ABC's to a Healthy Lifestyle

Whether you want to start eating right, lose some weight or just be a little bit healthier, all you have to do is break a few bad habits. I know it might be difficult at first, but I believe that if you take a basic elementary approach then you can do it. Breaking any bad or unhealthy habit, like over eating, smoking or drinking too much can be as easy as A, B, C. A - Admit that you have a bad habit, B - Begin to change it right where you are and C - Commit to this change daily.

How do you know when you have a bad habit? When you put something in your body even if your body doesn't want it. Over eating can be a bad habit if you eat when you're not truly hungry. Smoking is a bad habit because our bodies have never craved cigarettes naturally. We had to train our lungs to breath smoke and the chemicals in cigarettes make people crave them. Drinking so you can get sloppy drunk is a bad habit too. While a little red wine is not that bad for you physically, our liver was not designed to take on large amounts of liquor. When you eat too much, smoke cigarettes or drink too much they have a negative effect on your body.

Weight gain, cigarette breath and drunkenness are all mild, but negative affects of bad habits. Obesity, cancer and liver disease are what we want to avoid so let's change these bad habits right now. Get a pen and paper and list your bad habits and decide which ones you want to change right away. Face yourself in the mirror and be honest about why you have these habits. Once you do this and be true to yourself about these habits, then you will be ready to change them.

Next, just Begin where we are. If you decide to quit smoking and you have 3, 6 or even 10 cigarettes left in a pack, throw those bad boys out! I know it's hard but you know you're serious about changing when you can throw away your vices and start fresh. I'm in the middle of changing some bad habits of my own. For one example, I'm a stress eater. Yes, I admitted it. I eat when I get stressed out. It took me 10 years and several pounds upon pounds of constant weight gain to figure it out, but I finally did.

I realized that when people made me mad or if I was in a situation that I could not control, then I would eat without being hungry or eat food that's no good for my body. I used to take a healthy lunch to work, then one person would rub me the wrong way and just like that, I was off to the vending machine for a snack. Then, just so I didn't have to see that person for an hour it was off to the fast food joint for my favorite grilled stuffed burrito. I needed comfort food.

Once I realized that I was stress eating I knew I had to stop. I couldn't stop the people in the office from stressing me out so I began with what I could get a handle on and I stopped taking money and my credit cards to work. That way I had no money for junk food or burritos. I also realized that instead of stress eating I needed to figure out how to control the way I handled stress. I tried yoga, drinking green tea and strength training. Green tea and strength training are working pretty good for me right now, I'll figure out the yoga later. Now this may not be your story, but think about what makes you want to pick up that cigarette or have that second martini. Once you pinpoint the trigger for your bad habit, find a good way to break that habit that will work for you.

Now that you've Admitted that you have a bad habit and you can Begin to change where you are, let's Commit to this change today and make it daily. No matter where you are in your journey to being a better you, make the change today. Stick with making this change daily because breaking any bad habit is an everyday thing. Commit to changing your bad habit right where you are. If you still have a row of Oreos left, throw them out! If you have 3 beers left pour them down the drain now! Get rid of those last two packs of cigarettes!

You don't need that stuff anymore because your body is not asking for it. Commit to breaking your bad habit right now and every day hereafter. You have to start each day knowing that you have to stay on track until your good behavior becomes a good habit. Studies have shown that if you do something consistently for 21 days in a row, then you can create a habit. Try making a calendar to track your progress. Write down every day that you are victorious over your bad habit until you get to 21 days, by then you should be fully committed to your change. I look to my faith in God to help me with breaking my bad habits. I wake up every morning and thank God for another day that I have to get it right, even if I didn't do so good by my body the day before.

Knowing that I can start over everyday is a little comforting. Some days when I meet all my goals, I reflect on what I did and thank God that I was able to meet those goals and pray that I can meet them the next day. Having a good support system helps also, but some say it is the key to breaking any bad habit. If you don't have anyone in your life personally, then look to the internet's social media networks. There's a chat room, blog and web support group for supporting anything you want to do.

So try Admitting that you have a bad habit and write it down. Begin to change that habit right where you are and Commit to changing your bad habit every day.