25 Unique Healthy Habits I Wish I Knew at 25

if I could go back in time and talk to my college self SL just out of college self here are some of the healthy habits I tell her I wish I implemented [Music] earlier number one buy frozen berries it's a cheap affordable way to get fibers vitamins and antioxidants blueberries have such a high quantity antioxidants and the amount of fiber in raspberries is crazy plus Frozen fruits and vegetables is just a generally cheap way to get an intented nutrients habit number two don't fear salt I've read so many articles of like Salt's going to make you blow d d it actually kind of does this is very complicated but pretty much if you're athlete you're sweating a lot you're losing electrolyte those cramps you're getting in the middle of the night the lack of energy is actually from just not having enough sodium in your diet because you've been told if you have any sodium you're going to blow up now if you rapidly increase your sodium intake one day the next day you might experience some water retention but your body does kind of balance it out over time and actually some of that water retention is good cuz it's in your muscles which it gives you the PMP habit number three get a hydrating full body sunscreen and use it daily I loved tanning beds growing up I loved it and I also complained why do I have such red patchy skin it's like all over my face and my body is always red so that's why I'd always put on fake tan and that's why I tan to Mas the red no the red is cuz your Skin's constantly burn from not wearing sunscreen so when I started putting sunscreen on my face I drastically saw the difference but recently which I started wish I had done years ago I started using a full body sunscreen I know a lot of you are like what you're just starting out now hear me out hear me out I'm just saying I didn't consistently like if I'm just going on a walk I wouldn't put it on I only did it when I was on vacation because I want a tan why would I wear a sunscreen also like a sunscreen sucked that sticky feeling all day there was no point it just made me not Tann so why would I wear it recently I started using sunscreens that are hydrating so it moisturizers so there's I'm like Oh my Skin's dry now suddenly my skin looks sule and so it makes me want to use it every day and also yeah suddenly you wear sunscreen on your body and your Skin's not as red it doesn't sound that revolutionary but 25-year-old healthy need to hear that 20 18 just me as of a few months ago need to hear that habit number four follow a wide range of Fitness influencers I'm going to give you the categories of people you should consider following on social media one experts with degrees and certifications two some local professionals three people that are similar to you and your lifestyle but like 5 to 10 years in advance and diversify the niche clotes yoga running weight training something that happened to me and I've also heard a lot of other just Fitness influencers talk about you can get stuck in these little niche Echo Chambers and that happened with me I was really in the weightlifting category all I saw was the bodybuilding the scientific Community the way and that's what I I painted the world as that is all I saw and it even gave me a little bit of body dysmorphia when I started really getting into it cuz I just never felt jacked enough I never felt shredded enough and then suddenly one day I remember the moment I stepped away and just looked at myself compared to like the general population I was like oh yeah no no i' I've got muscle like but was just so hyper fixed on this little niche and I just took and I didn't do cardio cuz weight training was all it was like weight training over everything and even though cardio makes me feel good and is great for longevity and I've heard this happened to a lot of girls in like the BBG community in like the 2012 and like you just get stuck in this little Echo chamber and you just need to expand your horizon so I think it's really nice to have experts have people doing what you're doing CU there's always a sense of relatability not every single person you have to follow has to have crazy degrees like it's nice to know someone's in the same place as you maybe don't take their advice as much as you take a registered dietitian I think it's really important it rides comfort in you where you are gives great advice also gives you some advice from someone who's in it cuz sometimes I think some experts forget what it's like for someone who's not in it like they might just be like oh yeah calorie deficit and you're sitting here being like how do I get into a calorie deficit or it's like yeah no squat this Progressive overload all this and you're sitting there and be like I don't even have the motivation to get to the gym so it's nice to follow someone that's in a bit similar place to you habit number five nail proper lifting form before you start increasing the weights I wasted a lot of years because I got we into weight training my form wasn't bad but it wasn't great and it just started carrying I heard you'd lift more and heavier and so I lift heavier and heavier and heavier and heavier and then one day it dawned on me that like I do all these glute exercises and never engage my glutes and I had to start over I had to go way back work on my Mobility cuz I didn't even have the mobility to get the full range of motions in a lot of exercises so I had just put my ego aside and go back to body weight exercises so so much wasted time instead of like ego lifting and so if you're starting out nail the proper form have it Perfection you haven't nailed the proper muscle and we're all going to be slightly different but focus on that and then increase the weights yeah just you'll save a lot of time habit number three sleep it's the best legal cognitive and performance-enhancing substance there is proper sleep and now one little tip especially for Fitness I'm going to give is I had to realize after Sports I was always training like 5:00 p. m. 7:00 p.

