10 Healthy Habits to Start Now

By Ginger 

 To kick off the new blog, we want to give you some healthy habits to start out with. We will of course be posting more information behind some of these habits to help you along the way. 

10. Put down that soda.

I don’t care if it’s regular or diet. Caffeinated or caffeine free. Organic or otherwise. Its crap. Listen to me: SODA HAS NO NUTRITIONAL VALUE. If you want caffeine have some coffee or tea. Stop drinking man-made drinks from a can. They make you feel bloated and they are empty calories. High consumption of soda has been linked to obesity, diabetes, kidney stones, osteoporosis, and more. I found this great little chart that sums it up:

Want a soda now? 

9. Drop the artificial sweeteners.

Replacing sugar with Splenda isn’t going to make you healthy. Avoiding sugar is the best thing you could do. Did you know that there are scientific studies showing that artificial sweeteners make you fat? Its just another reason to put down that diet soda in #10. And why would you want to put anything artificial in your body? Do you even know what they put in those artificial sweeteners? Aspartame, for example, is made of up of three chemicals. Did you read that right? Yes, you did. The reason there are no calories in artificial sweeteners is because they are NOT FOOD. Why would you want to put chemicals in your body? And guess where you mainly find aspartame? Yep, in that awful nasty diet soda. I know I keep going back to that but…STOP DRINKING IT!

8. Don’t diet.

That’s right. Don’t diet. Make a lifestyle change. It might be a longer road but it’s better than a “quick fix”. Think of your external appearance as a reflection of your health. Your body is a very smart and efficient machine. It will adapt to whatever type of diet you eat. Why do people who lose weight on diets almost always gain the weight back? Because they go back to eating the way they did before. The solution is simple - Make being healthy a life-long goal. I promise you it is worth it. No crazy fad diets where you live on canned tuna and green tea for a month. That is not good for you at all. Make incremental, sustainable changes to your diet. With the right decisions and a little patience you will persevere! 

7. Read labels.

Do you even know what you are eating? Read labels. If you don’t know what it is, don’t eat it. If your food has a big long list of ingredients made in a lab, don’t put it in your body.  One of the best way to avoid foods with mysterious ingredients is to avoid prepackaged foods as much as possible. Buy fresh or frozen fruit and veggies, make your own salad dressing (it isn’t that hard..we will show you!), and plan meals ahead of time rather than reaching for that frozen dinner. Please please please don’t eat that frozen dinner. It is loaded with preservatives and you could eat such a fresh wholesome meal instead that would be more filling. I don’t know about you but those meals do not make me feel satisfied.

6. Learn that fat isn’t a bad word.

Everyone worries about fat. Fat isn’t your enemy. Did you know that your brain is mostly made of fat? And there are some great fats out there you should eat, like coconut oil (we will post more on good fats later). In fact, there are some essential fats (EFAs) that you absolutely NEED in your diet to maintain optimal physical and mental health. Instead of seeking out low-fat food, focus on getting enough protein each day and avoiding sugar and refined carbs.

5. Don’t be a sucker.

Don’t fall for all of the food marketing. Just because something claims it is organic doesn’t mean it is good for you. Nor is something low fat or low calorie necessarily the right choice.  As I said before, read your labels. But also look up the nutrition for any fast food that you think might be healthy. Most likely it is full of preservatives and artificial flavorings and sweeteners. I can think of a multitude of examples: that fast food sandwich meat is loaded with preservatives; that protein smoothie has a ton of fake sugar in it and barely any actual protein. But they claim it is healthy. And this exactly why you should...

4. Educate yourself.

Read scientific studies and articles. Verify the source of any nutrition information you read. After all it could just be some marketing scheme from the food industry. No really. I am not being crazy. Decide for yourself is something is healthy, if a certain supplement will benefit you, and if that Zumba class really burns 600 calories. And don't trust what someone says on Pinterest or a blog (hey I am being honest here. We do our fair share of reading and only want to help, but you have to go out and empower yourself a little!). 

3. Don’t be lazy.

Be active. Enjoy life. Get out there and try something new! You have to find what activities you like in order to enjoy exercise. You don’t have to love the gym. Its ok. Go for a walk. Take a hike. Get a bicycle or some roller skates. Do some gardening. Go for a swim. Just keep moving!

2. Learn to cook.

Life will be easier if you cook rather than depend on prepackaged or fast meals. Wholesome, locally grown food is so much better for you. Hate to cook? Learn simple meals. Pre-plan them for the week. You can make it work!

1. Track your nutrition

Tracking your nutrition is a great way to know what you are eating. It can be very enlightening. It definitely got me to change what kind of alcoholic beverages I have when I go to down to New Orleans on a Saturday night! It’s also a good way to track fat, protein, sugar, and carbs. Studies show that most people who are trying to lose weight underestimate how many calories they are eating. But it isn’t just about the calorie goal. If you are eating low calories but are eating crap, you aren’t healthy. If you decide to eat a super low calorie diet and are starving yourself, you are not healthy, even if you lose weight. And you also have to keep in mind that in the long term living in an extreme calorie deficit will cause your metabolism to slow down enough that your weight loss can stall completely. Once you have damaged your metabolism in this way, it can take months of normal eating for it to be restored. But the first step is to get an idea of what you are actually eating each day.

There are some great apps out there for nutrition tracking. Gerald and I use MyFitnessPal. We are able to customize our goals and we can put in recipes to review their nutrition numbers.  I think Jen uses LoseIt! I also know people that like SparkPeople. Find one that works for you and stick with it.