What the word "healthy" means to me

In what feels like the past few years, an underlining topic has been lingering everywhere. From all types of media to advertisements on the side of the road, to new apps, to inspiring businesses - you name it. Fitness and health have been on the rise in trendiness, now more than ever.

Everyone has a different perspective when health is mentioned, especially when working out and eating "right" are involved. With the media slowly seeping this life-altering idea into our everyday lives, I believe now is the time to make that difference in your life.

Personally, I believe that for a change to take place in anyone's life, that person has to want the change to happen, both short term and long term. For example, anyone could force themselves to eliminate greasy fast food a few times a week from their diet or to do that juice cleanse you just saw the Kardashians swear by. Although, just by changing your diet for a week to complete the challenge, you won't really cause your life to be healthier overall. The same goes for exercise. If you finally find that gym groove in your busy schedule but don't change unhealthy eating habits, overall your lifestyle won't magically change. To truly put in all the effort that goes into eating healthy and working out, your body will love you and you'll love it back. There just seems to be an unmentioned misconception lately that if you buy the latest health membership or promotion, you'll automatically live healthier.

For me, two main things I want from living a healthy lifestyle are to look toned and feel good about how I look. In high school to stay active, I joined the Cross Country team and the Track team and ran all four years that I could. This quickly became my new life. Starting my summer before freshman year I began waking up early and meeting my team just when the sun came up to run a few miles and soon I realized I could eat whatever and however much I wanted. This glory soon ended.

When I got to college, I wasn't running or working out nearly as much as I was before and I realized that this was not the life I wanted. I wanted to eat healthily (but still have a little room for fun in my diet), stay active, and like being in my own skin. So I made a change.

Luckily, my dad is a little bit of a gym freak and can explain dieting and exercising better than that of the media's fake juice cleanse or "click here for an easy 10-minute workout from your couch" articles. So I devised some easy meals that I could make at college and gathered information from him that would keep me on the track to stay feeling healthy.

The most important thing I learned about my health habits in this shift to college was that at any time in my life I may need to make adjustments, but as long as I am listening to my body, it will tell me what to do to take care of it. I believe this goes for anyone - however old.

Staying active and happily living in your own body can sometimes be difficult. Luckily, now more than ever there are so many resources around that can kickstart that change or reignite that old motivation.

I advocate for living the healthiest lifestyle possible and taking care of my body because you should take pride in your body and take care of yourself to be the best that you can be.