m. 9:00 p. m.

cuz that's what I was used to that's when we played that's when we practiced but also I started to notice that I would get crazy adrenaline and that's what would happen like I go to the gym pumping music endorphins flowing in and then I get home and stay up for several hours because I just had such high adrenaline from the workout so I started to realize I have to train in the morning that's what helps my sleep if I train too much at night it keeps me up and it wrecks my sleep so I found out I'm a morning workout person there's nothing that magical about working on the morning versus night but just something to think about of like working out so in a way it helps your sleep in the rest of your life and works and that you can consistently do it but that was a big thing for me just getting qualties sleep and the first step I took into developing a night routine habit number seven being inflexible isn't a flex I used to kind of wear being inflexible as like a badge of honor like I'm so athletic so strong so powerful that like I can't touch my toes because I'm just like too fast no it doesn't work that way at all if you're more flexible and more mobile you have a longer range of motion and as long as you have strength in The Wider range of motion you'll be more athletic and also your back will stop hurting which leads me to the next one habit number eight your muscles might not be t tight they could be weak as I start going down that then I just started stretching stretching stretching and also sometimes you'll feel like I've always had this pain in my hip and so I would just stretch it and stretch it and stretch it it turned out it was actually underdeveloped glutes that caused that tightness in my hip so just some food for thought if you're constantly constantly stretching sign and it never seems to improve try and get a session with a professional and see maybe there's a muscle group you aren't focusing on habit number nine a workout doesn't have to be an hour maybe it's cuz practices were an hour or 2 hours but like I always had like workout had to be at least an hour ideally too just fixated there's something about workout classes or an hour or anything like you can have a 10-minute workout you can just go to the gym do a couple Sprints stretch little be out I really follow the protocols right now of like aim for 150 180 minutes of Zone 2 a week 10 minutes of Max training and then I try and train all my muscle groups a couple times a week and even if that's all I get in that's great if you only have 10 minutes to go to the gym there's still a benefit of it if that's all that works in your schedule habit number 10 we're doing some skin health double cleanse so my skin I would never really suffer from acne but I always have blackheads and just not good quality skin and I never knew what it was there's many of things but one that made a great change is I realized I didn't wash my I washed my face but looking back all I did was kind of like put on some cleanser rub it a bit splash some water out no no no no no honey there's still a lot a lot of makeup on there now I always try and pass the white towel test so here's what I do I start in with like a makeup bomb I use drunk elephants which I regret now because of Sephora kids it's always sold out so it's actually I'm considering changing Brands but it's my Old Faithful and that jar lasts forever so first cleansing balm and that just gets like the makeup off just that all the makeup you have wash it off then I go in with an actual cleanser and that really gets deep into the dirt and the grime and anything left over and ideally after that I can use a white towel and there is no residue left over and that's how I know I've washed my face enough and actually not just like rubbing it on 5 Seconds wash off I really try and take my time nice and soft and gentle my skin but just really break that makeup down and just doing that pretty much got rid of my blackheads my skin looks like crap right now because I've been traveling and drinking and going to bed with makeup on on airplanes and here's a case example of what happens when I don't double cleanse habit number 11 don't be fooled it's still a diet now I've always been proud to be like ah I don't follow diets I you know I'm just listen to the science and my body looking back yeah you fell into it first there was the clean eating of the 2012's Instagram and then that led to the If It Fits your Macros and then it became plant-based now none of those are inherently wrong especially if they help you educate you but looking back I wish I just spent time educating myself on nutrition about what my body needs how to properly fuel my body what a carb protein fat fiber is micronutrients like just learning how to properly fuel the science behind it just to educate myself and not like it become part of the identity something even why I don't call myself an intuitive eater even though I fall into it I just just don't want my identity to be my diet it kind of dawned on me one day I was like oh yeah like and some people are very passionate like being a vegan and those kind of ones I say are like a little different because that's like of actual just morality choice and I think they're saying great about that if that's what you choose but like your whole personality being your diet you're better than that you you listened in me when I was younger you're better than that it's food it's not that deep habit number 12 you need a community when Sports ended I felt very isolated and I didn't know what