How to Take Charge of Your Body And Achieve Great #Wellth

#Wellth. Nope, that’s not a typo, but a word mashup. You know, a combo of words put together to mean something new. Examples you’ve likely heard are vlog (video/blog), hangry (hungry/angry), or jeggings (jeans/leggings).

Wellth is a combo of wellness/health and just so happens to sound like wealth. Wow, that makes it a trifecta of a word! If you haven’t heard of it yet, it’s being used by various companies, hashtagged socially everywhere and seems here to stay. Keeping your health is the new wealth, and that is accomplished by taking care of your body both physically and mentally.

Wellth is a main principle of my BodyWell Fit University program, a virtual coaching program that outlines actionable goals and positive lifestyle choices all with the goal to #ownyourwellth. There’s no better time to learn this lesson than as a teen.

Are you wondering why now as a teen, or why you? Well, you work so hard to get good grades, to get into college and maybe grad school, to get a great job, all with the end goal to become an adult who makes enough money to live happily.

But, how can you be happy if you are unhealthy, constantly feel tired, have an aching body, always feel stressed, or, worse, get depressed? Adults today are playing catch up, trying to backtrack or find fixes to be healthy again. More Americans are obese than ever; Alzheimer’s, depression, heart conditions and other diseases are on the rise – perhaps you’ve witnessed this already in your family with parents, grandparents aunts, uncles, etc. But during your teenage years, you still pretty much have a clean slate, and NOW is when you must set good habits and prioritize your health. You have the power to change the health statistics of your generation as adults.

Let me help you shift your mindset a bit more by providing some food for thought.

Every day you make choices. Some are guided by morals, knowing the “right” thing from wrong, like not cheating on a test, robbing a bank, stealing from a store or intentionally harming someone. The morally wrong things often end up with direct negative consequences that can ruin your life, like going to jail or being kicked out of school, so it’s easier not to be tempted.

Other choices are daily choices, like what to eat for lunch, what TV show to watch or who to hang out with. Taken one day at a time, there are no direct negative consequences of the things we choose, but the “wrong” or unhealthy choices DO add up. Daily turns into weekly, into monthly, into years of unhealthy choices, and those can ruin your life.

So why can’t we use that same moral system with consequences to guide your health choices?! You know the right choice, but it’s still easy to find excuses like, “I’m too tired,” or, “I need to socialize with friends,” or “I’ll eat healthier tomorrow.” You need to shift your mindset and forsee the negative consequences now!! Next time you try to justify an unhealthy choice like skipping sleep, being lazy or drinking too much soda, stop and say to yourself, “I am making a choice today that may bring on disease later in life.”

Sounds harsh, and I know you feel awesome today, but here’s the lesson: Lifestyle choices are cumulative and you can’t simply press reset in 10 years. You only get one body, it is up to you to treat it well enough to remain as healthy as possible throughout life.

Here are my tips and takeaways:

1. Goal Set: Look at your health choices from a moral standpoint and set goals for yourself to eat right, sleep well and be active as often as possible. Make a list of reasonable health goals to accomplish for three to five days of the week, and, on the remaining days, make time to have fun, relax and splurge.
2. Research: There are an abundance of trends, diet plans, detoxes, workouts, fitness fads and social media influencers out there. Be sure to do your research!! If it sounds too good to be true it probably is. So Google it or use a process of trial and error, but, most importantly, listen to what your body tells you.
3. Be Independent: Just because your friends like something or see results from it, doesn’t mean it will work for you or that you need to follow the pack. Keep up with lifestyle choices that make you feel great and eliminate those that don’t. Simple.
4. Find Balance: Even when you are overwhelmed, there are ways to fit in both health and fun. It is all about balance. It’s my job as a coach to educate and guide those of you who may need the extra push, so my go-to suggestion is to use a counteractive method. Let’s say for every 30 minutes you spend on social media or electronics/games, you counter with 30 minutes of activity or movement. Or for a meal full of sugary food or junk, you counter with a lot of water and protein or vegetables. If you do it enough, it will become habit and easier to achieve the balance.
5. Take Charge: Make a decision to #ownyourwellth, not someone else’s. Everyone is different; there is no cookie-cutter picture of what health means to YOU, but make it mean something, because the choices YOU make are what will make YOU!

I hope these tips help you with lifestyle decisions during your teenage years. Healthy teens turn into healthy adults who are confident, resilient and successful. My goal is to provide your generation with the motivation, education and tools to succeed and achieve the #wellth you deserve.