Living a healthy life involves being organized. Finding the time to be healthy (to plan and cook healthy meals, to exercise, to get necessary doctor appointments scheduled, to take care of your skin, your nails, etc.) is important.
Here are a few organized things you can do to make healthy living something that's not-so-challenging.
1) Don't buy an assortment of junk food. The easiest way to eat healthy is not to buy and store unhealthy foods in your home. If they're not in the cabinet and easily accessible, you're more likely to stick to eating the healthy, nutritious foods you do have. If you have been eating a whole lot of junk food, and don't want to go 'cold turkey,' just buy ONE bag/box of junk food, rather than an
assortment, as an occasional cheat.
2) Find a few 'active' activities you love. The easiest way to keep up with exercising each day is to find a few activities you actually like to do, perhaps walking, or a Zumba class, or swimming. Once you have the activities, schedule them on your calendar and do them just like you would any other important appointment. Exercising is much easier when you're 'in the habit' of doing
so.
3) Make a healthy meal rotation. Mondays are always nuts for my family, schedule-wise. So, I almost always serve a 'salad bar' on Monday nights. This involves me putting out a big bowl of arugula, spring greens or some other lettuce, a bunch of assorted items to put into the salad (cucumbers, grape tomatoes, black olives, feta cheese, shredded carrots, etc.), and a protein which can be as simple as
garbanzo beans.
Otherwise, you can quickly grill some shrimp or chicken. Dinner is done. For dressing, I cut up a lemon or lime, and serve with a high-quality olive oil. It's delicious and I never have to think about what to make on Mondays.
For the other days of the week, you can easily do something similar with other food themes, like an evening when you serve grilled fish, a potato, and another veggie, or another evening when you serve a plant-based pasta dish.
The less you have to 'think' about what you're going to make, the easier it will be to cook and eat healthy meals.
4) If you're going to fill your plate, fill it with vegetables. I watched my daughter fill her plate last night. Half of the plate was literally filled with kale (her favorite veggie), one other quarter of her plate had a piece of salmon (about 4 ounces), and the final quarter had some brown rice. I thought to myself, good for her!
Put the veggies on your plate first. Be sure they're taking up half of the space. Then add your protein and starch. It's an easy way to be sure you're getting tons of nutrient-rich vegetables in your meals.
5) Eat fruit for dessert most evenings. I like something sweet after dinner. It caps off the meal nicely. Fruit is sweet, delicious, nutritious, and healthy. Choose fruit as your dessert most evenings. If you'd like, add a little bit of Reddi-wip and it will look and taste more decadent. Another option is to mix your fruit with a bit of Greek yogurt and add a tiny amount of dark chocolate
chips.
6) Make a list of 'check up' appointments. Make a list of all the doctor 'check ups' you go to, or want to go to, and how often. Then be sure you have an appointment in your calendar for each one of them (doctor, dentist, eye doctor, colonoscopy, mammo, etc.) It's so easy to 'put these off,' but if they're on the calendar, most people are more likely to go when those dates roll
around.
P.S. Make organizing your health top priority. Check out my GON GLOW resource on this link: GON GLOW and enjoy a healthier, thinner, happier you! More details below in this
newsletter.
