3 Things I Wish Someone had told Me about Healthy Living

For the past few years I've become much more invested in my long term health. I pay attention to what I eat, exercise, and try to be active in my everyday life. This did not happen overnight and it took some time for me to realize a few things that seem very obvious now. Here are a few things that I wish someone had told me when I first began my journey into healthy living.

1. You'll miss the unhealthy things. Basically, when you eat crap you feel like crap. However, that doesn't stop me from occasionally wanting something that I know is full of chemicals and other horrible things. When the peanut butter cups at the grocery store are calling my name it can be pretty difficult to remember that they're full of trans fat. Finding a healthier alternative is key. I discovered Paul Newman's Organic Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups. Everyday of eating well is a new challenge and understanding that giving in to a craving now and then is perfectly healthy.
2. Strength training is just as important as cardio. My first real excursions into the world of exercise were purely on the treadmill and the elliptical machine. But in order to build lean muscle your body needs a balance of cardio and strength training with two or three days a week dedicated to each individually or an intervel training combination of the two.
3. Working out doesn't mean you can eat whatever you want. I started exercising before I started paying any attention to what I put into my body. So while exercising I continued eating without paying attention to portion or the nutrients I was getting out of my food. What I didn't realize at the time is that being healthy is about 10% exercise and 90% nutrition. I could exercise for an hour, burn 500 calories, and eat that away in ten minutes by going through a drive through. When you start to make the connection between how long it will take you to burn off those french fries, they suddenly become much less appealing. 

What have you learned about healthy living? Anything seem so obvious now when you had no idea before?