I always thought I was kinda healthy. I didn’t do exercise but I was always busyish. Takeouts were very limited due to funds so no worries there and as for eating at home, that was all pretty normal I thought. And blissfully ignorant to lots of things life continues and we all plod along thinking we’re doing ok.
For a variety of reasons, I had to stop and revaluate my so-called health choices and realized they actually weren’t that healthy. It all depends of course on who you listen to and what day of the week it is to what advice you follow. There are of course lots of fad diets, so-called quick fixes and lots of other dubious advice to wade through too.
My take on it all is to do what fits your lifestyle and budget. Everything bad in moderation, everything good in excess and to be realistic about goals.
So my personal tips that have and are working for me.
Less processed food the better – grabbing a jar of pasta sauce is quick and easy but have a ready of the ingredients and see all the extra stuff they put in there, mainly sugar. Would you happily swallow 5 teaspoons of sugar? That’s what can be in a jar of bolognese sauce. Do a quick google and make your own sauce instead.
Read Labels – if there are lots of words you don’t understand why would you put them in your body? The other one to look at is the sugar. For quick ease of maths, 5 grams is roughly 1 teaspoons. Be prepared to be slightly surprised how many teaspoons of sugar your healthy yogurt actual has hidden in it.
Drink more water – yes everyone harps on about this one, but for very good reasons. We don’t drink enough. You don’t have to go all puritan and only drink plain water but try to drink as little messed around with water than you can manage. I keep a jug of water with frozen grapes in the fridge to make grabbing a drink easier.
Exercise – make it fun and get the kids involved. Now one liked P.E at school but when someone has a football in the park suddenly everyone gets involved. It doesn’t have to be intense, in awful sports gear or structered. Just get active. Walk to the shops instead of the car, go to the park intead of that film on the TV.
Cakes, biscuits, and chocolate – don’t ban it totally. Instead, reduce the amount. It’s far to easy to reach for a cake, biscuit or chocolate if you have lots in the house. So start with having less in the house and not buying more until the next shop instead of when you run out.
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