6 Ways to Get Your Health On Track This Year

After spending every waking hour of the past few months working on/thinking about/pouring my heart into creating the 21 Day Vegetarian Reset, I’ve had healthy habits on my mind.

Being in school, I know how hard it can be to balance school and health, so today I’m sharing a few of my favorite tips for really getting your health on track so that you can make this the year. The year you keep your resolutions, stop making excuses, and take your health above and beyond where you ever thought you could.

1. Start today

The best day to start making a change is today. Waiting for the perfect day to start is like waiting for the stars to align; it’s completely out of your control. Part of what makes taking back your health so great is you’re choosing to take control over your future through you health. Are you really going to wait around for that?

2. Plan for success

Having a plan for what you’ll eat in a given day/week will help tremendously with saving time, money, and will power (which may otherwise be spent tempted by the lure of quick and thoughtless fast food meals). At the beginning of each week, jot down a few things you want to eat that week. What will you have for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks? Having a plan will help to keep you on track, so you can grocery shop more efficiently and keep you from settling for fast food or take-out.

3. Become a Meal Prep Goddess

Meal prepping doesn’t have to involve picture-perfect stacks of food-filled containers, beautifully portioned in rainbow uniformity. Meal prepping is simply doing a big batch of work on one day, so you can do less throughout the week. If you’re planning to eat veggies as a side dish or for snacks, chop them all up on your meal prep day. Are you into smoothies? Chop up all the fruit, throw them in a bag with a handful of leafy greens, and freeze for even quicker smoothies in the morning.

Some of my meal prep essentials include: these containers, wide-mouth mason jars, a vegetable spiralizer, a mandoline slicer, and freezer-safe bags (and if you sign up for Amazon Prime Student, you can get it all with free two-day shipping + get exclusive college deals).

4. Figure out what motivates you

There are two general steps to becoming and staying motivated:

1. Figure out your motivation (i.e. lose weight, run a mile without stopping, stop eating so damn many cheeseburgers)
2. Figure out how to keep yourself motivated

The answer to step 1 is probably pretty easy, but step 2 is the tricky one. You need to find a way to keep that motivation alive, and the key to that lies in a certain personality trait you have. Basically, there are four types of people when it comes to motivation:

• Obligers: Motivated by accountability. They wake up and think, “What do I need to do today?“
• Upholders: Motivated by getting things accomplished. They wake up and think, “What’s on the to-do list today?“
• Questioners: Motivated by reason, and hate spending time on things they don’t agree with. They wake up and think, “What needs to get done today?“
• Rebels: Motivated by self-determination and freedom. They wake up and think, “What do I want to do today?“

So obligers might motivate themselves to stay healthy by telling a friend about their goal of staying healthy to help them feel accountable to sticking with it. Upholders might put their plan on a to-do list, so they can feel accomplished by “getting it done”. Find out which type you are and learn more about the four Rubin Tendencies here.

5. Learn on the go

When it comes to nutrition, knowledge is power. If you’re serious about stepping up your health game this year, learn about it! But life is busy and books require an attention span that I just do not have at this moment in my life, so that’s were audio books come in. With audio books, you can listen and learn about food and health while you drive, clean, cook…whenever! Some of my favorites: The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Case Against Sugar, .

(With Amazon Prime Student, you can get unlimited listening to original audio series with Audible. Whether you’re listening to a TED talk on your way to class or decompressing from a busy week with comedy, Audible Channels is a super great addition to Prime Student benefits that’s helped me to be a healthier, smarter human!)

6. Practice 1% Infinity

Lindsey and Bjork, power couple behind Pinch of Yum, coined a notion that I love: 1% infinity. You don’t need to become leaps and bounds better at something overnight, but if you can become just 1% better everyday, and keep doing that day after day, you’ll look back in a year and be amazed at how far you’ve come. So whether it’s running more miles, eating more vegetables, drinking more water…you name it, if you can just get a little better everyday, you’ll get there.

I was selected for this opportunity as a member of CLEVER and the content and opinions expressed here are all my own.