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Everyone wants to be healthy and happy, but many people go about it the wrong way. Instead of focusing on making health into a natural and effortless part of their every-day lifestyle, they try to use sheer willpower to force themselves through different, painful practices that they’ll sooner or later be tempted to quit.

But people are driven more by habit than by incredible efforts of will. Here’s a look at how to introduce some good, healthy habits into your life starting today.

Get physically active every day

Setting yourself the goal of spending an hour in the gym every day may work for a while, but there’ll be the inevitable day when you find yourself too busy, too tired, or just too distracted to follow through.

Instead of setting yourself a specific exercise goal, set yourself the goal of being physically active every day. This can mean anything from taking a short walk to jogging on the spot to going to the gym for 3 hours or running a marathon — though if you’re running a lot, you might want to click here for some good anti-blister supplies.

The key is that it’s an easy habit to stick with every day, even when you don’t feel like it. Being physically active in one way will also make you feel motivated to be more physically active in general.

Prepare all your food from scratch

People argue a lot about different diet styles, and which one might be the best. One thing that all experts and scientists agree on, though, is that processed food is by and large terribly unhealthy, filled with potentially harmful additives, and at the heart of many modern health problems.

An excellent health-habit is to cut out all processed foods — anything you buy “ready-made” — and to prepare all your own food from scratch. That way you’ll know whether or not there’s a teaspoon of sugar in your dish, instead of being tricked into eating large amounts of toxic high-fructose corn syrup.

Eat foods that leave you feeling energetic

Energy is one of the most important things for good overall health, because the more energetic we feel, the more active we’re likely to be, physically and mentally, and the happier as well.

If you find that you’re always falling asleep right after each meal, this not only means that you probably struggle to be productive and positive each day, but it also means that your food is too heavy on your body and is taking a lot of energy to digest.

Save the heavy meals for special occasions, and try to eat foods that leave you feeling energetic on a daily basis, instead of ones that seem to drain your energy.

Read something uplifting every day

The mind is just as important as the body when it comes to health, and like the body, the mind is affected by the kind of “fuel” we give it.

While the body is fuelled by food and drink, the mind is fuelled by the things you read, say, watch, and hear.

If you want to promote healthy, positive and happy thoughts, it’s essential that you give your mind something positive to reflect on every day. A great place to start is by reading something uplifting every day. This could be an upbeat fable or a real-life story of someone succeeding against the odds.