The start of a new year is a great time to reflect and check-in with yourself. Have you been taking care of yourself throughout the holiday season? Are you feeling stressed, low on energy or tired of always feeling near the end of your rope?
Now is a great time to prioritize your well-being! This is one of the greatest gifts we can give to ourselves and our loved ones, especially as we face life challenges. It will not only improve our quality of life, but also the quality of life of those closest to us.
You might be wondering . . . how do I do this? Where do I start?
A healthier lifestyle starts with identifying how you want to feel. What is your biggest motivator? Do you want to have more energy throughout your day? Do you want to boost your mood? Do you want to be able to show up in a slightly better place for your loved ones? Take some time to reflect on how you want to feel and what it would look like to experience a day feeling that way.
Are you feeling motivated to live a healthy lifestyle? If so, you are in the right place.! Leading a healthy lifestyle simply means taking small steps to achieve your ultimate goal of how you want to feel. Leading a healthy lifestyle isn’t about being perfect, restricting ourselves or making “good” or “bad” decisions – it’s about making small choices each day that will help us feel the way we want to feel.
Leading a healthy lifestyle has other benefits besides feeling better each day; it can reduce our risk of a multitude of diseases, including breast cancer. Risk reduction means lowering our chances of getting a disease rather than completely removing the risk. Just like we brush our teeth daily to reduce our risk of getting cavities, there’s still a chance we can get cavities even though we brush our teeth every day. Breast cancer is the same way. There is no sure way to prevent breast cancer, but we can help reduce our risk and improve how much we enjoy our lives in the process.
Here are some ways to feel great and reduce your risk of breast cancer. Remember, start small by picking ONE small thing you can do today.
- Limit alcohol intake.
- Make exercise part of your routine.
- Increase your fruit and vegetable consumption.
- Achieve and maintain a healthy weight.
- Limit menopausal hormone therapy.
- Breastfeed, if you can.
Whew, that is a lot of things! Our hope is this list gives you some inspiration but doesn’t overwhelm you. Start with picking ONE thing you think will benefit you the most or help you feel your best. Make a small, feasible goal that you can accomplish today or tomorrow. Then, and most importantly, reflect on how you felt after accomplishing that goal. For example, if you decide to go for a 10-minute walk, how did you feel afterwards? Did you feel more energized? Work on repeating this small goal again and again. That’s how it will become a habit. Once you have successfully made that goal a habit, pick another item from the list above and start the process over with this second goal. This will help you achieve AND maintain a healthy lifestyle, long-term. We are much more likely to succeed by starting with one goal than making 15 goals at the beginning of the new year, getting overwhelmed because our goals aren’t feasible and then giving up by February.
To learn more about how these lifestyle choices may reduce your risk of breast cancer, visit our healthy lifestyle page.
