How to Establish New Healthy Habits

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, establishing consistent healthy habits are at the core. But in reality, this is easier said than done. Inspired by James Clear’s book “Atomic Habits”, here is our breakdown of the top factors to consider if you want to successfully build long-term healthy habits.

Prime your environment

To establish a new healthy habit, prime your environment to make the habit easier. For example, if eating three serves of vegetables is the habit you want to achieve, priming your environment would mean ensuring there are plenty of vegetables in the fridge every week, and even some frozen vegetables in the freezer as a backup. Going a step further and chopping the vegetables is a perfect example of how to further reduce friction.

Attach THE habit to something you are already doing

If you like structure and routine, the concept of “habit stacking” is for you. This involves attaching a new habit to one you are already doing to make it easier to implement in your daily routine. For example, if you want to meditate before bed, aiming to meditate after you brush your teeth at night would be habit stacking. Removing the guesswork of when you are going to perform the habit increases the likelihood that you will do it. 

Keep a habit tracker

A lot of our clients will leave our sessions with some form of a habit tracker. We are the kind of people who put something on our to-do lists just for the satisfaction of ticking it off, even if we have already completed it!. Creating and using some form of habit tracker allows you to monitor how you are progressing with the added bonus of a dopamine hit once you tick off your task for the day.

MAKE UNDESIRABLE HABITS HARDER

Have you ever looked at a person and thought, how do you have so much self-control? Well, it may be easier than you think. Removing yourself from tempting situations and making undesirable habits difficult is one of the secrets to self-control. For example, if your undesirable habit is grabbing a doughnut every day, it’s hard to say no when you walk past the doughnut shop every morning on the way to work. Removing yourself from the situation by taking a different route will make this undesirable habit harder. Similarly, it’s a lot harder to consume alcohol if you keep the beer warm, out of the fridge and out of sight.

Get yourself an accountability partner

External accountability is important when internal motivation wanes. So, rally support from an accountability partner and be sure to choose someone whose opinion means a lot to you. It can be a close friend, partner, work colleague, family member or a health professional (like your Dietitian!). This can be a powerful tool to increase motivation and creates “pain with inaction”. It’s tough to skip a morning walk if you have to let down your walking buddy.

Make it realistic and sustainable

If the habit you are trying to achieve isn’t something you can see yourself doing in three weeks, three months or even three years time, it likely isn’t the right habit for you. Your habit has to be realistic and something you can do long term. This means striking the balance between not so difficult that you won’t be able to achieve it, but not too easy where you don’t see the value in it.

Next time you set out to start a new healthy habit, consider these factors to set yourself up for success. If you need help with building and maintaining healthy habits to reach your health goals, book in with one of our Accredited Practising Dietitians for personalised support