Learn how to help spring clean your pantry with these fresh new products

With the sun shining and flowers blooming, it can inspire you to make changes in your daily routine. Some people may start eating more nutritiously, moving more, or simply do a spring house cleaning to make their environment feel healthier. Studies show that spring cleaning can help give us a sense of control and reduce any negative feelings we may be carrying, like anxiety or stress. Physically decluttering our environment can help make it easier to establish new healthy habits.

But spring cleaning is not just for physical spaces, but also for mental spaces, Health experts suggest that you can declutter your mental health space by:

• Scheduling a long walk in the morning or after dinner each day.

• Adding in some quiet meditation in the morning or before bedtime.

• Practicing yoga or tai chi a few times a week

• Keeping a journal or engaging in talk therapy to release bottled up feelings

How to spring clean your routine

If you're not sure how to start spring cleaning your routine, just take it from morning to night. Write down everything you do from the time you wake up each day to the time you go to bed. Go hour by hour, through each weekday and weekend day. Then, evaluate what time can be saved for self care: meal prep, exercise, sleep, stress management. Here's what that may look like:

8am-wake up

8:30am-drive to work

-quick granola bar breakfast with coffee upon arriving at work

9am- start working

12pm- order lunch

4pm- wind up work day

5pm- start dinner

6pm- eat dinner

7-10pm- watch television

-eat nighttime snack

10pm-get ready for bed

11pm-go to sleep

Types of habits to add into your routine

When looking at this routine, look for things that are missing such as:

• Physical activity

• Stress management

• Healthy eating

• Adequate sleep

How to add in healthy habits

Looking at this schedule, there is plenty of time to rearrange to make room for new healthy habits.

• Wake up earlier to fit in 30 minutes or so of exercise and/or meditation time.

• Cut down television time to fit in meal prep for a healthy lunch for the next day.

• Engage in resistance band exercises during television commercial breaks.

• Start getting ready for bed earlier, so you can wake up earlier.

• Add in relaxation breathing before bedtime to help reduce stress and improve sleep quality.

Research-backed ways to help maintain healthy habits

Research shows that it takes about two months to form a new healthy habit. Experts suggest that to execute a proper habit-forming process, one must:

1. Decide to take action

2. Translate intention into behavior

3. Repeat the behavior

4. Develop automaticity

Many barriers can land in the way of developing new healthy habits like lack of time, financial budget, mobility issues, and pre-existing health issues, to name a few. That is why if you want to ensure that a new healthy habit becomes a new behavior, then you should choose goals that will be realistic for you to achieve and maintain. This means that your healthy goals should:

• Fit within your financial and time budgets

• Fall within your physical abilities

• Contain foods that are within your dietary needs and requirements

This doesn't mean you shouldn't try new things like cooking basics, new foods, or new exercises, for example. What this means is that if you've never jogged before, then don't sign up for a marathon right away, or if you are on a tight financial budget, don't plan on eating fish and seafood several times a week. Making such realistic goals will only lead to disappointment and discouragement of trying new things.

Therefore, start with simple changes that over time can add up to big improvements in your health. Follow these simple tips to help make improvements in your health you can maintain for the long term:

• Make annual visits or more to your healthcare provider for heart and metabolic health labs and tests.

• Try a new food or recipe each month to help expand your palate.

• Increase your water intake daily to help support adequate hydration.

• Move at least 30 minutes each day by walking more, biking, or whatever you enjoy most.

• Limit screen time and engage in more stress-reducing activities like meditation.

• Sleep at least seven hours each night to support overall health.

Along with these practical tips to start improving your health, you can also try new products like the ones below that can make certain healthy habits a little easier to make and maintain.

New products to help you keep health habits in place

Whether you want to keep your teeth and skin healthy, or improve your gut health, check out these new products to help you improve your health inside and out.

Brushmo Black Floss

The microcrystalline wax in Brushmo Black Floss expands and glides through teeth for the ultimate clean. This natural, vegan and PFAS-free floss is strong, yet gentle so it doesn't shred like other floss brands. Not to mention that it contains 55 yards of floss per package, which is 66-percent more than other leading brands. If you're looking to improve your oral health, start with trying an innovative oral health product like Brushmo.

It's The Balm Diggity Lip Balm

Pamper your lips and senses with this invigorating and nourishing lip balm product from It's The Balm Diggity. Made with just five simple ingredients, this lip balm brand uses naturally nourishing beeswax, jojoba oil, coconut oil, shea butter, and natural flavor oils like that from raspberry, strawberry, lemonade, apricot peach, watermelon, pineapple, and mint. They also carry unique flavors like coffee and chai tea flavors. The creaminess of these balms makes lips feel soft and healthy, while the natural flavors can help brighten your mood.

ActivatedYou Morning Complete

If taking a dietary supplement is hard to remember, then the ActivatedYou Morning Complete powdered supplement may be better for you. This dietary supplement comes in apple cinnamon, citrus, mixed berry, and matcha tea flavors and contains a blend of prebiotics and probiotics as well as leafy greens and antioxidants to support metabolism and energy. Just one scoop of this powder in your favorite beverage daily is all you need. If you don't prefer the naturally earthy aftertaste of this supplement powder, blend with your favorite fruits and veggies in a smoothie for a nutrient-rich snack.

You can visit the company website to check out other great products from ActivatedYou including Essential Skin food, which is an easy to swallow capsule to help support healthy, firm skin at any age.

Self Nutrition Everyday Metabolic Supplements

If you're looking to lose weight, but need support, then Self Nutrition's Everyday Metabolic supplements may be a good fit. This easy to swallow capsule contains small doses of natural ingredients like berberine and fenugreek, which show promise to help support weight management through appetite regulation. Each dose also contains small doses of green tea extract, turmeric, and ginger for digestive and antioxidant support. Free of harsh stimulants, gluten, allergens, and artificial additives, Everyday Metabolic can help you feel your best when combined with a balanced, healthy lifestyle.

Key Takeaways

Spring cleaning is not just for your living space. It's just as important to regularly assess your daily routine and health to ensure that you are living optimally to support your best health and self. This involves not just ensuring a healthy diet, but also making sure you are engaging in regular exercise, adequate sleep, and managing your stress to keep inflammation and chronic disease risk at bay.

Starting a new healthy habit can seem overwhelming. That is why you should not hesitate to reach out to family, friends, and healthcare providers in your community to help support you. Although setbacks and obstacles are inevitable, if you stick with it, each small change you make can lead to great steps towards the healthiest you. I can't wait to see what you can accomplish!