It doesn’t take a full overhaul of your routine to live a healthier life. Adding a few healthy habits to your everyday can create positive effects that will last a lifetime. Here are ten things you can do to promote a healthier you.
Drink more water
You’ve heard it once, or maybe twice, that drinking water is good for you. So, it should come as no surprise that this one tops the list of healthy habits. Drinking water has some pretty impactful benefits such as carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells, flushing out bacteria, aiding in digestion, normalizing blood pressure, and cushioning joints. By replacing water with that extra cup of coffee, fruit juice, or alcohol you’ll be doing your body a favor!
Include strength training
Although any kind of movement is good, strength training has its own unique benefits. By incorporating it into your workout routine you’re guaranteed to become stronger, burn more calories throughout the day, lower your risk of injury, improve heart health, and help manage blood sugar levels. Contact us to make it a part of your routine!
Plan your meals ahead
Starting the week with a menu takes the guesswork out of meal planning, especially when life gets busy. Planning out your meals and snacks helps you to make better choices by having healthier options readily available. Take it a step further by prepping some, or all, of your meals and snacks to cut down on time spent in the kitchen, food waste, temptation to veer from your plan, and keep on budget.
Choose the stairs
Opting for the stairs over the elevator may be a challenge, but little by little the added steps will make a huge difference. You use about seven times more energy than taking the elevator so by choosing the stairs you’re getting in a little extra cardiovascular exercise each time.
Get enough sleep
Not enough can be said about getting an adequate amount of sleep per night. The benefits include boosting your immune system, improving mood and memory, and promoting weight loss by regulating your metabolism. It is recommended that adults get seven to nine hours of sleep per night to fully reap these benefits and better health.
Add more color to your plate
When dishing up your favorite foods make sure to include plenty of color. More color means you’ll eat more variety. Since each color of fruit and vegetable provides a different set of phytonutrients it’s important to eat the full spectrum. Find out more about the benefits of each food color here.
Don't skip dessert
Yes, you read that right. NOT skipping dessert also gets added to healthy habits. Labeling foods as “good” and “bad” or constantly saying “no” to the foods you want and enjoy can lead to excessive cravings, overeating, and feeling unsatisfied with your current food choices. Having a cheat meal each week can actually be good for weight loss by preventing binges, reducing cravings, and promoting overall satisfaction.
Set small goals
Each small goal helps you to get stronger, become more confident, and move on to try more challenging things. Overtime the big goals won’t seem as unattainable as maybe they once did.
Check food labels
Stock up on the foods who’s ingredients you can pronounce. Avoiding processed foods is an easy way to limit unhealthy chemicals and excess sugars, sodium, and fat. Too much of these things can lead to obesity and heart disease. As mentioned before, choose a more colorful ingredient list.
Stretch for 5 minutes a day
Lastly, lets not forget to take a few minutes out of the day to stretch. There’s no shortage of benefits to a simple five minutes per day of gentle movement such as improving your performance in physical activities, decreasing your risk of injury, promoting full range of motion to your joints, and increasing blood flow to your muscles.