If You Want to Change Your Health, You Have to Change Your Life
12 uncomfortable truths about getting and staying healthy
We all want to be healthy.
But wanting to be healthy and becoming the person who lives a healthy life are two very different things.
There are countless diets, detoxes, supplements, exercise programs and wellness trends promising to transform your health.
But sometimes the biggest changes have nothing to do with what you need to add.
They have to do with what you need to let go of.
Here are some of the harsh truths about getting — and staying — healthy.
1. Parts of your old self have to die
This might be the hardest truth of all.
If you want a different result, you have to become a different version of yourself.
That means some familiar habits, behaviours and even aspects of your identity have to go.
You have to be willing to leave the familiar, even when the familiar isn't actually good for you.
Sometimes we'd rather stay in a familiar hell than step into an unfamiliar heaven.
Changing your health can mean sitting with discomfort.
You might have to say no when you'd normally say yes. You might have to prioritise sleep when you'd rather stay up. You might have to exercise when you don't feel motivated. You might have to change the foods you eat, the way you spend your time, or the way you talk to yourself.
And this is where having a strong WHY becomes so important.
You need to deeply want to become that person.
Not just because you want to lose weight.
Not just because you want better blood results.
But because you want to feel energetic, capable, strong, confident and alive.
When your WHY is strong enough, the discomfort of change becomes easier to tolerate.
You also need to identify what specifically has to change.
Because if you don't change the behaviours that created your current results, eventually you'll fall back into the same patterns.
2. Your body image doesn't tell you how healthy you are
Being thin doesn't automatically mean being healthy.
Being in a larger body doesn't automatically mean being unhealthy.
Your body size is one small piece of a much bigger picture.
Health is about your energy, strength, cardiovascular health, metabolic health, digestion, sleep, hormones, mental wellbeing, nutrition, fitness and your ability to function and enjoy your life.
You can be chasing a smaller body while simultaneously sacrificing your health to get there.
So ask yourself:
Am I actually becoming healthier — or am I simply becoming smaller?
And perhaps the more important question:
Am I sacrificing my quality of life to achieve a particular body image?
Your goal shouldn't simply be to look healthy.
It should be to feel well, function well and live well.
3. Health isn't simply the absence of disease
One of the biggest misconceptions about health is that you're healthy if nothing is technically wrong with you.
But there is a huge difference between not being sick and being well.
Health is vitality.
It's waking up with energy.
It's having strength and resilience.
It's being able to move your body, think clearly, sleep well, digest your food and cope with the demands of everyday life.
It's having enough physical and mental capacity to actually enjoy your life.
The goal isn't simply to avoid disease.
The goal is to thrive.
4. Some people will have to work harder than others
This isn't always a popular message... but it's an important one.
Health isn't a level playing field.
Genetics influence so much about us: how we build muscle, how we respond to certain foods, how we metabolise nutrients, our tendency towards certain conditions, our body composition, our joint structure and even how our bodies respond to exercise.
Two people can follow the exact same health program and get completely different results.
This is one of the reasons I believe so strongly in individualised healthcare.
Research is incredibly valuable, but research often tells us about averages.
And you are not an average.
You are an individual.
Instead of asking only, "What does the research say works for most people?", we also need to ask:
"What is happening in YOUR body?"
Your symptoms, history, genetics, lifestyle, blood markers and individual response all matter.
The goal shouldn't be to force your body into someone else's protocol.
It should be to understand what your body needs.
5. Fear of failure is keeping you stuck
You are going to "fail."
You're going to have days when you don't exercise.
You're going to eat the cake.
You're going to have a week where your routine falls apart.
You're going to go backwards sometimes.
That's not failure.
That's being human.
The real failure is believing that one imperfect day means you've ruined everything and then using it as an excuse to give up.
If you're waiting for the perfect health journey, you'll be waiting forever.
Progress requires imperfection.
Don't let the fear of slipping up prevent you from starting.
6. You have to fall in love with the process
If your only motivation is the end result, you're going to struggle.
Because getting healthy takes time.
There will be weeks when you don't see dramatic changes.
There will be setbacks.
There will be days when motivation disappears.
You have to learn to enjoy the process.
Enjoy getting stronger.
Enjoy preparing nourishing food.
Enjoy going for a walk.
Enjoy sleeping better.
Enjoy feeling your energy improve.
Enjoy becoming someone who keeps promises to themselves.
Your health isn't a destination you eventually arrive at.
It is the way you live your life.
7. There is no shortcut
This is probably the least exciting truth and one of the most important.
