4 Habits To Make 2015 Your Healthiest Year Yet!

Editor’s Note: Please welcome my friend Hannah to the site today for another great blog post! Hannah is the founder of Whole Simple Life and is a formerly sick and tired Mama who is reclaiming her health naturally, one step at a time. She teaches others about cultured foods, unprocessed, and sugar free eating, green smoothies, and stress and anxiety management! Stop by her site to join her for lots of great articles on natural health and wellness and to be inspired to lead a healthier more positive life!

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Ready for the new year? Here are 4 Habits To Make 2015 Your Healthiest Year. Kick off the new year with these 4 habits, all of which are easy to implement!

As the end of 2014 is fast approaching we begin reflecting on the year as our minds turn to our accomplishments, disappointments, triumphs and trials. Thoughts of the next year start welling up in our minds. This season gives us the opportunity to think about our goals whether they be financial, business, educational, or health related.

I’m going to venture out and guess that one of the most common new years resolutions deals with some aspect of health. Whether a person wants to start eating right, loosing weight or something to that effect.

I want to offer you 4 extremely simple suggestions on how you can improve your overall health, easily, this next year and you won’t have to sacrifice anything.

I’m all about adding the positive in and letting the bad stuff naturally weed it’s way out.

I’m no supporter of crazy diets and temporary plans that don’t work long term.

It’s much better to begin a few new habits with the purpose of making them permanent lifestyle changes as opposed to just a temporary fix.

These 4 habits will make a profound effect on your health. They are easy. They don’t take a lot of time. These habits will help you feel more balanced and energized and thus you will be more productive. Who doesn’t want a more productive year?!

Start Drinking Green Smoothies

Drinking green smoothies could be one of the easiest and most beneficial things you can do to improve your health.

This was my first step 4 years ago, into the world of healthier living. I wanted to feel better and eat better.

You can mix any fruit, any liquid and any greens and even some veggies into a blender to create a delicious green smoothie. The combinations are endless.

Pour them into a straw cup with a lid and you can take them anywhere. Breakfast, lunch, dinner or snack.

Green smoothies are such a great way to get raw fruits, veggies and greens into your diet.

Hardly anyone gets enough servings of fruits and veggies a day. Why not start by drinking green smoothies?

Add Fermented Foods To Your Diet

You’ve probably heard a lot of buzz about fermented foods these days. There’s a good reason for this.

Fermented foods are packed with enzymes, minerals, vitamins and probiotic organisms that keep your immune system strong, your energy up, keep colds at bay and enhance your overall health.

Fermented foods include kefir which has a myriad of health benefits, fermented veggies, and kombucha.

The cool thing is that all of these food are becoming more mainstream as people are catching on to their powerful health benefits.

You can probably find 1 or all 3 of these foods in your local grocery store. You can also make them on your own at home.

Kefir is the easiest to begin with, then fermented veggies. Kombucha most certainly can be made at home and I know Jessica here at Delicious Obsessions has some great tutorials on that.

Sleep More

Sleep…such an important thing but so many people have trouble sleeping. I have gone through periods of insomnia in my own life and as a mom of 3 kids it is downright awful not to get adequate rest each night!

Sleep has so many benefits among them are balancing hormones, reducing stress, fighting colds, increasing metabolism, reducing inflammation in our bodies, reducing cortisol (stress hormone) in our bodies, and so many other benefits it would take too long to list them all.

To help yourself get into a good sleep schedule create a simple routine before bed that you do each night, stop screen time at least 30 minutes before bed and try to go to sleep and wake up at the same time each day. This can really help you regulate you sleep patterns.

If you feel tired and have to drag yourself out of bed each morning then it’s a good indicator that you don’t go to bed early enough. Shoot for going to bed 15 minutes earlier each night until you are feeling rested in the morning.

Make Exercise A Priority

Exercise has often been called the more underused medication for depression and anxiety. So many of us could benefit from regular exercise. With winter upon us it should be part of everyone’s winter survival plan.

Exercise helps to burn off excess stress and adrenaline which so many of us stressed people are overflowing with!

It helps regulate sleep, boosts your mood by releasing serotonin and just makes you feel overall great about yourself.

If you live in a snowy place like me then you can rent or purchase all sorts of workout videos to do in the comfort of your own home.

Or you could purchase a gym membership for just the few coldest months.

Exercise also does many things that sleep does such as decreases inflammation and balances hormones. It also helps you breathe correctly with nice deep breaths that are so relaxing.

What will be your focus in 2015? I know mine will be exercise! What are your healthy habits that you know you just couldn’t live without? I’d love to hear, please comment below:)

Have a wonderful healthy year!

~Hannah