Q: What are the steps to breaking bad health habits and starting good ones?
A: Breaking old habits and building new health behaviors requires a structured, prayerful approach. This includes recognizing the need for change, careful planning, and intentional persistence. Consider these steps to assist in the transition from old patterns to healthier behaviors:
1. Identify the habit and its triggers.
Identify the habit you want to break. Recognize how the habit affects your health and why it’s important to change.
Understand possible triggers, such as specific times, emotions, or environments. For example, overeating may be triggered by stress or boredom.
2. Define clear and achievable goals.
Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals (e.g., exercise more, lose weight).
Focus on one or two habits at a time to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
Instead of saying, “I want to eat healthier,” specify: “I will eat three servings of vegetables daily for the next month.”
3. Understand your why.
Reflect on the deeper reasons for change. Linking your goals to personal values, such as honoring our Creator God, feeling more energetic, or serving others, reinforces motivation.
4. Replace, don’t just remove.
Replace old habits with healthier behaviors. For example, exchange sugary drinks for pure water, and carefully increase your consumption of whole, fresh fruit.
5. Create a step-by-step plan.
Break the process into manageable steps. For example, if your goal is to exercise regularly, start with 10-minute walks, gradually increasing duration and intensity. Prepare workout clothes in advance to reduce excuses.
6. Leverage environmental cues
Modify your environment to support new habits. Remove junk food from your home and stock up on healthy snacks.
Use visual or auditory cues as reminders, such as placing your running shoes by the door or setting phone alarms.
7. Build accountability.
Share your goals with a friend, family member, or a support group. Encouragement keeps motivation alive.
Track your progress in a journal or app; celebrate small wins.
8. Practice consistency.
Consistent practice repeated over time strengthens new habits and weakens old ones. Researchers suggest it takes an average of 66 days to form a new habit.
9. Be patient.
Expect setbacks; approach them as learning opportunities. Reflect and adjust your strategy.
Focus on progress rather than perfection.
10. Reward progress.
Reinforce new habits with nonfood rewards on hitting a milestone (e.g., attending a concert or buying a new book).
11. Reflect and adapt.
Periodically evaluate your progress and adjust your goals accordingly.
You may feel your decisions and resolutions are like ropes of sand. Take courage: “Through the right exercise of the will, an entire change may be made in your life. By yielding up your will to Christ” “you will have strength from above to hold you steadfast.”1
By God’s grace you can intentionally transition away from old habits and embed healthier practices into your lifestyle. Maranatha.2
1 Ellen G. White, Steps to Christ (Mountain View, Calif.: Pacific Press Pub. Assn., 1956), p. 48.
2 Adventist Health Ministries provides a tool for health professionals, pastors, and health enthusiasts to facilitate the behavior change process for those they minister to using a lifestyle coaching approach. https://www.healthministries.com/lifestylecoaching/
