With all the festive days behind us, it's time for many to tighten the belt again. Even if your goal isn't to lose weight, it can still be a good choice to start the year with more energy and vitality. New Year's resolutions are beautiful, but unfortunately they don't work for everyone. Changing a habit is not easy, and the secret lies in replacing a restrictive habit with a supportive one. In this article, you will read 10 tips on how to change your lifestyle step by step towards a life with more energy and vitality.

1. Avoid "White" Carbohydrates

White carbohydrates have a bad influence on your blood sugar level. This also significantly increases the risk of diabetes. White carbohydrates include pasta, white bread, sugar, and white rice. When you eat carbohydrates, preferably eat ancient grains as your body can digest them better. Examples of these are quinoa, amaranth, and Kamut.

2. Eat Several Meals and Alternate Them (Don't Deviate)

Many people have the impression that they eat very varied. Write down what you eat every day for a month. The chances are that you will come to the conclusion that the variation is not that great. When you have 5 breakfasts, 5 lunches, and 5 dinners and alternate them, you have 125 (5x5x5) different variations that you can make for a tasty daily menu. This makes life a lot easier and less stressful – after all, you know what you can choose from. Variation has a better effect on your body than when you keep putting the same (type of) food on the table day in, day out.

3. Do NOT Drink Calories

Avoid soft drinks such as cola. In addition to the enormous amount of sugars, these drinks are also incredibly acidic, and drinking even one glass significantly increases the risk of illness. Also, avoid light products. (If you still want to drink soft drinks, you are 'better' off with the sugared version; light products are laced with aspartame, an artificial sweetener that can dramatically increase the risks of cancer. The acidification causes your muscles to feel heavy, making it harder to move. A good and simple alternative is drinking water, between 2.5 and 3.5 liters per day. Water stimulates your detoxification and helps maintain a healthy weight. You strengthen your immune system and reduce the risk of illness.

4. Eat Fiber-Rich Fruit

Fruit contains large amounts of fructose (fruit sugar). This has a significant impact on your blood sugar level and activates your craving for sweet products. When you drink (fresh) juice, there are no or hardly any fibers in it. Fibers ensure a slower absorption of fructose. Therefore, eat fruit and drink juices in moderation. Another option is to make a smoothie, use the whole fruit, including the peel (where possible), or add fibers such as oatmeal, buckwheat, spelt, amaranth, quinoa, and/or chia seeds. Examples of good fruits are pineapple, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries.

5. Eat Everything You Like for One Day a Week

Go wild for 1 day a week! Eat everything you want. Start with a delicious protein-rich breakfast, such as eggs, protein shake, (goat) yogurt, or quark with some muesli. And then eat everything you want, literally! Saturday is my preferred day to go wild. Try which day works best for you. The idea behind this is that you give yourself permission and freedom to go outside your healthy lifestyle. It can sometimes take effort to remain disciplined when it comes to healthy food. By going wild once a week, you fulfil the need to eat, let's say, less healthy food.

6. Do Strength Training

Want to lose weight? Strength training is the foundation. And this doesn't necessarily have to be in the gym! Consider, for example, a Bootcamp, Kettlebell, TRX, or circuit training outdoors.

Also, simple exercises, such as push-ups and planks, or find a personal trainer who will train with you once or multiple times a week. Usually, you do that little extra that helps you achieve the results you want faster, more effectively, and safely.

Always set a goal beforehand; this helps you work more specifically towards your results. Also, be efficient with your time: training for hours is a waste of your time. 45 minutes of strength training is more than enough. More has little extra added value.

7. Do Cardio and Endurance Sports Training

Want to improve your fitness? Want to run, cycle or skate in a competition?If you're a beginner, don't immediately start training for hours untrained - that's a recipe for injuries. There are various running sites on the internet (including Asics, Nike, Adidas) where you can download free schedules.

My experience is that when you have a goal (such as a competition), your motivation to exercise is greater than when you exercise 'ad hoc'. Examples of fun sports activities are the KikaRun, Charity Run, or the cycling tour (Alpe D'huez).

It often works better to train in a group, so look around your area to see if there is a group you can join.

8. More Is Not Always Better

More and/or longer training per session does not necessarily lead to better results. Often you achieve more with short intensive training than sweating and toiling for hours. Short and regular training has more effect than long and irregular.

Training 3 times a week for 30-45 minutes is more effective than 2 hours once a week.See how you can achieve your goals with MIME (Minimal Effort, Maximum Effect). A coach can guide you well in this.

9. Nutrition Is 70% of Your Result

Many people take better care of their car than their own body.Whatever your health goal is: nutrition is the foundation and exercise is the key that sets things in motion. Eat varied, eat lots of proteins and vegetables; this provides the foundation for a healthy and strong body. And also look at superfoods.

10. Exercise Should Be Fun

See which sport is suitable for you. If you do something with reluctance, you increase the chance that you will drop out soon and fall back into old habits.

There are many different ways of exercising. A good example is the number of disciplines you can see at the Olympics. Also look outside the usual ways: trampoline jumping or yoga offers a fun and effective solution for many people to be active and healthy.

The new year offers endless possibilities. Whether you want to achieve more in terms of career, finance, personal growth, or relationships - the foundation is your health. Without your health, you cannot expand any of these areas.

With these 10 tips, you can make this year a great year and achieve more than ever before.

Focus on a healthy mind and body - and live with more energy and vitality.

Do you have a tip to create more energy and vitality? Write your tip below!

To your succes,

Robert