Photo by Remy Snippe

So, you don’t know where to start with eating, and living a healthier life?  I suggest taking small steps (“baby steps” in other words) so you won’t become discouraged and/or “burnt out.”

Suggestions on Eating Healthier:

• Never skip breakfast, making it as balanced as possible (protein, good carbohydrate, healthy fat, vegetable).  By eating a balanced breakfast you are “starting the furnace”, helping jump start your metabolism, which in turn will help you loose weight.  Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.
• Make a conscience effort to eat healthy snacks.  You want to always include some protein but not too much.  Some suggestions are: hard boiled egg and a vegetable, peanut butter and celery, white cheese (less fat than yellow cheese) and crackers (whole grain).  Be creative, but try to keep the snack balanced.
• Work on cutting down on eating red meat.  I suggest one serving a week or none at all.  If you insist on eating red meat try buying buffalo.  It is more lean then beef.  The leaner the better for your arteries and all around health.  There are some suggestions that colon cancer is linked to eating too much red meat.  Try cooking with more chicken and fish.  I highly suggest your chicken be “free range” or organic (see other post about this subject).  Fish should never be farm raised.  The farms feed the fish chemicals to: 1) produce more fish, and 2) with salmon they give them colored red pellets to make the skin red.
• Eat more fruits and vegetables.  You can eat quite a bit with very few calories.  A good way to incorporate more into your diet is to have vegetables cut up ready to grab, and with fruit you can either make a fruit salad or just have fruit out on the counter ready to be eaten.

Ideas for living a healthier lifestyle:

• It doesn’t cost any money to get out and walk.  If you aren’t use to walking as exercise, I suggest just going for 15 minutes starting out.  Maybe do that for 4-5 days and then add 5 more minutes, etc. (remember “baby steps”)  I personally walk between 30-45 minutes.  Walking is a wonderful way to keep the bones strong.  Being outdoors is the best, but if you have a treadmill make sure you use it.  When walking you want to go at a speed that will increase your breathing.  By doing this you will benefit in getting more oxygen to your blood which is important to the body helping build a stronger immune system.
• Get involved in yoga, deep breathing, pilates, or if you are a person that needs structure get to a gym.  Yoga will get a person in shape with flexibility and toning.  Deep breathing will help with oxygenation to the blood and help reduce stress.  Pilates and going to a gym will help reduce stress and get the body into shape.
• Be conscientious of putting yourself under too much stress during the year.  You don’t have to be “super” Mom, Wife, Husband, etc.  Just be.  If you feel you are trying to do too much, back off and decline invitations, etc.  There is nothing wrong with not “joining in” once in awhile.  Your body will appreciate you.

I have barely touched the surface of ways to eat and live healthier.  Do some homework regarding a healthy life.  Only you have the control to live well.

You can find much more information on websites and/or through reading some great books.  Below I suggest only a few of the hundreds of books and websites to follow.

Reading and/or website suggestions:

The UltraMind Solution; Mark Hyman, M.D.

www.drhyman.com

The New Optimum Nutrition Bible; Patrick Holford

www.patrickholford.com

The Schwarzbein Principle; Diana Schwarzbein, M.D.

www.schwarzbeinprinciple.com

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