By Rachel Grunwell (wellness coach)

The hardest part of starting a wellness journey is choosing to start. It’s the part where you decide to jump and commit to doing something.

This takes courage.

It also starts with self-love. You have to care about yourself, know that you matter and know that you deserve to take time out to nourish your body, mind and soul.

I do wellness coaching for people who want to work on either how they move, eat, sleep or manage stress. Sometimes people come to me with one goal, but end up realising that they’d like to work on some other things along the way. I can help anyone work on their nutrition, weight management, achieve a run goal or start a weight-lifting programme, to working on ways to manage stress or get more zzzzzzz at night.

Whatever part of your wellness you wish to work on… starting is everything. Choose any aspect and work on one small step at a time. One step builds over time and elevates your health.

Here are some ideas to start!

  1. Be body fit. ie move your body in a way that resonates with you that you enjoy and love. It could be walking with a friend at lunchtime, going for bike rides with your kids, attending a gym, running, swimming, dancing… whatever you like. Just move. It strengthens your bones, muscles and is healthy for your mind too. It helps you feel happy and alive and is a foundation for your mental health. If you have trouble sleeping… then this can be helpful for this too.
  2. Restrict your feeding window (time restricted eating, or also known as intermittent fasting) is a weight management strategy that’s worth giving a go. It could be as simple as finishing eating by 7pm at night and then not eating again until 7am the next day. You may not realise it, but you could be eating for 16-18 hours of the day and this trap of grazing non-stop is an easy trap to fall into. This strategy can stop us from over fuelling on too many calories.
  3. Not eating by the clock is another idea. We are not robots and programmed to be hungry at the exact time every day. Eat if you are hungry. If you aren’t then maybe wait a bit longer. For example, if I have had a big breakfast out with friends then I might not be hungry again until 1pm-ish. So I check in on how I feel and I’m guided by a more mindful-eating approach.
  4. Cut fruit juice. Drink water instead and the good news is this is free. Water is also free of sugar. There can be so many calories hidden in those soft drinks which give us a high, then a low.
  5. Move your body 150 minutes weekly. Get your heart rate up. Yes, I’m finishing with another movement idea because I’m so passionate about getting people moving. It helps us to look good, but importantly feel good. Ideally do this in nature if you can where you can soak up the sights and escape your never-ending to-do list!
  6. Lastly here’s a recipe for that smoothie pictured.
Add into a blender: 1 cup of milk of your choice, 1 banana (skin removed, of course), 1 scoop of protein powder (I use Clean Lean Protein by NuZest which is vegan and contains no nasties). Use the code INSPIRED to get 20% discount via nuzest.co.nz. 1 cup of strawberries (I use frozen Pams berries from my supermarket!)

Blitz this in your blender and then pour into a glass to enjoy! #ad #brandpartner #nuzest