There are so many things we can do to live healthier every day, but some are harder than others. What we all really want is the easiest things that will give us the most bang for our buck! 

We all know the usual recommendations… don’t drink soda, work out 3-5 days/week, blah blah blah. While those are great, there are sooo many other things we can do that are good for us AND have a huge impact on your health!

Introducing: Health Hacks! Here are 13 things you can easily do every day that will help you develop healthy habits!

1.) Drink 16 oz of water when you first wake up.

After going 8-9 hours (hopefully) without a sip of water while you sleep, you’ll naturally be a little dehydrated in the morning. It’s best to do damage control right away, rather than waiting until after breakfast to drink water.

Additionally, drinking water first thing will jump-start your metabolism and make it more effective! That’s right… your metabolism will WORK BETTER just by drinking water. Pick up that glass, your body will thank you!

2.) Keep water with you throughout the day so you’re more likely to drink it.

In addition to drinking water first thing in the morning, you should also be consistently drinking water throughout the day. Whether it’s at your desk, in the car, on the coffee table, etc. – try to be an arms reach to a water bottle at all times! If it’s not there, let’s be real, it won’t happen. 

There are a million different formulas out there telling you how much water you should be drinking. Lucky for us, our wonderful bodies tell us everything we need to know: pay attention the next time you go to the bathroom… Your urine should be mostly clear, with a slight yellow tint. If it’s very yellow or even a little cloudy, it’s telling you to drink more water. If it’s completely clear, you may be drinking too much water. Your pee don’t lie

*Drinking things like caffeine or alcohol may alter the color of your urine and won’t give you an accurate representation of your hydration!*

3.) Eat a larger lunch and a smaller dinner.

Your metabolism slows down at night, so eating a big meal when it’s late will impact your body differently than if you were to eat it earlier in the day. It won’t have much time to digest before you lay down to go to sleep, and then it will just sit there. All night.

By eating your big meal during lunch, you give yourself plenty of time to properly digest it. This is actually a popular practice in Mediterranean countries! Give it a try and see what happens!

4.) Brush your teeth after dinner so you’re less likely to snack.

If you find yourself snacking when you aren’t even hungry, try brushing your teeth. It’s a good signal to your brain that you’re done eating!

You can have your dentist thank me later

5.) Eat in 12-hour increments.

This is a form of intermittent fasting, which focuses on when you eat rather than what you eat.

This means you eat for 12 hours and then don’t eat for the next 12 hours. We’d recommend 7am-7pm or 8am-8pm as we’ve seen this be the most beneficial. During the 12 hour fasting period you can have water and zero-calorie tea, but try not to consume calories.

During those eating hours you don’t need to do anything different than your typical eating routine. Eat your meals as you normally would, just do it within a 12-hour window!

If you want to take it one step further you can increase your fasting time by an hour or two. But we don’t recommend doing any more than a 16/8 intermittent fast (meaning you fast for 16 hours and eat for 8 hours) without physician supervision.

6.) Once you become hungry, wait 30 minutes before you eat.

It’s easy to confuse hunger with just not being full. But they’re actually not the same thing…

Most of us have trained our minds to think that anything less than full means we’re hungry, and therefore we should eat something. When you think about it… how often have you been offered food and thought to yourself, “Yeah, I could eat”??

But “I could eat” doesn’t necessarily mean “I should eat”.

Most of us have gotten so used to eating before we get actually hungry that if we wait too long and experience true hunger, we don’t know how to handle it. We get “hangry” and shove the first bit of food we can find into our mouths. This can lead to more drive thru stops, more snacking, and more food in general.

7.) If running is hard on your joints, find an alternate cardio workout.

Lifting weights and strength training is so crucial, but cardio also has its place.

There are so many ways you can increase your heartrate without joint pain! Walk on an incline and increase the incline as you get stronger. Ride a stationary bike or use the elliptical and increase the resistance as you get stronger. Jump in the pool. Or take your dog on long walks! 

Even just 5-10 minutes will have your body thanking you! It’s easy to make excuses for yourself, but when you find something you enjoy, it’s easier to stick with it. 

8.) Redefine exercise: think movement.

What if you approached exercise as moving your body in a fun way? Moving in a way that brings you happiness is so great for the mind, body, and soul!

This could be anything from dancing to your favorite song, gardening, playing a game – or even more traditional workouts that you just genuinely enjoy. If you love what you’re doing and you look forward to it, you’re waayyy more likely to make this part of your regular routine!

Here’s what joyful movement looks like for our team…

• Stephanie – Going on walks with my husband and my dog!
• Tyler – Dance parties and dog walks

9.) Explore the “health and fitness” section in your phone’s app store.

There are a ton of fantastic (and free) apps to help with your workouts, nutrition, sleep, etc. Basically all things wellness.  Whether you want help finding healthy recipes, thinking of workouts, meditation guides… there’s an app (or a blog ) for that!

Make sure to check out the ratings and reviews beforehand so you know you’re getting what you’re looking for. In the beginning it might be best to try the free ones first. If, after using it for a while, you decide to upgrade to a paid version, great. But there’s no need to spend tons of money while you’re still figuring out what works best for you! 

10.) Follow motivational material on social media.

This is the new school version of taping up motivational quotes or images on your mirror. (Wait… I still do that too 😂)

We all spend a good amount of time on social media each day. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Pinterest (Stephanie’s personal favorite), or blogs. So why not get a daily dose of inspiration whenever you log in?

Take a couple of minutes and follow some health and wellness accounts on your favorite social media apps. If you have inspiration coming up on your feed every day it will keep your eye on the prize!

11.) Take the stairs instead of the elevator/escalator when possible.

How many things do we do without thinking, not because they’re the best option for us, but just because that’s what we’ve always done? That question just makes our minds run wild 🤯

Next time you see an elevator, challenge yourself to find the stairs!

You can go a lot of different directions with this idea: parking further away from the entrance, hop on your bike for short distances, or use the bathroom that’s farthest away.

12.) Plan out your week and make a detailed grocery list.

We’ve found that if we don’t plan out meals, we end up winging it… which usually looks like microwavable meals, take-out, or just munching on a bag of chips. Have you ever found yourself wandering up and down every aisle in the store, putting everything that looks yummy in your cart with no rhyme or reason? This leads to 1.) overspending and buying things you don’t need, 2.) wasting food because you don’t eat it before it goes bad, and 3.) choosing less healthful options than if you had a plan. 

Try grocery shopping once a week on a schedule. Write down all your meals for the week AND all the ingredients you’ll need. Then cross-check it with what you already have, and there’s your grocery list! We’ve created this weekly meal plan and grocery list template to help!

This way you are only buying what you know you’ll use that week. Not only will you save money on your grocery bills, but also reduce food waste! Win-win! 🥳

 13.) Eat before you go to the grocery store.

Girl, I cannot stress this enough. DO. NOT. GO. TO. THE. GROCERY. STORE. WHEN. YOU’RE. HUNGRY.

We’ve all been there. Getting hangry as we walk through the store, salivating at all the snacks we want to shove in our faces. Then suddenly your cart is full of ice cream, pizza rolls, chips, candy, etc. (Please tell us we’re not the only one here, lol) 

Even if it’s not a full meal, have at least have some crackers and hummus, nuts, or something light before you go. Your wallet and your goals will thank you! Being hungry in the grocery store just doesn’t allow you to be intentional with your food choices. 

We hope this helps! If you have any other health hacks that work for you please let us know! We’d love to hear about your experience!