For many of us, January is a welcome break from celebration and excess. Christmas and New Year are both wonderful times to let loose, relax and eat all the cheese you want.
Routines go out the window and it is a great time to just enjoy life and eat and drink whatever you want.
But by the time January comes around, it can be easy to start craving a routine and the desire to use the new year to get back on track and form new, healthy habits.
These habits don’t need to be about forcing yourself to the gym or struggling through a boring diet, just little steps that make your life healthier and happier, whatever they may be.
So if you’re on a January health kick this year, we’ve listed some products to help you follow it through.
Drink more water
Drinking water is one of the key things to help keep your body healthy, but drinking enough water is even more important.
But we know how it is, life is busy and it’s easy to forget to top up your glass every time you finish it.
This gallon water bottle from MyProtein will help you keep track of how much water you’ve had in a day and having it with you will also remind you to take a few swigs now and then.
Level up your home workouts
Dragging yourself to the gym can be such an arduous task. And not everyone enjoys the gym atmosphere. Finding an exercise environment that works for you will help make activities far more enjoyable.
Home workouts and easy and can be scheduled around your day. Decathlon has a huge range of home workout equipment for whatever exercise you’d like to do.
Resistance bands for just £4.99, a fillable weight for £7.99 and yoga mats for stretching.
It even has a wide variety of treadmills if you enjoy running but prefer to do it indoors.
Vitamins
Vitamins are great at helping you maintain a good level of nutrition. Daily vitamin C vitamins can keep you fighting colds as we get through the winter months and B vitamins keep you feeling energetic.
MyProtein has a huge range of vitamins to help you keep fit, including Glucosamine Chondroitin Capsules to keep your bones and joints strong and Essential Omega 3 supporting your heart health.
Books to read in 2022
If you’re wanting to read more in 2022, you’re not alone. Many people use the new year to start various reading challenges. Whether that’s to read a book a week, a month or even just make it through one without being distracted by your phone.
Knowing what book to start with however can be like looking for a needle in a haystack, with so many recommendations and genres.
To help, we’ve listed one book from the most popular genres in 2021 (according to Goodreads) so you don't have to spend hours on google reviews.
Romance: You and Me on Vacation
Fantasy: A Court of Silver Flames
Horror: The Final Girl Support Group
Non-Fiction: The Anthropocene Reviewed
Mystery & Thriller: The Last Thing He Told Me
Humour: Broken
Muscle gun
Recovery is one of the most important parts of fitness. If your body can’t heal properly, you won’t improve or feel the health benefits.
Muscle guns are a great way to ease sore muscles after a workout. The guns work by pulsating a deep tissue massage helping you recover faster.
The MuscleGun Carbon is currently on offer and is available for £199.99.
NutriBullet
Is it even a health kick without homemade smoothies? The NutriBullet has long been the perfect design for making a quick smoothie before heading out the door.
But what if you could make one on the go? Fresh smoothies taste best, and this NutriBullet is portable!
Yes, it is fully portable, rechargeable and just as powerful.
With a charge time of under 5 hours, you can take this with you anywhere and make your smoothie (or other blended items) fresh and on the go.
It is available for £49.99 and comes in several colours.
What is Acai powder?
Acai powder took Instagram by storm several years ago with the introduction of Acai bowl pics. The vibrant purple liquid topped with colourful fruits were definitely a pretty aesthetic.
But Acai isn’t just a pretty colour to add to smoothies and bowls, it is actually an incredibly nutritious supplement that will keep you fighting fit.
The Acai berry is a small, bright purple berry that hails from Central and South America. In the UK it is very difficult to purchase the berries fresh, but you can get it in a powder which you can add to smoothies, drinks and more.
The antioxidant berry has anti-diabetic, anti-cancer and anti-inflammatory properties, as well as the ability to fight free radicals in the body.
You can buy Acai powder on Holland and Barret for £16.99.
Make mornings brighter with a SAD alarm
We might have passed the shortest day, but those dark mornings are still lingering and making it much more difficult to rise in the morning.
A good start to the morning sets the day off right and waking up to a pitch-black room can make you just want to dive back under the covers.
Enter a SAD alarm (Seasonal Affective Disorder). As your alarm goes off in the morning, a SAD lamp begins to mimic natural sunlight by filling your room with a glowing light.
It begins to slowly light your room before your alarm, gradually increasing the brightness.
If you’re wanting to become an early bird, a SAD alarm could help you get through the dark starts until summer comes back around.
Best cookbooks to try
Part of a January health kick can be trying new foods. Some take on whole new lifestyle changes such as Veganuary, others just want to learn new recipes to try.
There are so many cookbooks out there all promising different things: quick meals, healthy meals, vegetarian meals.
To help limit some of the options, we’ve chosen just one cookbook from each category for whatever food you want to try this January.
For vegan: BOSH!: Simple Recipes. Amazing Food. All Plants
For vegetarian: Vegetarian Cookbook for Beginners
For easy meals: Make It Easy Cookbook
For one-dish meals: The Hungerpots Cookbook
For healthy meals: The Batch Lady: Healthy Family Favourites
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