Keys to Living a Healthy and Happy Life with Wellness Coach Esther Avant
Esther Avant is a health industry veteran with over 17 years of experience in fitness, nutrition, and wellness. She’s a certified sports nutritionist, personal trainer, wellness coach, and owner of EA Coaching, which has provided holistic health and lifestyle coaching since 2015.
Esther’s personal mission is to help women live their happiest, healthiest, and most confident lives and to change the fact that the majority of women are so preoccupied with their weight and bodies that they never fully pursue their passions. She knows that if more women prioritized their health, they’d be able to unleash their confidence and focus on how they want to leave their mark on the world.
During our recent Confidence Conversation, Esther shared her tips for ditching diet culture to create a healthy lifestyle that's optimized for both your physical and mental well-being.
Here are Esther's tips for living a healthy and happy life:
Keep a gratitude journal before going to bed. It's so easy to overlook all the positives in our lives, and making it a habit to notice and document all the things we have to be grateful for helps you focus on the good more easily.
Walk, ideally outside. There are SO many mental and physical benefits of both these things and combining them just makes sense! It doesn't matter how long or far you go, just get in the habit of moving and getting fresh air as close to everyday as is feasible for you.
Strength train. Lifting heavy things will help you look, feel, and be strong, stay independent as you get older, build your muscles, and transform the look and feel of your body, regardless of what the scale says.
Eat plenty of protein and fiber. These help with satiety, ensuring that you're eating a nutrient-dense diet, building muscle, having a healthy gut, regular bowel movements, and so much more.
SLEEP! Burning the candle at both ends is unsustainable, unpleasant, and makes everything harder than it needs to be. Making seven or more hours of restful sleep a priority each night will make nearly everything in your life easier and more enjoyable.
Set boundaries. You don't have to, nor can you, do it all. You deserve to be a priority in your own life, even if that means saying no to other things that are also important to you.
Believe in yourself. Whether you believe you can or you believe you can't, you're right. One of the biggest differentiators between the successful few and the masses is their decision to believe in themselves and trust that they can figure out and overcome any obstacle. This is a choice you can make, too.
Make time for what you value. How we spend our time is a reflection of what we care about. If auditing your time reveals you are prioritizing areas that aren't actually meaningful to you, have the courage to make changes so that your life is a better reflection of your values.
