Hey there, welcome back to Simple Happy Zen, it;s Vera here.
And in this video
I'm gonna share five of the healthy habits that changed my life. And these are very simple self care routines to help feel your best
mentally, physically and emotionally.
That don't require anything fancy or expensive.
Three weeks ago, I uploaded my first healthy habits video and it got an amazing response from you guys.
So thank you so much. And I also got a lot of requests for a healthy habits series.
So this video is part of that. And over the next coming weeks
I will be uploading even more healthy habits videos on the channel.
So be sure to click
subscribe if you haven't already, and you're interested in seeing more. And I will also post a link to the playlist
right here
and in the description.
The first healthy habit that changed my life is that I stopped buying the foods that I don't want to be eating. And I don't
have them in my home, and I don't tempt myself. And this sounds really simple and easy
But so few people actually do this. In my home, 90% of the time, there is no candy, there are no cookies
There's no ice cream, there's no potato chips, there's no fast food, none of it.
I am the type of person
as many people are, who finds it very difficult not to indulge in snack foods and unhealthy foods if they are available.
So if I have them in my home, I'm gonna eat them sometime.
It's only a matter of time. And it's not like I would eat like an entire pack of cookies in a day.
But I would spread them out over the week and then I will have eaten a bunch of cookies every day for a week.
Whereas if I don't have them in my home, I don't miss them.
I don't think about them, and I don't want to be eating them.
So instead, I eat some fruit, or maybe some coconut yogurt with some grains in it, or something else
that's healthy, and it actually nourishes my body.
So if you make sure that all you have in your home are healthy options to choose from.
You're going to make it so much easier for yourself to eat healthy and avoid
unhealthy snacking. And
I have actually read a very interesting study that proved that people are only capable of saying no to themselves and practicing
self-restraint a number of times a day.
So if there are a lot of temptations, which there already are a lot of outside of our home,
it's only a matter of time until we choose the unhealthy option. So this trick really
reduces the amount of temptation we face, so we don't have the same nose ourselves as often.
So the only time we ever have potato chips or ice cream
or something like that in our home, is if we know we're going to have people over and we're going to watch a movie
or something. Then we usually go out and buy some snacks for everyone to enjoy. Or if you know
you're gonna have people over, or your kids will have a play date over, or something like that.
Of course
you can buy some snacks for everyone.
But make sure that you don't buy too much so that you will be faced with a lot of leftovers and
also
If you just don't want to tempt yourself
You could think about buying something that the kids enjoy but you don't really like yourself.
Next healthy habit that changed my life is doing deep breathing exercises.
And there's actually a lot of scientific evidence that shows that deep breathing is good for our health.
They say that it releases toxins. It releases tension in the body and the mind
It improves circulation. It increases muscle tone. It strengthens the immune system
It improves posture, it aids with digestion. It improves the nervous system, and it's just a great stress reliever.
When we are not mindful of our breath most people, including myself, have very high and shallow breathing.
So just taking a few minutes a day to be mindful of your breath and doing some deep breathing exercises
really makes a big difference. Something I often notice when I start to deepen my breath is that I start to yawn. And
that is actually a sign that your breath has been shallow and undeep before.
So even if I only do a minute or two of conscious deep breathing
I start to feel so many changes. I start to feel happier, calmer, lighter
I feel more relaxed. My posture improves, my shoulders fall down.
It's such a great feeling. If you want to start doing some deep breathing exercises yourself
Then there's great videos to find on youtube to help you out.
And I also have a video where I walk you through my top four
breathing exercises that I like to do myself. And I will link it here for you if you want to check it out.
But please know that it is an old video. So the production value is a little bit lower.
But other than that, it's a great video to help you out.
Next healthy habit is something that I've been doing for about a year or so
And I really noticed a big difference
since I started doing this one. And this is actually something that's for the health of your teeth.
So the habit is that after eating or drinking something, I always do a quick water swoosh in my mouth.
So I take a sip of water and I swirl it around in my mouth and
I do this every time after I eat or drink something that has an impact on my teeth.
Which is basically everything except for water itself.
Some of the foods and drinks that have an impact on your teeth are
acidic foods, like fruits or white wines or yogurt.
Darker colored foods like cherries, coffee, tea, red wine, and foods that have sugar.
So after I eat or drink something like this
I always do a quick water swish in my mouth and I
Really noticed that it does help to avoid staining them, and it also helps to protect your enamel.
Which is the outer layer of your teeth. And your enamel is actually something that once it's gone. It's gone. It doesn't grow back
So if doing a quick water swish will help to protect that, then I'm happy to do it.
