Baby Steps to Improve Your Health
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Many of us make health-related resolutions and goals for ourselves. They are achievable if you put your mind to them and create a plan.
Focus on the goal, then create a series of smaller goals to help you achieve what you want. If you want to get healthier - decide what that looks like for you. If it is to lose 20 pounds, and be able to chase your kids that is a amazing goal!
At first these goals might seem like a lot, but when you break it down into achievable steps it isn't so scary. If this is your goal, maybe work on quitting smoking as your first sub-goal, or starting light yoga, or not eating fast food during the week. Whatever your goals are you can achieve them with a plan in place.
"Small steps are achievable and are easier to fit into your daily routine," says James O. Hill, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Human Nutrition at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center. "They are less overwhelming than a big, sudden change."
These are a few small goals you can try to help improve your health.
Here are 10 to try:
1. Use the scale as a tool. I like to weigh myself often - this way I know what is working and what isn't in my diet. If you're sensitive to a particular food then your weight will fluctuate it when you consume it. Keep an eye on your weight and work on making sure you are not gaining extra lbs. Even if you gain just a pound or two every year, the extra weight adds up quickly.
2. Take more small steps. There are several brands of watches out there today like the apple watch. Set a goal for yourself or challenge a friend who can get more steps in in a day. Keep upping your challenge until you take up to 10, 000 steps a day.
3. Eat breakfast. Breakfast eaters tend to weigh less and have better diets overall. For a filling and nutrition-packed breakfast make a
smoothie with Complete. It is so nutrient dense that you will get a surge of vitamins and minerals as well as 15 plus plants in one sitting!
4. Drink water!!! Drink 1/2 of your body weight in ounces. So if you weight 150 lbs then you should drink 75 oz of water each day! I actually line up 8 glasses of water on my counter in the morning so that I know how much I need to drink - creating a visual helps with accountablity.
5. Ditch the white stuff - instead of eating white bread switch to ancient grain or sprouted bread. This will add much needed nutrients and fiber to your diet. Did you know that they strip nutrients out in the refining process of white bread and actually have to add nutrients back to white refined bread to call it a food?
5. Have at least one green salad every day. Eating a salad will help add nutrients, fiber, and may help you feel fuller so you do not indulge as much on the unhealthy alternatives.
6. Purchase lean organic meats, and eat a variety of plant proteins as well as some meat.
7. Portion control. You know the BIG dinner plates? Well you should use a side plate and fill that up instead. A lot of us eat way more than we should at a sitting and stretch out our stomachs making us want even more at the next sitting.
9. Lose just 5 to 10 percent of your current weight. The health benefits could be huge-lower blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and triglycerides.
10. Keep track of your eating. Write down what you eat over the next couple of days and look for problem spots. Often, just writing things down can help you eat less. Sometimes you will be amazing at how much, or what you consume in a day. Writing it down makes you more accountable.