it was like I just remember feeling what now I can know as lonely and I would attach on to things so any Community has found for example with the weight training and bodybuilding s communities like I latched onto it cuz it was like wow there's are my people and surrounded and that's great and I think you really need end so I'm really thankful I had that because of that I found my best friends Amy Lexi and Ash so I'm like forever thankful and now that's like my community and even when I came to Vancouver I really tried to get involved in the gym community and joining all the local gyms and you know run clubs are a really big one now but you might have heard the term third places right now especially after college we lose the third place cuz when my favorite things about being in college was that you always had a library to go study at obviously I was blessed to be on a sports team so I had my actual team so I was always surrounded but even when I was in college and no longer playing basketball I would always go study at the library or at the cafeteria cuz it was that third place it was a place I didn't have to call my friends and say hey I'm going to be there I would just go and because I was there I would naturally run into people and that's what's deemed as like a third place and I think we really lack that right now I think that's part of the Lonely epidemic we're all going we just have school and home and we don't have that third place and it can get exhausted costume we're all tired making plans with people we're all different busy schedule like we need places we can just pop into and see people that we just have those quick acquaintances or randomly run into your friends and so I love Fitness classes for that getting a really great gym and I think I'm slowly seeing more and more gyms pop up like that that have a co-working space they have a bar all that kind of stuff and if you have the means of it but even like smaller like more affordable gyms are having this now that's a really great thing is just find your community and just Fitness can be a great way to have that third place habit number 13 that 30 calories from your coffee creamer is not going to make you gain 30 lbs I don't know if this is still around but it was when I was 25 is like all those Cosmo magazines that were like ways to stay lean or skinny or whatever stupid things they were labeled and they would demonize putting creamer in your coffee cuz it's 30 calories and then 30 * 10 is 300 * 3 is 900 and then over year and like right there just one tablespoon of coffee creamer is going to make you gain five pounds this year that no you still need to eat every day and like it's that makes no sense looking back at it like if that's a part of something you want in your diet put it in I enjoy I you know what I'm sorry I don't enjoy my coffee black sometimes I'll do it cuz it's there and I don't mind but I like cream in my coffee I love a cappuccino and now I fully always drink cappuccinos and milk in my coffee and it has not made a difference because it's part of my energy balance and it makes me enjoy it so and of course if you just enjoy black coffee that's fine I'm just saying habit number 14 you don't run to eat you eat to run now everyone comes to this equation differently but when I played Sports I did understand like I had to eat to fuel but then after Sports ended and I was just like working out I didn't know how to properly fuel my body cuz I just knew it as like performance and I remember we could go and make a whole video about that and I would one day i' love to make like a postc career video but in summary exercise isn't a form of punishment I think it's just like reframing that is like you don't work out as punishment so you can eat later you eat to fuel your body so you're capable to move your body because moving your body and falling in love with you moving your body is great and you need to Fu your body to be able to do that and fueling for me means eating enough to sustain energy enough nutrients so my body is functioning optimally which I get from having wide variety of foods in my diet but also some days that's not possible cuz I'm traveling on the go and just that the reality is not every single day we can get every single nutrient possible I don't have the time to think that way and that is why I take ag1 every day and I've taken every day for 4 years it's my favorite way to simplify my supplement routine because it's really like over seven supplements in one it's a multivitamin Prebiotic probiotic antioxidant functional mushrooms digestive enzymes and more made up of 75 nutrients third party certified for safety and customers have reported benefits such as more energy less gas and bloating after a month now I've taken it every single day pretty much for four years I get my blood work down one to two times a year and I'm lucky to have a clean bell of Health now that's not just from ag1 that's why I was like ag1 isn't a replacement it's not going to stop you eating fruits and vegetables and anything that it's just nutritional insurance but I've been taking it four years consistently and and if there was something bad going on my body it would be red flag for my blood work and yeah I always have a clean bill of health so that is great and I would never promote anything to you guys I haven't used and tested everything I promote is just something in my daily routine and ag1 is one of them and of course I got a discount code for you guys if you use my link down below you will get a one-year supply of