A quick side note to this is that some people make it a point to always brush their teeth right after eating something.
To protect their teeth, but that's actually not a good idea. Because right after eating, your enamel always becomes a little softer.
So if you brush your teeth, then it might damage it.
So it's always better to wait around 30 to 60 minutes after eating something
before brushing your teeth. Next healthy habit that changed
my life is walking whenever possible. And a lot of people don't know this, but something as simple as walking has
amazing health benefits.
And I also just really enjoy it, and I am so grateful that I even can walk and that I have a healthy body
That can walk for as long as I want to I think that's an amazing thing.
So whenever I'm faced with two options, like for example going by a car, I don't have a car myself
so in this case, it will be taking a ride with someone or
walking somewhere for 20 minutes
I will often choose walking. Or if I'm waiting for the bus and I know that it will arrive in ten minutes
I usually just start walking to the next bus stop and catch it there. Unless I am just really busy or
there's a heavy rain or something like that
I will often choose walking over anything else. A lot of people, when they think about exercise
It's really an all-or-nothing mentality.
So they either work out super hard at the gym or it doesn't count. When in fact, low intensity
exercise like walking also has amazing health benefits.
And since it's easier to do, there's also less risk of getting an injury or getting fed up with it and quitting.
These are some of the health benefits of walking regularly that have been proven.
It's good for cardiovascular health and reduces risk of cardiovascular events.
It's great for our immune system.
It's good for anxiety and depression because it increases oxygen flow to the brain and boo energy. It boosts metabolism
Is great for posture and helps with weight loss and toning the body. It
helps lubricate the joints and decrease joint pain, and when walking outside you're also getting some vitamin D.
Depending on the weather, of course.
Because I work from home and I spend so much time behind my laptop
I am sitting so much of the time. And so it feels great to go outside
Enjoy some fresh air, get my body moving, instead of taking public
transportation or going by car and actually sitting down again.
So if you have an optio,n then choosing to walk instead of anything else can really help. And
even if you only go for a 10 minute walk
It's already so much better than not doing it.
And if you make a habit of this, then you will spend a lot more time on your feet than you would normally do.
Last healthy habit that I want to share with you today is reading for fun. Now
there are a lot of health benefits associated with reading, and I am an avid reader myself.
But the reason that I wanted to include this one into today's list is that I feel like
reading for fun has
become something that a lot of people feel like is a waste of time. And I think that is a real shame.
So on YouTube and social media reading is kind of a big deal now.
But most people only talk about reading books that are
self-development books, books that will make you gain knowledge, or become more successful, or earn more money, become more productive
Etc. And I'm not saying that there's no value in reading those books because of course there can be, very much.
But I don't think that they are the only books that we should read. And even the act of reading
the book itself has become something that a lot of people think of as a waste of time.
So now we need to listen to audio books while doing something else, like cleaning or going for a run or
spending time in traffic. Because that's more productive and we don't need to waste time actually reading the book or even listen to
summaries of books so we don't waste our time with the little details.
We just get the gist of it and move on. And I get it. A lot of people are very busy.
We lead busy life and most people feel like they don't have the time to sit down and enjoy reading a book for fun.
So when they do read a book, it should be something that's educational and informative and worth their time.
Making them more productive or successful something like that.
And I'm not saying that that's bad per se, but I am saying that or reading a fiction book for fun
can actually be a very healthy thing to do.
And for most people, if they were to cut down their time
they spend on the phone by half then they would have enough time to read.
Some of the health benefits associated with reading are: improved memory, short-term as well as long-term.
Reading is also mentally engaging for the brain, therefore improved cognitive functions
And it can even decrease the risk of early Alzheimer's and dementia.
Reduced stress levels, improved focus, concentration and analytical thinking skills
Improved empathy and the ability to see things from a perspective
other than one's own, and improved sleep while reading before going to bed.
I always read for about 10 to 15 minutes each night before going to bed.
it is kind of a ritual that I have, that I never skip and I did it ever since I was a kid and even
if I go to bed super late after going to a party, I will still read my book first.
And I also just love to get my book during the day and
read for a little while, with a cup of tea. And I usually spend about 20 to 30 minutes each day
on average reading. And I love to read non-fiction books to help me with my development.
But I also just really enjoy your reading fiction for fun. Thanks so much for watching
I'm very curious about your healthy habits. So please leave them in the comments down below
Of course, check out this healthy habits playlist and
subscribe to the channel, because there will be more videos coming in the next few weeks. As always, questions comments conversations down below
I hope you're all having an amazing day and I will see you all soon, byebye!
