The 80/20 Rule for Wellness...
/Whether you have just begun your wellness journey or have been following this lifestyle for a while, you’ve probably experienced stress regarding choices and behaviors. In many cases, you’ve had to learn to adapt to different ways of thinking, eating, moving, and just being, and these waves may be different from the culture around you.
These differences can be significant, and sometimes hard to manage. For example, you may be committed to eating an organic diet of mostly fruits, vegetables, healthy fats, and plant-based proteins. However, sticking to this kind of diet can be difficult. Organics are not always available, may be expensive, and there is always the problem of figuring out what to do when dining with someone who doesn’t share your ways of eating.
Similarly, you might worry about keeping to your meditation or exercise schedule: sure, you’d love to do both every day, but finding an extra 60 to 90 minutes per day for these wellness activities can be a challenge, particularly when you are busy with your job, your family and other commitments.
Fortunately, there are those in the wellness community who have come before you and understand your struggle. That’s why the 80/20 rule has become so important. With the 80/20 rule, you opt to make choices that are 80% of the time in line with your wellness goals, allowing yourself some grace when it comes to the remaining 20%.
Here is how this might look in practice:
Eating organic: If trying to find quality organic produce at a reasonable price proves to be a challenge, consider trying to make 80% of your fruits and veggies organic and choosing the rest from the Environmental Working Group’s “Clean Fifteen,” produce types that are generally safe to eat even when conventionally grown. With options like asparagus, avocados, pineapple, and mushrooms, you’ll have plenty of variety and be able to feed yourself, and your family, healthily and affordably.
Give yourself days off from exercise: Exercise goals are so important. Healthcare professionals agree that getting at least 30 to 60 minutes of exercise each day can be critical to weight management, improving your mood, and maintaining flexibility, and keeping your heart healthy. Still, it can get discouraging if scheduling problems force you to cancel your walk or a visit to the gym. Try to set reasonable exercise goals that allow you days off: For example, commit to working out 24/25 days of the month, giving yourself six days that you can take off as you need to.
Eating plans: Disciplined eating can offer great health benefits, but it can also be difficult to manage. One option is to carefully plan 80% of your meals to ensure that they meet your healthy eating goals while allowing for treats in 20% of your meals. Another option would be to schedule one day of “relaxed” eating every five days or so.
Meditation: Committed to your daily practice? That’s fabulous, keep up the great work! But also know that meditation can have serious benefits even if you are only able to spend a few minutes each day in mindful breathing or attention (so don’t stress if there’s a day or two that you only have a few minutes to devote).
Benefits to 80/20 Wellness
There are three primary benefits to 80/20 wellness:
Avoiding discouragement: It’s easy to get upset with yourself if you eat something that you shouldn’t or decide to skip your morning meditation. This can sometimes lead to feeling like you should just give up. When you allow yourself some leeway, you don’t feel like you’ve gotten off track.
Stress reduction: Allowing some grace in your wellness plan helps you avoid stress when it comes to scheduling, counting calories, or analyzing ingredients. Stress is also bad for your health and reducing it should be part of your lifestyle!
Social interaction: Time with friends, family, and community members is essential to your well-being. The 80/20 plan makes it easy to make choices that balance time with others with your wellness goals.
Take some time to go over your goals and routines to find ways to provide balance through 80/20. Chances are you’ll be glad you did!
