3 Healthy Eating Habits for Adults to Promote Good Heart Health

Hello friends! Since February is the month of love, I thought it would be super loving to dedicate the month to blessing our own hearts. That’s right, I’m doing a Healthy Eating Habit Challenge during the entire month of February! This will be a free, self-guided challenge that can make a big difference in your life as we focus on healthy eating habits for adults. Wanna join? Simply download the challenge guide here:

GET THE GUIDE

The Motivation:

The American Heart Association (AHA) has outlined 8 heart healthy habits, or measures, that we should all be aware of. They call them “Life’s Essential 8“, and you can use them to improve and/or maintain heart health. Per the AHA, “better cardiovascular health helps lower the risk for heart disease, stroke, and other major health problems.”

Here are the 8 measures:

1. Eat Better
2. Be More Active
3. Quit Tobacco
4. Get Healthy Sleep
5. Manage Weight
6. Control Cholesterol
7. Manage Blood Sugar
8. Manage Blood Pressure

Since we can’t focus on all of these heart healthy habits at once, I chose the first one as the focus for February—Healthy Eating! But if you’d like to dig deeper into some of the other areas, please check out my previous blog posts about being more active, and getting more sleep for some great tips.

Importance of Healthy Eating Habits:

Trust me, I didn’t randomly choose this focus area! Establishing healthy eating habits can benefit you in many ways. First, if you think of your body as an engine, your engine needs high-quality fuel in order to thrive. Your diet is the fuel, which will determine the types of macronutrients, micronutrients, vitamins, and minerals that go into your body. Second, proper nutrition helps your body repair itself and regenerate. This is exactly why professional athletes have a keen focus on their nutrition. Last, your food environment (how you purchase, store, and consume your food) can drastically impact how you navigate food-related behaviors such as cooking and eating. Having a mindful approach to what and how you eat is incredibly important.

The Healthy Eating Habit Challenge

Now that you know the importance of healthy eating habits, let’s talk about the challenge! During the month of February, we’ll segment the habit of “Eating Better” as follows: 1) eat more plants, 2) eat more protein, and 3) eat mindfully. We’ll focus on each segment on a specific day of the week, and use the challenge guide to walk through the task of the day.

Here’s a snapshot of the month:

And here’s a synopsis of each day:

Healthy Eating Habit #1: Eat More Plants

When: Mondays

Why: Americans consume only half of the daily recommended fruit and vegetable intake. These foods provide vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and fiber, so over the next four weeks, this will be one of our goals!

How: Every Monday for the next four weeks, focus on establishing this new habit which will help you increase your fruit and vegetable intake.

Healthy Eating Habit #2: Prioritize Protein

When: Wednesdays

Why: Most Americans consume enough protein. However, some of us have greater protein needs to build muscle, promote muscle recovery and encourage optimal health. Additionally, a lot of protein is sourced from fatty meats and processed snack foods. We will aim to optimize not only your protein intake but also the quality of it!

How: Every Wednesday for the next four weeks, focus on establishing this new habit which will help you optimize your protein intake.

Healthy Eating Habit #3: Eat Mindfully

When: Saturdays

Why: When we set out to improve our healthy eating habits, we can often put all of our attention toward the calories, macronutrients, weighing and tracking our food, etc. We often forget to look inward at our relationship with food.

How: Every Saturday for the next four weeks, focus on establishing this new habit which will be an easy weekender to help you improve your relationship with food.

Your Commitment

The good news: this challenge will be self-guided, so we won’t have virtual check-ins or Zoom calls. All you have to do is download the challenge guide and follow along. In addition, I will be sending supplemental information via my newsletters in February. By downloading the free challenge guide, you’ll also sign up to receive those newsletters as well!

The not-so-good news: self-guided means self-directed. It will be up to you to stay on track with the tasks each week if you want to establish long-lasting habits. But you can do it! And, my newsletters will help you stay motivated too.

So are you ready to get started? Here are your next steps:

1. Mentally commit to doing this challenge for the month of February
2. Download the challenge guide by clicking the button below.
3. Give me your written commitment: add a comment below and simply say “I’m in!”

GET THE GUIDE

And one more thing. If you’re reading this after the challenge has started, don’t be discouraged! You can still participate in the challenge on your own time. Here’s what you can do: simply create a new monthly calendar for yourself with the same focus days that I’ve outlined above. Because this is a self-guided challenge, you can start it when your schedule allows.

I hope you’re as excited as I am to do this challenge, friend! Get ready to literally bless your heart as you make positive changes in your heart health this coming month.

Have a good one and I’ll be in touch soon!

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