vitamin D3 K2 and five free travel packets with your first purchase of ag1 thank you ag1 for sponsoring this video habit number 15 get a new pair of running shoes at least one time a year I and I get it it's expensive but you was more expensive all the physio you'll have to do because you're constantly hurting yourself cuz you're running and shoes that are broken down there's many of ways to get affordable wait for deals Amazon Prime Black Friday Boxing Day in Canada I wish I would just plan once a year like on Black Friday to get a good new pair of walking SL running shoes they're different I'm going to have a whole video on it if you guys saw over my Tik Tok I've been doing running and walking shoe reviews so I got that to make sure you can find affordable ones and the best bang for your buck but if there's two things I learn to spend money on it's whatever separates you from the ground AKA your shoes and Mattress everything else I'm like I don't know if it worth money those two things have always been worth my money and saved me so much pain and energy and just improved my quality of life 10 times more than anything else I've ever purchas habit number 16 starting your day with the walk outside will change your life and now I'm learning there's morning sunlight all that y y y but something about just having that time with myself even if I'm just walking to the gym walking to class I started doing that when I moved to Halifax cuz it was a walkable City for the first time in my life I lived in Emington which is not a walkable City and I would walk to class and I'd listen to a podcast and audiobook some music and I I have so much of that to thank for where I am today because that is where I started just like realizing the creative thoughts and just like all the anxiety all the jumbling in my head just became clear I'd go with my phone I need these thoughts write down on a notepad and that started like those walks are what gave me the idea to start my YouTube channel and I love it it's a part of my day I need even if it's just 5 minutes it just clears my mind and just like reenters me and that's the mental aspect and yeah walking is good for the body too habit number 17 don't stare at a screen so much I can't prove that I have bad eyesight because staring a screen but there's a direct correlation when I started editing YouTubes for multiple hours a day and my eyesight ruining I had perfect 2020 Vision when I was like up till 21 years old and then it was around the time I started my YouTube channel it just one day it just plummeted and this could be age of course but I've also heard sometimes your body will adjust because I'm constantly staring at things so close that your eye can start to change and I can't see things in the distance now so I don't know but either way it's straining on the eyes I have dry eyes just every 20 minutes I try I don't do this but I wish I would have started younger it's about every 20 minutes I think you're supposed to stare off about 20 ft for 20 seconds just just try to do that I know it's so hard but now I wear contacts and I hate it and I'm scared of lasic habit number 18 the bump on the back of your arms is not pimples it is KP and I got rid of it by simply exfoliating the back of my arms and moisturizing I'm pretty lucky I don't have cellulite but I always had like rough patchy skin that almost I thought was cellulite or pimples and it just turns out no I have really dry skin which creates this in cap something paralysis considering I have it I shouldn't know how to pronounce it um but yeah just exfoliate and moisturize boom gone habit number 19 don't get breast implants they won't help your career body types go in and out of fashion which is disturbing but you know that's a lot of money and a lot of literally having surgery just cuz what trend is in if you want to follow Trends stick to clothing and makeup trends but it's looking back maybe I want to be where I am today who knows who knows so it's easier to say now they were fun I guess for a little bit but they were also really annoying so just take into that in a case if you do want to do a plastic surgery cosmetic surgery is if you like the look of it that's great but you also have a physical object in you that gets annoying that was the biggest thing for me they were just annoying to have in there I didn't have any negative Health aspects but like doing a push-up with implants oh my God just oh it was just like a constant tightness it feels so free so if you still want them that's up to you watch my whole video about it but just know yeah that stuff can get annoying Financial Health is one of the pillars of health because the amount of stress that will cause you for years is not good for you me speaking to Yer Kel now I'm not a fincial expert at all I was literally thrown in the Wolves at 18 because my family did not talk about finances but going back what I tell myself is number one put away a percent of each paycheck for taxes especially if you're self-employed two learn about mutual funds and compound interest and three make an even basic budget even just learning those three simple things at a younger age would have put me on the right Financial path way sooner habit number 21 dancing is the best former cardio and probably the best thing for my mental health if I'm stressed listening to a music and just like even if you're not Daner for 3 minutes the endorphins the break you're just like it's so good for you there is that study that came out of like things that help like improve mood dancing ranked