There will always be another three-day detox.
Another miracle diet.
Another supplement promising to "reset" your metabolism.
Another quick fix promising results without the hard work.
But sustainable health is built on things that have been around forever:
Eat nourishing food.Eat enough protein and fibre.Move your body.Build muscle.Sleep well.Manage stress.Get outside.Stay hydrated.Nurture your relationships.Don't smoke.Limit alcohol.
None of this is particularly sexy.
But it works.
The goal isn't to constantly search for the next health hack.
It's to become exceptionally good at doing the things that actually matter — consistently.
8. You can't supplement your way out of your lifestyle
Supplements can be incredibly valuable.
But they should support your foundations, not replace them.
You can't take magnesium to compensate for chronically poor sleep.
You can't take an anti-inflammatory supplement and expect it to cancel out an overall inflammatory lifestyle.
You can't take a metabolism supplement instead of building muscle, eating well and moving your body.
Supplements can fill gaps, provide therapeutic support and help optimise certain areas of health.
But they are not magic.
The supplement is not the foundation.
And sometimes the most powerful intervention isn't another supplement.
It's changing the lifestyle that is contributing to the problem in the first place.
9. Your environment will beat your willpower
We often blame ourselves for lacking discipline.
But think about your environment.
If your kitchen is full of foods you struggle to moderate, you're exhausted, your phone keeps you awake, you have no time allocated for exercise and everyone around you lives differently you're relying on willpower all day.
That's exhausting.
Instead, make the healthy choice the easy choice.
Prepare food ahead of time.
Keep nourishing foods readily available.
Schedule your workouts.
Put your phone away at night.
Create routines around the person you want to become.
You don't necessarily need more willpower.
You need an environment that makes your goals easier to achieve.
10. You cannot hate yourself into better health
This one matters.
You can be honest with yourself without being cruel to yourself.
Shame might motivate you temporarily, but it isn't a sustainable foundation for health.
If every healthy choice is driven by "I hate my body," "I need to lose weight," or "I'm not good enough," eventually the process becomes exhausting.
There is a difference between wanting to change because you hate yourself and wanting to change because you value yourself.
The goal is to move from:
"I need to change because I don't like myself."
to:
"I want to take care of myself because I value myself."
That is a much more sustainable form of motivation.
11. Stop waiting to feel motivated
Motivation is unreliable.
Some days you'll feel inspired to exercise, cook healthy food and get to bed early.
Other days you absolutely won't.
If your healthy habits depend on motivation, you'll constantly start and stop.
Sometimes you simply have to do what matters even when you don't feel like doing it.
That's where discipline comes in.
But discipline doesn't mean pushing yourself relentlessly.
Sometimes discipline is recognising that your body needs rest.
Sometimes it's asking for help.
Sometimes it's changing your approach when something isn't working.
And sometimes it's getting up and doing the thing you promised yourself you'd do.
The goal isn't perfection.
The goal is consistency.
12. Your mental game matters more than you think
We talk about physical health constantly.
But what happens inside your mind can determine whether you actually follow through.
Getting healthy requires mental resilience.
You need to learn how to tolerate discomfort.
Delay gratification.
Manage your emotions.
Recognise self-sabotaging behaviours.
Keep going when you don't feel like it.
And choose what is good for you, even when what is good for you isn't what you feel like doing.
This takes effort.
Your mind can either keep you trapped in the same patterns or help you create completely different ones.
Learning to manage your inner game is one of the most important parts of changing your health.
So, what needs to change?
Maybe the harsh truth is that you don't need another diet.
You don't need another detox.
You don't need another perfect meal plan, supplement or 30-day challenge.
You need to start looking honestly at the life you're currently living and ask yourself:
Is the way I'm living actually taking me towards the person I want to become?
Because your health is being shaped every day — by what you eat, how you move, how you sleep, how you manage stress, what you believe about yourself, what you prioritise and what you repeatedly choose.
You don't have to change everything overnight.
But you do have to be honest about what needs to change.
And then you have to be willing to do it.
Even when it's uncomfortable.
Even when motivation disappears.
Even when you slip up.
Even when the old version of you wants to go back to what feels familiar.
Because getting healthy isn't about becoming perfect.
It's about becoming someone who takes care of themselves consistently.
Someone who values their future health enough to make different choices today.
So don't ask yourself:
"What's the quickest way I can get healthy?"
Ask yourself:
"Who do I need to become to live the healthy life I want?"
And then start becoming her.
One choice at a time.
In health & happiness
Sarah Emily Herbalist
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