HOLIDAY EATING TIPS

The holiday season is a time to celebrate with family and friends. Unfortunately, for many it also becomes a time for over-eating and weight gain. Well, you can and should enjoy this wonderful time of the year. But that does not mean you have to bombard your body with unhealthy habits that would make your new year’s resolution harder to achieve. Your health status during this holiday season is closely associated with the nourishment obtained from your diet before and during Christmas. From healthy lifestyle choices, eating the proper foods, and keeping a positive attitude, there are many things you can do to boostyour healthy status during this holiday season.

•  Drinking plenty of water is very important for many reasons. It prevents you from becoming dehydrated, and helps with detoxificationof your body. It is recommended that you drink at least 2 litres of water a day.
• It is helpful to watch what goes into your body. Processed foods, artificial sugars, food colorings, and artificial flavorings can all be harmful to your body and reduce your chances of achieving the full benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
• Take at least 3 servings of whole grains every day.Not only are they high in fiber, whole grains also contain an array of antioxidants not found in fruits and vegetables. The easiest way to increase whole grain intake is to replace some of your refined-grain products. For instance, use whole-grain bread instead of white bread for your breakfast.
• A product labelled fat-free does not mean that it is low in calories. Similarly a product labelled as low-sugar or low-carb does not mean it is low in fat or calories. Always read the nutrition label on the packaging.
• Plan time for exercise. Exercise helps relieve holiday stress and prevent weight gain. A moderate increase in exercise can help partially offset increased holiday eating.

Principles of Sustainable Lifestyle Change.

We live in a quick-fix society. We want instant results with minimal pain, effort and sacrifice. When it comes to our health and appearance, we’re accustomed to looking for a pill or procedure, and many practitioners are quick to prescribe them. But if the root cause of the problem or challenge is not addressed, drugs, surgery and treatments can simply mask the underlying issue, leading to more of the same – a vicious cycle. Observing the following principles will make lifestyle change enjoyable and help you obtain optimal health, lose weight and feel better every day.

1.      Find your perfect fit 

Each of us is unique – metabolically, psychologically, and circumstantially. For this reason, there’s no single diet plan that works well for everyone. “Each person needs to find what works for him- or herself by seeking professional nutritional advice. This is the 1^st principle that will enable you start the lifestyle journey in the right direction by avoiding unnecessary trial and errors. If you have a clear vision of the journey and what you want out of your journey then you are pointed in the right direction to achieve that success.

 2.      Unparalleled  Commitment

Permanent lifestyle takes time and effort — and a lifelong commitment. Make sure that you're ready to make permanent changes and that you do so for the right reasons. To stay committed to your lifestyle, you need to be focused. It takes a lot of mental and physical energy to change your habits. If you don’t have the commitment you will withdraw physically and mentally from your daily tasks and not be able to achieve success!

3.      Motivation 

Why are some people able to maintain their healthy new lifestyle indefinitely while most others peter out after a few weeks or months? This is currently one of the hottest questions in research. Lifestyle changes begin with setting solid intentions, only then will you have the commitment to stick with your new course of action. Intention is the strong, motivating “why” for doing something.

 4.      Change your perspective

It's not enough to eat healthy foods and exercise for only a few weeks or even months if you want long-term, successful lifestyle change. These habits must become a way of life. Lifestyle changes start with taking an honest look at your eating patterns and daily routine bearing in mind your destination. Remember that you're planning to change your life. It won't happen all at once. Stick to your healthy lifestyle and the results will be worth it.

 

 

Lifestyle change has its rules, and also a language!

Rules, rules, rules! A game is only as good as its rules, and how well we play the game is defined by how well we follow the rules. A few years ago I decided to learn about the game of golf. So, I asked a friend to take me to his club. When I went to the club, I quickly learnt that there were many, many rules covering not only how you play the sport, but also how you dress and how you "talk" to other golfers.  When I was at the club, it was like I was in a new world. They could easily tell that I was not part of them by the way I talked and the words that I used. The same applies to lifestyle change. Think of lifestyle change as a journey on a super highway. Traffic rules and regulations are not made just for the sake of having rules, but they are for our own safety. If we don’t follow the traffic rules strictly, then how will they help us in our safety? It is kind of chain reaction. If you break a traffic rule, out of 10 people near you at least 3 to 4 will break the rule and many others thereafter. Traffic rules help bring sanity and reduce road carnage. Being healthy often seems incredibly complicated. There are advertisements everywhere and various experts giving conflicting advice. However…being healthy does not need to be complicated. People were much healthier in the past, before all the dieting and “health products” took hold of our society. The rules haven’t changed since then… our genetics are the same and what worked for us back in the day can also work for us now. To gain optimal health, lose weight and feel better every day, then all you need to do is follow simple rules. 

 

In my next post, I will OUTLINE THE BASIC RULES OF SUSTAINABLE LIFESTYLE CHANGE and take a look at why rules are important and how they can make lifestyle change more enjoyable!

Healthy and Disease-free Lifestyle

Do you have a dream deep in your heart that you want to lead a healthy and disease-free lifestyle? Would you like to lose weight, manage diabetes, acidity, back pain etc.If you do, have you taken the first step necessary to achieve it? Taking the first step is perhaps the most difficult thing to do in achieving a dream. There are a lot of mental obstacles that make it difficult to take that first step. You should not wait until the situation is perfect because the situation will never be perfect. No matter how or when you see it, there will always be something that make you think again. The best time to start is now.  Check my next post as I explore how to start this life transforming journey!