as the number one like even over ssris now that's not totally as clear cuz usually people taking like medication have clinically prescribed like depression and stuff so they need those things so like that's why I was like studies like that isn't point clear but it's just a reminder of like one of the best easiest affordable ways to just improve your mood when you're feeling down is listen to some music and dance and I wish IID known that because when I was dancing at the club I definitely was happy so I wish I did that in the middle of the day around 2: p. m. when I was sad from anxiety which I had a lot of back then speaking of anxiety habit number two anxiety is fear of the future depression is Regret of the past happiness is being in the present now obviously as someone who's also uh suffered from many mental health issues which we won't get into my diagnosis yet y y all that but it's not as easy but I just found for myself just like those minor little depressive episodes or minor moments of anxiety not like clinically diagnosed just those moments when you're really sad or really anxious when I was anxious it was about like thinking too much about the future and like just not doing what I could in that moment and when I was sad it was just ruminating on the past and anytime I'm just in that present moment being like Oh what can I do today what can I do in this right moment to just get me one step closer as long as I start doing that being in action that helped or on the flip side taking a breath like you kind of have to learn and I still don't have it great but like you just have to learn to become present with yourself so you can read what your body is telling you like do I need right now now action do I need to go do something do I need to go deal with something is that is it just going to take 2 minutes and be done even though I've been stretching and being anxious about it forever or am I really down because I'm ruminating I just need to go out see a friend hug someone get some serotonin get some endorphins or on the flip side have I been doing so much and my body is screaming at me to relax and that anxiety is just me being heightened so just breathe so I think I'm not great at it but I think every time I just come back into the moment be like what do I need right now every time I do that I get a little better and I wish I started doing that before versus I was just a maniac running around with a chicken with her head cut off habit number 23 it is not downhill after 25 I think a lot of us have this picture that like you hit 25 and it's all downhill Fitness goes down your skin goes down you get uglier you get older just it's that's the mark and there's true there's some biological things I'm not going to pretend there isn't but you just can't rely on you and that's what I've learned about especially going into your like later 20s into those years onwards to your 30s y y and just even talking to friends who are in their 40s later 30s yet y every year since 25 felt better about myself and I think there's that like thing online while Millennials looking older than gen Z I think it's just cuz I look at my back at myself when I was in my early versus late 20s and I looked older in my early 20s cuz I didn't moisturize I didn't know how to do skincare I was constantly hung over and sleeping and so suddenly I'm sleeping properly doing skincare so like it's not all downhill of course the older you get the more work you have to do and there becomes that line of like is it worth putting all that work for your skin for all that kind of stuff but even just physically I didn't start working on Mobility to my later 20s and every year since physically I felt better I felt more mobile I felt stronger I felt less pain less anxiety so of course I'm not speaking as this as someone who's in their 40s or 50s I'll update this video one day but I think it's not downhill you just have to put in a bit of work to maintain but you can also improve so just some word of thought of like don't think 25's lumian and like oh my God it's all downhill it's just like can't rely on youth got to put in some work but the work is worth it habit number 24 your environment dictates everything your apartment your office your school your locker your car that's everything your habits you can change your habits by just changing your environment I remember being in some really bad habits when I lived in empt and the first time I moved it like Snap got out of them because I no longer had those like stimuli to do the bad habit so on the flip side you can create an environment that just makes the good habits easy and I think that every once in a while when I get into like a bad funks and bad habits I just don't like my routine I'm not doing the things I wish I was doing I redo my apartment like I just organize it or my office at home and like it doesn't have to cost any money but I just think of like how my set up that would make it Default easy to do the things I want to be doing and that changes everything there's even those studies of like War veterans who did drugs and they come back and even though it's a very addictive substance they instantly don't want to do it because the stimulus isn't there they're not in the environment that they resort to that so I just found your environment dictates everything that includes your friends I've been in friend groups that you know we weren't living the healthiest lifestyle and nothing wrong with them but it became hard to stay healthy because the only way to see them was 2 a.

m.