Get the right morning habits to stay on the healthy eating wagon – in 5 steps

Feeling GREAT is the point of your healthy morning habits. Discover how much you accomplish, how much better you eat, and how much joy you experience when you wake up to a healthy morning routine.

UGH! My morning routine needed some tweaking. That handheld computer called an iPhone can totally destroy a sense of focus, calm, and energy.

Do you feel me?

My morning sets the tone for the next 16 or so hours. And I want those hours to be productive, joyful, filled with intention and packed with good health habits. No way would I have the energy and focus for healthy meals, exercise and the necessary portion control hacks for chocolately goodness if I didn’t carve out intentional time in my day.

Now and then, bad habits creep into my quiet time and derail my healthy morning habits. Then it’s time to focus, reassess, and tweak that morning routine. Again.

Yes, your healthy morning habits play a big role in your diet and health

I’ve helped many clients develop healthy morning habits too. And often, they were surprised that my focus was on something other than food and activity.

But all our habits are connected!

Some clients meditate. Others pray. Some write in a journal, listen to classical music, practice yoga, recite affirmations. Like me, they’re in awe that something so simple is so powerful in helping them manage their weight, diabetes, prediabetes, blood pressure or cholesterol levels and otherwise keep them on the healthy bandwagon.

The key? Do it consistently.

Let a healthy morning routine jumpstart good habits all day

Your routine can be anything you want it to be.

Mine has changed over the years, but centers around quiet time to myself, conversations with my husband and a jog before breakfast. And coffee. Always coffee.

Recently, my phone barged in and dominated my morning! Not once, but day after day. Email, Facebook, Instagram, weather forecast, news headlines. UGH! This new practice quietly crept in and set the wrong tone for my day! My morning routine needed some tweaking.

Turn your morning routine into a ritual

A ritual is a nuanced approach to a routine. A ritual has a deeper meaning than simply fulfilling a task. You may have a set routine in the morning that helps you get out of bed and start your day. With a simple routine, you run on autopilot. But a ritual is something you do with greater awareness, and it has a side benefit – like feeling centered or energized or filling you with a sense of purpose.

While running on autopilot can help you move quickly, sometimes your autopilot destroys your diet or sets you up to become oblivious to your overall goals.

Photo credit: Dex Ezekiel

A morning ritual can help you to eat better, work better, exercise better and more. By reminding yourself of your values and goals, you’re better able to practice self-care. That’s not so easy to do when you start your day in a hazey rush, is it?

As long as we’re getting organized, take a look at how a bedtime routine can help you ease into a soothing sleep. It was written specifically for people with diabetes, but most of it is pertinent to all of us.

5 steps to starting meaningful healthy morning habits

These 5 steps can help you rock your day.

1. Gift yourself extra time. I know, I know. You’re already time-crunched. But here’s what I also know: The busier you are, the more you need time to yourself and the more your healthy morning habits or ritual will do for you. If you need to, get up earlier – even by just a few minutes. But also save time by setting out your clothes or breakfast dishes the night before. Remind yourself and others in the house that your morning time is important time. Your morning ritual is a gift to yourself.
2. Pick an activity or two. Let your mind wander through your past to find activities you’ve previously enjoyed and found meaningful. Do you like to meditate, write in a gratitude journal, walk along the beach, read essays? Has something recently intrigued you? Be creative and open to new things. It’s just an experiment.
3. Pick a time for your ritual. I prefer to start my day with my morning ritual. You may want to wait a bit until your kids have gone to school or your spouse is walking the dog. Or spending time with your kids or spouse may even be part of your morning ritual. It all depends on how you view it. Remember what sets a ritual apart from a simple routine is that a ritual has a deeper meaning and it’s done with intention.
4. Give it a trial run. Like with any other important habit, maintaining a meaningful morning ritual takes time and effort. Try something out for a few days and change it up as necessary. Accept that you may have to try a few things before you find the healthy morning routine you look forward to every day.
5. Be consistent. Keep at it, and protect your morning ritual. Guard it like any other health habit. Don’t skip it when you’re short on time. Instead, modify it for the time you do have. Now and then, my schedule forces me to cut my ritual down to just a few minutes of quiet thinking time. And sometimes that’s in the shower, but I gift myself that time and awareness. Otherwise thinking in the shower would be nothing more than part of a rushed routine.

My current healthy morning routine

These days, I’m back to writing in a journal while I sip strong black coffee. I remind myself about what truly matters and tell myself to be intentional all day. I want to notice and absorb the good things around me – a silly dog playing with a soccer ball, a nice chat with my daughters, the warmth and satisfaction of strong black coffee. And that’s a beautiful way to start my day!

Way better than fiddling with a handheld computer that aims to dominate my life.

Cheers to a beautiful start to your day!