Healthy living the ultimate guide

In Healthy Living the Ultimate Guide we discover just how healthy became hip and why it’s time to join the party!

Healthy living is cool! Late nights out clubbing and rock ‘n’ roll behaviour has been surpassed by clean eating, green juices and yoga; that might not sound as cool, but I assure you, the new healthy living scene is the place to be seen.

This guide to healthy living covers:

1. Instagram’s impact

2. Friends in healthy places

3. Staying in is the new going out

4. Strong not skinny

5. Healthy fun

6. Healthy eating became easy

7. Healthy living looks good!

8. There’s an app for that

9. Healthy habits

 

Instagram’s impact

Yet again, the social media platform can be credited in part for healthy living’s makeover. Thanks to the flood of influencers sharing their healthy habits, meals, workouts and mantras it’s now better to be seen with a protein shake in your hand than a glass of fizz.

With the majority of millennials taking their health and fitness advice more and more from their peers online, Instagram is the place to get your #fitspo and it’s where the #fitfam hang out.

Influencers with the biggest followings tend to post motivating memes and mantras, before and after pics, their workouts and healthy meals along with enviable abs shots.

Our virtual friendships can have a huge effect on our habits. On average we spend 1 hour and 20 minutes on social media networks every day, that’s a whole 80 minutes when we’re soaking up subliminal messages.

From food sharing apps that allow users to snap a picture of meals and then post to Facebook or Twitter, to our fit friends who fill our news feeds with endless shots of their workouts, our online life can be an effective healthy-living aid.
  

Friends in healthy places

Surprisingly a huge factor in the success of a new healthy regime is your friendships. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found that individuals who had one or more friends who were obese increased their own risk of becoming obese by 57 per cent!

Whereas being besties with someone who’s been successful in their healthy-living endeavours can help motivate you, a study by the University of Buffalo revealed.

A recent study taken by the University of Birmingham found that seeing those around you eat healthy food encourages you to do the same. University students who were showed posters displaying healthy messages around students’ diet habits were more inclined to then pick healthy foods during a taste test, compared with participants who were shown a poster with general facts about the university, who were less likely to reach for the nutritious options. Essentially, the study demonstrates that we are unconsciously influenced by what those around us do.
  

Staying in is the new going out

We’ve all been familiar with FOMO (the Fear Of Missing Out), which is usually induced by seeing pics of all your mates having THE BEST time without you, but FOMO has taken a back seat this year to its more chilled-out cousin JOMO – that’s the Joy Of Missing Out. Yes, really!

According to a survey by Deliveroo a third of Brits are coming up with excuses at least once a month to avoid going out! Washing your hair? Us too! Nights in curled up on the sofa, nattering with friends or catching up over a meal in with the fam is steadily proving to be one of our favourite ways to unwind.

Because weekends don’t now immediately conjure up the desire to drink ALL the wine and binge on takeaways, more and more of us are looking for easy ways to stay healthy on the weekend and healthy dinner party ideas.
  

Strong not skinny

With #strongnotskinny being one of Instagram’s most popular hashtags, this mantra has been pivotal in the more widespread acceptance of women lifting weights.

The WHL team have been lifting weights for EVER, we’ve been banging on about the major benefits of pumping iron for years – find out why we love weight training so much.

The female weight-training trend shows no signs of slowing down and it shouldn’t! Not only is weight training one of the best ways to burn fat, it helps relieve stress, builds stronger bones, boosts your strength and fitness and improves your balance and stability.

If you’re still not convinced, read our 5 myths about weight training and if you’re already committed to weight training, discover why you should be lifting heavier weights for even better body gains.
  

Healthy fun!

For a healthy lifestyle to work day to day it has to fit in with the lifestyle you already have. That’s why healthy living is booming, it encompasses everything, from healthy festivals to booze-free morning raves with brunch with the girls in between.

Not heard of Morning Gloryville? Where have you been hiding?! At the vanguard of dancey, alcohol-free fun the guys behind Morning Gloryville sure know how to put on a show!

Since launching in 2013 Morning Gloryville has had a global impact, with its well-known raves now taking place in over 20 countries. If you’re after an uplifting morning of raving, green juices and barefoot yoga, all to music from dance acts like Rudimental and DJs like Basement Jaxx, then be sure to look out for the next offering from the MG team.

If your ‘night’ out being turned on its head into a ‘morning’ out sounds good, then how about news of a more healthy festival scene, too? From these 6 amazing festivals you didn’t know existed and 5 of the best wellness festivals, to city-based fitness festivals like Be:Fit, Balance Festival and Fare Healthy – healthy living is having a real moment!
  

Healthy eating became easy

Because healthy eating has become easier, naturally healthy living has, too. You’re no longer restricted to a few paltry, poor-tasting choices when you’re out and about; now more than ever, if you’re after a nutritious, filling meal, snack or even drink, you only need to visit your average UK high street to find it.

The healthy-eating scene has exploded! From high street favourites like Pod and Pret setting the bar pretty high, to Insta stars setting up their own delis and restaurants (Deliciously Ella’s Mae Deli and the Hemsley sisters’ Hemsley + Hemsley Cafe in Selfridges, for example) – making healthy choices when you’re out with friends or even eating on-the-go just got a whole lot easier. Here are the best places to get your healthy food fix.

Those of us who suffer from a food intolerance also got a boost! If you follow a free-from diet there’s now literally hundreds of brands to choose from and loads of high street chains clearly cater for gluten-free, vegetarian and dairy-free, some even offering great vegan options, too – check out our best places to eat with an allergy for ideas. Here are 5 dairy-free products we love and tips on how to go gluten free. Enjoy!
  

Healthy living looks good!

Thanks to our new obsession with healthy living, working out and eating well there’s been an explosion in the sports and athleisure apparel market. Not only have all the global brands upped their game in the performance and style stakes in recent years but every week exciting new apparel and accessories brands appear on our radar and start to make their mark too. From fashion grad-turned-PT like Charli Cohen, whose sport luxe collections tick all the boxes, to brands with a really ethical focus like Vyayama; whether you’re perfecting your downward dog or smashing out a HIIT session, getting your fitness fix in style has never been easier.
  

There’s an app for that

Trying to pursue a healthier lifestyle while surgically attached to your smartphone may seem counterproductive – we all know the warnings about too much screen time – but thanks to the myriad apps available to help track and boost your health and fitness, a little bit of screen time can have big benefits.

Head to the app store and pick up the healthy apps you need in your life and make sure your phone is working out as hard as you for those body and mind gains. From apps that help you meditate and provide daily recipe inspo, to those that track your sleep – yep, we didn’t get enough either! – there really is an app for almost every element of a healthy lifestyle.

Check out our pick of the best apps to boost fitness; apps for food intolerances; the best food planning apps; and the best apps to improve your health. Get tapping!
  

Healthy habits

Wherever you are on your journey to a healthier lifestyle, progress is progress, however small. Every day you make a choice to pull on your trainers and work out is a day worth celebrating!

It only takes 21 days for a new habit to stick, and when it does, it’s there for good and your new healthy approach is yours for keeps. It’s not meant to be easy but it is worth it.

All the small changes you make, that’s to your diet, fitness, relationships, sleep or stress levels, really do add up to some impressive changes. So whether it’s taking the stairs rather than the escalator, upping your water intake or regulating your bedtime, there are some easy resolutions you can make for instant health benefits.

With small rather than massive tweaks you can’t fail, but if you need a helping hand, get on Insta for motivation, tell your friends and family about your intentions or check out these 5 ways to keep you healthy resolutions.