Small Healthy Accomplishments-- A Natural Stress Reliever

If you are like me you stress out about not taking more actions to become healthier. Well I found out last week that you if you take a little step the rewards are much greater than the effort required.

I decided to change my eating habits in an effort to finally get those few extra pounds off. I started with trying to drink more water. It's an easy step and you can do it in one day -- 8 glasses. The side effect is that you feel so full that you don't want to eat much. I found my sweet cravings begin to dissipate. So I took advantage of that to eat healthier foods and less food in general.

Why not increase exercise while I'm at it? I added that harder Pilates tape and hit my community Rec center more often.

And I got an unexpected result. I feel peaceful. It might be the fact that I have accomplished a little towards my goal of losing weight. It might also be because I am actively doing something and not getting upset with myself for putting it off. But I suspect the real reason is that the exercise brings out the "happy hormones" and melts away the stress.

I am just so amazed that such a minor accomplishment can make me feel so good!