You hear all about it in the news, “eat healthy and be active for a long life,” and you for sure want a long life, but sometimes it’s hard to follow those two directives as a driver whether you’re in it for the long-haul or local transport.
Healthy Lifestyle
Driving can make having a healthy lifestyle difficult, especially when loads are so frequent and time is so short. Finding time to exercise and plan out meals can become difficult to manage in between journeys. This can add stress to an already stressful day, week, or month. This is problematic because health is so important; it makes you feel better, thus making you a better driver, and it prevents the risk of health conditions associated with being a driver such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and diabetes.
Some drivers may be struggling with these health conditions and are trying to become healthier. It is extremely important to form healthy habits over bad ones and create a lifestyle around these healthier habits. Whether you are already healthy and trying to remain so, or you are on the journey to becoming healthier, setting goals, planning routes, and learning how to eat to best benefit your body are all important steps to take to form healthy habits and eventually a healthy lifestyle!
Goals, Planning, and Healthy Food
Setting specific goals is important to your success. If you just set the goal of “I want to be healthy,” it is not likely that you will achieve it. However, if you follow this set of three S’s (Specific, Scheduled, and Sustainable) you can achieve your goals: Specific (make your goal specific, “I will lose 30 lbs.”), Scheduled (set a time frame for your goal, “I will lose 30 lbs. in 6 months), and Sustainable (make your goal attainable and explain how you will accomplish it, “I will choose healthy food over unhealthy food at least twice a day and exercise 3 days per week”).
Reaching your goals can be difficult without a plan. While you are thinking about your route, do a search for healthy restaurants on your route, or even find healthy options at fast food restaurants. These may not be nearly as tasty, but the benefits will be evident as you do this consistently and become healthier. Finding healthy food may be difficult, but it is always a good idea to use the internet to assist you. Doing a quick search for healthy restaurants or healthy options at a restaurant can give you some guidance. Also, a talk with your doctor about creating a plan for healthy eating is a great start to creating a very healthy lifestyle!
Can I Habit?
Humans are creatures of habit. We even form routines subconsciously. This is especially true of our eating and sleeping habits. Sometimes our bodies do not know what is best for us, so we begin having strange sleep schedules to stay up and watch the Late Late Show or eat high sugar, high fat, high sodium meals at all hours of the day because it satisfies cravings. People don’t usually form these habits on purpose, but when unhealthy meals are so readily available it makes forming healthy eating habits extremely difficult.
Therefore, forming healthy habits on purpose is important. Rather than breaking old habits, which is nearly impossible, form new ones and the old ones will eventually fade away as your brain pays attention to these new healthy ones. So, how do you do that? The best way to form a habit is repetition, and to remember to repeat the action, you may have to write it down or set a reminder on your phone. Sometimes it may be hard to choose that grilled chicken and veggie plate over a burger and fries, but remember your goal and your reason for choosing health and it will become easier.
Final Thoughts
Your health is incredibly important and it will help you to live a long life with less risk of developing major medical conditions. If you are unsure where to start or how to set your goals, have a conversation with your doctor and do some research to figure out how to create the best healthy lifestyle for yourself!