Self-Care for Optimal Wellness

We all know the truth about diets: they don’t work. And yet, every year millions of people are drawn to flashy, clickbait titles with empty promises to “melt away the pounds.”

While there’s nothing wrong with wanting to take steps to feel your best, it is a problem if we keep setting ourselves up for disappointment with quick-fix programs that are pretty much doomed to fail. It’s not that the motivation isn’t there for most of us. But without the right tools and resources, what happens? We beat ourselves up for not sticking with some program that was probably designed for short-term gains without long-term results. How unfair is that?

Here’s the thing. Even if you have the best intentions, studies suggest that only three to five percent of people who lose weight actually keep it off longer than a year. Why?

Well, there are several reasons. But the primary reason is that shiny diets or weight loss programs don’t work is that they don’t consider everything that goes into making long-term changes nor do they focus on quality. (And spoiler alert, quality is everything). If finding our way to optimal health was simple, we wouldn’t have so many people struggling with weight or health conditions.

What Impacts Your Health Habits?

So what’s the answer? It’s a shift in mindset. It’s throwing your typical new year resolutions out the window and embracing the desire to make long-lasting changes – and here’s the kicker – because you deserve it.

You deserve to feel good in your skin and follow a lifestyle that supports longevity. You don’t have to exercise or eat a certain way because you are punishing yourself. You get to eat deeply nourishing, delicious foods and find whatever movement brings joy to your life because that is actual self-care.

Self-care isn’t just about yoga classes and massage (although those are great too!). It’s a mindset of compassion for yourself. Instead of setting those new year resolutions based on negative thoughts, try thinking about making the next year your best year out of a place of self-love.

Negative self-talk ultimately sabotages our health and wellness goals. When we’re constantly putting ourselves down, it’s hard to feel motivated to make any changes. In fact, research has shown that self-deprecation can actually sabotage weight loss efforts.

What if, as you think about the changes you’d like to make for 2022, you think about what you can do to take care of yourself because you get to, not because you have to? That you can set yourself up with new habits for long-lasting change versus something that will only fizzle out by the end of February?

Stay tuned for part two, where we will give you five actionable habits you can start now to get you started on the self-care path to optimal wellness.