and onto paper makes them real, and is literally like writing a contract and committing to yourself. 

• Write out a list of broad goals you’d like to focus on. Common broad goals might include:

  • eat healthy

  • feel more energetic, resolve [ x ] physical symptoms

  • repair my hormones, get pregnant, have a healthy pregnancy and baby

  • lose weight, get in shape

• Now take each larger goal, and write it on it’s own separate page. 

• Under each large goal, now list WHY you want to achieve this goal. Be very specific here! The purpose of this exercise is to get clear on the deeper reason for wanting to achieve this goal. Starting with this as your foundation makes it easier to maintain your habits-- it will help you to remember WHY you’re doing this, and why it’s worth it to keep going.

  • Example: For weight loss, it may start as more short-term reasons, like “I want to look great for my vacation!”— and there’s nothing wrong with that, if this truly helps to motivate you. But as you keep going with this, you will likely find deeper reasons, like “I want to live a long and healthy life, and be able to spend more quality time with my loved ones”.

• NOW you’re ready to start breaking each large goal down into smaller goals. Then break each one down further, being very specific about the action steps you’ll take. Keep breaking it down until you’re down to the smallest steps that you will realistically commit to. Here’s an example: 

  • Start eating healthy!

    • Add vegetables to every meal (or start with one meal per day, if you’re not currently eating many vegetables right now)

      • Buy salad ingredients and at least one other green vegetable like broccoli for the week. 

      • Experiment with cooking the broccoli, and find some different recipes if needed to help with bringing out the flavors. Tip: After chopping and cleaning broccoli, add it to a pan with some chicken or vegetable broth, pat of butter or drizzle of oil, squeeze of lemon, salt, pepper, and other spices like garlic, onion, turmeric powder, etc.

• Now start doing the small steps you listed, and celebrate each small win by writing about it in your health journal!

Now you have an idea of how this process works. Starting small and gradually adding more healthy habits is the best way to make this process sustainable!

During this process, it’s really important to be kind to yourself and realize that it takes time to change the habits that have been ingrained for years, decades, or from childhood! Be patient with yourself, and think about ways to celebrate your progress. If you fall off track (which is inevitable), try not to beat yourself up-- instead acknowledge yourself for committing to your health journey in the first place. You can start fresh the next day. 

You’ve got this, and I’m here to cheer you on!