I can remember my Nana saying that ‘A little of what you fancy does you good’ as a child. She wasn’t wrong. I’ve been dieting since I was a teenager and I can safely say that there are a few things you can easily do to live a little healthier that’ll have a massive impact.

Healthy Living Tips

1. Get plenty of sleep. Sleep is your best friend whether you’re trying to lose weight, have enough energy at the end of the day to exercise or just make yourself feel a bit better. This can be difficult if your sleep is disturbed. When I was really stressed, I would wake up between 15-20 times a night. Not great. Even now, most nights I have to get up for a night time wee. Yep. Pretty much every night! There are lots of things you can do to help you get to sleep, but make sure you go to bed early enough, read before bedtime (and I don’t mean Twitter!) and try taking some deep breaths to help your body know it’s time to relax.

2. Eat as much veg as you can. Seriously, since doing the Feeling Fabulous Course, I can’t promote this enough. It’s great for your skin, your energy levels, your insides, but for me, when I eat lots of veg, I just feel lighter. In order for this to happen, I plan my meals like they are a military operation, write a comprehensive shopping list and stick to the meal plan. I do plan a treat meal once a week, which is usually a take away, but most meals are made from scratch, with the main focus on getting as much veg into my system as possible.

3. Exercise because it makes you feel better. Don’t go to the gym, workout for an hour and then go home and eat crap because you’ve burned all those calories. Work out because it’s good for your body and your mind. You’ll get a rush of good hormones, a boost of energy and it’ll make you walk taller. If you hate exercise, you’re doing the wrong sort. Find something you like, whether it’s swimming, a workout DVD or gardening. For me, I like nothing more than walking Poppy. So I do that three times a day and then try to do something else as well, as I sit down all day. Getting out in the fresh air is so important for making you feel better.

4. Make time for the things you love. If you love reading, knitting, talking on the phone, watching trash TV, whatever, make sure you set aside time to do it. If not, you’ll start to hate everything that gets in your way of doing it. Have a look through your day plan – is there something that you can cut to make sure you fit in the thing you love? Do it. You won’t regret it. No one says ‘I wish I spent more time working’. If they did, they clearly didn’t have an ace hobby!

5. Keep on learning. I love to learn new things. I always try and have a course on the go, whether it’s a free one on FutureLearn, a hand lettering class on SkillShare or something completely different like the Paper Love ecourse on Paperphilia, learning new things keeps our brains and creative juices going.

These are just a few things that help me make sure I’m living healthily. Having a balance of work and play is so important in this day and age where everything is 24/7. I’ve worked 14 hour days and it’s not fun and it’s certainly not good for you. I’m all about making sure I’ve got enough time to play – those Harry Potter films aren’t going to watch themselves! How about you? What do you do to make sure you’re living healthily?