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5 Nag-Free Hacks to Get Healthier TogetherA healthy lifestyle is more likely to stick when you have a partner on your side. Here's how.
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When you hold each other accountable and have fun you'll grow healthier and closer.
“ It’s pretty basic human behavior: tell someone they have to do something and they’ll resist.”
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When you’re a health nut and your significant other is... well, not so much, it can be easy to want to change them. And, of course, your heart’s in the right place. You want them to be healthy so they stick around with you for a very long time.
However, nagging and using a lot of "should" statements is only going to make them want to do the opposite. It’s pretty basic human behavior: tell someone they have to do something and they’ll resist.
So, let’s agree on a couple of ground rules to keep our relationships in good standing while making changes to improve the health of both partners:
1. No criticism, only encouragement.
2. Don’t have a quick fix mentality. Slow and incremental change wins the race.
Okay, now let’s take a look at five ways in which you can get healthier together. Because teamwork is not only more fun, it’s far more successful.
1. Find an Active Sport you Both Enjoy
It’s easy to exercise when you love an activity because you don’t dread it. So, the best way to encourage your partner to exercise is to find something you both love to do—and do it together. It’s also a great opportunity to spend more quality time with each other.
Hiking or a pre- or post-dinner walk around your neighborhood is a great start. Some other ideas include: cycling around your local park, walking the dog together, playing tennis, taking a line dancing class or indoor climbing. You could even join a local sporting club like Ultimate Frisbee or curling!
2. Stock the House with Healthy Foods
Leading by example is one of the best ways you can subtly change your partner’s diet. If you’re naturally lean, you can’t be eating bags of potato chips and expecting your partner not to. Make sure you have plenty of healthy foods in the house and put out healthy snacks when you’re together or when hosting guests to introduce your partner to new ideas.
You could also make a habit of serving a salad appetizer before every meal or disguise veggies with a sprinkling of goat’s cheese. Or put new twists on their old favorites—turn bread-heavy sandwiches into seaweed wraps, serve guacamole with jicama sticks (not chips) or make your own homemade cauliflower-crust pizza.
3. Goal-Set Together
Goal-setting together is a great way to change bad habits and both be accountable to each other. You could have separate goals or choose some joint ones.
Perhaps you set a goal to run a 5k race together (even if you’re not runners) and start training for it. Or, you could decide that together you’ll go for three walks a week, and play tennis once a week. Or, you could set monthly goals to both increase your pushups/situps/treadmill time by a particular amount.
Goal-setting can be made more fun by throwing down challenges. So get competitive! And reward yourself with non-food prizes, such as a massage, a romantic night away or perhaps new workout clothes.
4. Start Your Own Garden
Just like children, many adults find that when they grow their own veggies they suddenly develop a new-found love of eating them. They taste better when they come with a sense of accomplishment (and they’re organic!)
Even if you live in an apartment you can do this. Utilize balcony space or a well-lit window ledge and choose veggies that can be grown in pots—like spinach, lettuce, radishes, carrots, and even Brussels sprouts.
Don’t forget the herbs. Using herbs to flavor food is a great way to cut out cream, sugar, and salt.
5. Make It About Them—Not You
Getting healthy and staying healthy is about finding passion for it—and you can’t push your own passion onto your partner. They need to find what motivates them.
They also need to feel like it was their idea. I helped my wife change her thought process from, "I’m not allowed to eat bread" to "I’m a person that chooses not to eat bread." But ultimately, it had to be her own choice.
If your significant other doesn’t know what they love, then suggest that you’ll find out together. Have them think back to what they loved to do as a kid. Chances are there are still ways for them to find that "thing" again—anyone for dodgeball?
Dr. Steven Gundry is a renowned heart surgeon, New York Times best-selling author, and medical researcher. He is the author of three books: Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution; The Plant Paradox; and out in April 2018, The Plant Paradox Cookbook. As the leading expert on the lectin-free diet as the key to longevity and vitality, Dr. Gundry believes we have the ability to heal ourselves through nutrition if certain dietary obstacles are removed.
However, nagging and using a lot of "should" statements is only going to make them want to do the opposite. It’s pretty basic human behavior: tell someone they have to do something and they’ll resist.
So, let’s agree on a couple of ground rules to keep our relationships in good standing while making changes to improve the health of both partners:
1. No criticism, only encouragement.
2. Don’t have a quick fix mentality. Slow and incremental change wins the race.
Okay, now let’s take a look at five ways in which you can get healthier together. Because teamwork is not only more fun, it’s far more successful.
1. Find an Active Sport you Both Enjoy
It’s easy to exercise when you love an activity because you don’t dread it. So, the best way to encourage your partner to exercise is to find something you both love to do—and do it together. It’s also a great opportunity to spend more quality time with each other.
Hiking or a pre- or post-dinner walk around your neighborhood is a great start. Some other ideas include: cycling around your local park, walking the dog together, playing tennis, taking a line dancing class or indoor climbing. You could even join a local sporting club like Ultimate Frisbee or curling!
2. Stock the House with Healthy Foods
Leading by example is one of the best ways you can subtly change your partner’s diet. If you’re naturally lean, you can’t be eating bags of potato chips and expecting your partner not to. Make sure you have plenty of healthy foods in the house and put out healthy snacks when you’re together or when hosting guests to introduce your partner to new ideas.
You could also make a habit of serving a salad appetizer before every meal or disguise veggies with a sprinkling of goat’s cheese. Or put new twists on their old favorites—turn bread-heavy sandwiches into seaweed wraps, serve guacamole with jicama sticks (not chips) or make your own homemade cauliflower-crust pizza.
3. Goal-Set Together
Goal-setting together is a great way to change bad habits and both be accountable to each other. You could have separate goals or choose some joint ones.
Perhaps you set a goal to run a 5k race together (even if you’re not runners) and start training for it. Or, you could decide that together you’ll go for three walks a week, and play tennis once a week. Or, you could set monthly goals to both increase your pushups/situps/treadmill time by a particular amount.
Goal-setting can be made more fun by throwing down challenges. So get competitive! And reward yourself with non-food prizes, such as a massage, a romantic night away or perhaps new workout clothes.
4. Start Your Own Garden
Just like children, many adults find that when they grow their own veggies they suddenly develop a new-found love of eating them. They taste better when they come with a sense of accomplishment (and they’re organic!)
Even if you live in an apartment you can do this. Utilize balcony space or a well-lit window ledge and choose veggies that can be grown in pots—like spinach, lettuce, radishes, carrots, and even Brussels sprouts.
Don’t forget the herbs. Using herbs to flavor food is a great way to cut out cream, sugar, and salt.
5. Make It About Them—Not You
Getting healthy and staying healthy is about finding passion for it—and you can’t push your own passion onto your partner. They need to find what motivates them.
They also need to feel like it was their idea. I helped my wife change her thought process from, "I’m not allowed to eat bread" to "I’m a person that chooses not to eat bread." But ultimately, it had to be her own choice.
If your significant other doesn’t know what they love, then suggest that you’ll find out together. Have them think back to what they loved to do as a kid. Chances are there are still ways for them to find that "thing" again—anyone for dodgeball?
Dr. Steven Gundry is a renowned heart surgeon, New York Times best-selling author, and medical researcher. He is the author of three books: Dr. Gundry’s Diet Evolution; The Plant Paradox; and out in April 2018, The Plant Paradox Cookbook. As the leading expert on the lectin-free diet as the key to longevity and vitality, Dr. Gundry believes we have the ability to heal ourselves through nutrition if certain dietary obstacles are removed.
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