Healthy Living Tips & Goals

With the new year upon us, I thought it would be nice to share tips and more on healthy living, eating and weight loss.  These are goals that I am trying to accomplish and I thought I would share them with you.

Please know I am NOT a dietitian, nutritionist, or a trainer.  This is from personnel experience and reflect my own opinion.

The time is NOW!!  Starting the year or anytime on healthy living.

1.  Eat Fruit – It’s good for you, supplies you with vitamins, minerals, fiber, water and more.   Fresh or Frozen, as long as there is no added sugar or additives.

2.  Eat Vegetables - Eat as many as you want!  Cut them up, put them in the fridge and grab them when your hungry!  Fresh is best!  But frozen is great to and since most veggies are flash froze, they don’t lose any of there nutrients.  Just don’t buy any with added sugar or additives.  Spice up your veggies with herbs, spices, and olive oil!

3.  Eat Salad – My goal is to eat salad everyday, even if it is a little mixed greens with my dinner.  Salad is so good for you as long as you load it up with a little protein and lots and lots of veggies!!!

4.  Stay away from processed deli meat.  Most of it has added sodium to keep it tasty and has preservatives to keep it fresh.  Make a batch of chicken or turkey.  Place it in Tupperware in the fridge and when you want salad with chicken, or a sandwich you can cut up your own meat.  It tastes better, it’s cheaper to make and best of all you know what is in it!  Plus if you keep it more plain, you can dress it up with BBQ sauce, dressings, add on pizza or more!

5.  Cook in batches.  When I make dinner, sometimes I double up on my rice, pasta, meats, vegetables and more.  For example, if you make a big batch of rice, you can use it throughout the week.  Keep it plain, so you can prepare different meals throughout the week with it.   You can also freeze cooked rice and microwave it in a freezer bag for two minutes, all steamed and ready to eat.  This is a great way to portion control!  You can do this with lots of grains, sauces, vegetables and more.

6.   Purge the Sugar and bad foods – Today I cleaned out my cupboard and got rid of all the bad sugar for me, that’s my personal downfall.  There is no reason to tempt myself.  Get the temptation out of the house!  If you have it there your bound to eat it or if you feel sad, bored or deprived you could binge on it.  Now I think everyone should be able to have a treat once in a while, or even everyday, as long as you have self control and don’t over do it!  I have a treat every night after dinner.  It keeps me sane!  But keep the stuff you have no control over out!  Chocolate Chip Cookies are my downfall.  I may buy one at the coffee shop and split it with someone or yes, it’s a waste of money, but as soon as I get it, I break it in half and throw half out.  That way I know I will not dig in the garbage at Starbucks!  :)  I’d rather waist a couple of bucks then have it go to my butt!!

7. Drink Water – I used to be really good at drinking water, but I kind of got out of the habit.  I now try to drink 8 cups a day or more.  At home, I leave four water bottle out and I make sure I drink them throughout the day.  At work, I really try to finish one bottle in the morning, one at lunch and one before I go home.  Then I have one for dinner.  The more water the better!!  It cleanse your system, keeps you hydrated and also keeps you full!  As an added bonus you get off your fanny because you have to run to the bathroom constantly.  he he

8.  Snacks- I believe in eating every 3 hours or so, it keeps my metabolism going and I don’t splurge on junk!   My snacks I try to stay under 150 calories.  I eat foods like nuts, granola, hummus, veggies and my all time favorite 1/2 cup of greek yogurt with fruit, peanut butter and granola!  Only 109 calories!

9.  Exercise – I can’t say it enough and a lot of time I have to tell myself it’s good for me, and not to be lazy and just do it, even if it is for 15 minutes.  I try to do a little bit of cardio 5 times a week and strength training 3 times a week.  Strength training is so important, especially for woman.  It strengthens your bones, speeds the metabolism, you burn more calories at rest and personally it makes me feel powerful.  No need to be afraid of strength training, woman aren’t built like men, so you won’t gain huge muscles, but tone and have strength!

10.  White and processed foods – I am really trying to stay away from processed foods and white grains like pasta and rice. Now I can’t not eat pretzels or pita chip, but I limit myself on them.  When it comes to pasta, bread, rice and cereal, I really try to stick with whole grain.  It’s better for you!  It fills you up, it slows the sugar spike that you would get from white grains and it has fiber!  All good things!

11.  Walk – Try to get in as much walking as you can.  When I first lost weight it was from walking!  it’s so good for you and your heart!  I try to walk to the store if I need milk or a small ingredient, but I also make excuses. I need to work on this one, but I’m trying.  Get out there and enjoy nature!!

12.  Healthy Influences -Try to surround yourself with healthy influences like friends, family, magazines and healthy blogs!  I have signed up to get a bunch of healthy type blogs in my e-mails, so I stay encouraged, learn new things from others and step out of my comfort zone and try something new.

13.  Scales – I believe everyone should have a kitchen scale, measuring cups and spoons.  Sometimes you think something is the right amount of food you should eat to find out you were way off.  I find a lot of items are counted by weight and not so much by measurement.  I use my scale everyday, especially for measuring my meat.  3 or 4 oz of chicken maybe the size of a deck of cards, but the thickness maybe off.  I love my scale.  You can pick one up for under $30.  at Target.

14.  Set small goals and reward yourself – I really believe in setting realistic goals, not ones that are hard to achieve.  I don’t want to set myself up for failure. Don’t say I’m going to lose 20lbs in 3 months, thats a very hard goal to reach, but maybe say I am going to lose 4lbs this month.  When you accomplished a goal, you feel good about yourself and you keep positive.  Now that you reached a small goal, now it’s time to reward yourself.  It can be a big reward like a trip or small ones like a pedicure.  If I reach my goals on a monthly basis I will treat myself to a pedicure!  Thats my personal goal, and my goal is to lose 3lbs and to keep on track!  I want to stay healthy and happy!

I hope you like my little tips, I personally do TRY to keep with these goals.  I’m not perfect, I may not always do it, but the key is to never give up!  You can accomplish anything you want.  Only you have the power to achieve your goals!  I plan on updating these tips in the future.

QUESTION:  What is your goal?  Do you have any healthy tips?