IndexIntroductionHow does meditation help us make healthy choices? Bad habits, stress and meditationIntroductionFor many of us, being as healthy as possible is one of our main goals in life. Trying to choose the best food, getting enough exercise and avoiding bad habits like smoking are actions that many of us try to take. Unfortunately, although it seems simple in theory, it is not always easy in practice. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay No one actively wants to be unhealthy, but after a hard day, curling up with some comfort food and hiding from the world can seem like the path of least resistance. Making a healthy choice, on the other hand, can require tremendous effort and planning, as well as a little extra willpower. Fortunately, however, there are ways to make health choices more natural, and the simple daily habit of meditation is one of them. How does meditation help us make healthy choices? When we try to pursue a healthier, more ethical lifestyle – perhaps embarking on a plant-based diet – we often have to overcome many years of habitual behavior. The obesity crisis affecting much of the Western world demonstrates that, even when we know what is bad for us, it is extremely difficult for people to change. Factors such as poverty, lack of education and mental health problems certainly have a great influence on people. becoming very unhealthy. Yet many of us have the knowledge and ability to do the things we need to live better, but find ourselves somehow stymied in our attempts to make it a reality. Even those of us who are very health conscious can find ourselves in a difficult situation. plateauing, doing our best but with our progress stifled and our goals just out of reach. For example, we might want to drink only a few glasses of wine a month, but instead drink it a couple of times a week; or maybe we have a weakness for highly processed fast food and find ourselves ordering it a little too often. By making meditation part of our daily routine, we can help ourselves overcome these critical points and change our lives so that in a subtle but comprehensive way, choosing the best thing for ourselves seems completely natural. And it's the way meditation transforms our experience of stress that makes this happen. Bad Habits, Stress, and Meditation For people struggling to make the right choices for their health, meditation can be a wonderful place to start. Even starting with twenty minutes a day can create what's known as a "keystone habit" — a habit in our life that informs everything else. For example, a key bad habit might be staying up until 2am every morning, snacking on sugary food and binge-watching your favorite TV show. This is something we could do once a month without having much of an impact on the rest of our lives. But as a daily habit, we wake up tired and prone to making less than optimal food choices in the morning in search of a boost of energy. This leads to an inevitable energy crash at lunchtime, meaning instead of going for a walk we stay at our desk with a coffee and lunch. As a result, we increase our screen time in harmful ways and miss out on the hormonal and psychological boost that a little exercise provides. Once home, we feel tired and undernourished, but full of stimulants and looking for fun, so we sit on the sofa,.