Making our choices sustainable is a huge part of developing and maturing our actions. As Christians, perseverance is part of our DNA and decisions regarding our health are a simple way to stretch that muscle. Steve Uppal and his guests have discussed helpful ways to maintain healthy decisions in our series ‘Healthy Life’. Here are some of the top tips for ‘long haul’ health from the show…
Keeping the vision
It’s much easier to form a healthy habit when you’re passionate about the decisions you’re making. Passion will always beat obligation when it comes to changing our lifestyle. Steve Uppal and his guests had some great tips for reminding ourselves why health and wellness is so important and how to keep going. They all agreed that reminding ourselves why we are doing something is key to wanting to do it – that healthy changes shouldn’t feel like a chore but an enjoyable gift from God.
“The key is not even in how we start and finish. The key is actually having a clear reason why you want to do it and when that reason is clear, then we can actually enjoy the process of doing it,” said personal trainer, Joseph Chivayo. Steve explained that he will bookmark inspiring paragraphs in a book, save short podcast episodes, or sermons that he can listen to. “Keep the vision in front of you all the time,” he explained. Health is a huge part of our worship and effectivity as Christians so bringing it to God and asking the Holy Spirit to make you passionate about being well is a great idea.
Routine and relationships
Rhythms and routine are often a helpful part of the Christian life. From reading and prayer habits, to weekly social occasions, many of our favourite and most beneficial activities follow a pattern. Steve’s wife, Esther, explained that she finds rooting her health choices in routine is a great way to stick to them. She said: “Establishing a routine is really important isn’t it? If you know that you go to a prayer meeting this time every week and so-and-so will be there, so there’s some accountability, that’s helpful. Or you go to the gym with somebody. There’s many times when maybe I don’t want to go to the gym, and Steve’s like: ‘come on we’re going!’” Relationship is also a key part of the Christian life, and as Esther mentioned, having people to encourage you, join you, and who you can be accountable to is a great idea.
Balance is key
Sometimes we can make the mistake of rushing into extreme healthy choices and then quickly burn out, unable to persevere at the same level. This can make us feel like we’ve failed and influence us to quit. Keeping the vision is one way to stay on track, another is balance! We can’t be too hard on ourselves every second of the day, otherwise we’ll run out of confidence. Steve Uppal and personal trainer Joseph Chivayo discuss the importance of starting small and committing to balance in the ‘Long Haul’ episode of Healthy Life.
Joseph said: “People think to be healthy you need to be eating salads everyday – that’s not the case. It’s about having things in moderation.” On discussing their own temptations and difficulties, Joseph admitted: “I’ve got a very sweet tooth. I love sweet things. And I love them to the extent that I’ll actually go into the kitchen and bake myself a good cake and I will eat it!” He emphasised the need for balance with food, exercise and even sleep. We need to be intentional about creating the right environment and meals that will help our body to thrive, and allow us to enjoy a treat, without worry, when we have them.
Photo by Jason Briscoe on Unsplash
