Nutrition And Your Health

Impact of Unhealthy Eating

LIVE HEALTHY LOOK YOUNGER

Chronic diseases such as hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and obesity occur as a result of unhealthy eating habits and increased weight gain.     Even people who have a healthy weight are at risk if they maintain a poor diet, which can lead to heart disease, certain cancers, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and obesity.     Most of these unhealthy habits however, didn’t develop over night, but were established during our childhood, which is often carried into adulthood.    Is there anything you can do to reverse this death sentence?

Start Young 

1.  Teach children how to eat healthy from a young age so they develop healthy habits throughout their life.    By modeling these behaviours in yourself you can help your children maintain a healthy weight and normal growth.

Make A Commitment

2.   Take steps to eat healthier and get involve in more physical activities.   Making the decision to make this lifestyle change is a big step.   Simply make a commitment to yourself and set realistic goals.   What ever you decide START TODAY! and extend your life.  Remember small changes everyday can lead to big results in the long run.

Now that you’ve learnt the benefits to healthy eating healthy follow these tips on ways to eating healthy to make that permanent change.

Have A Healthy Christmas

It’s Christmas time again.    This is a time when your palates are eager to sample all those mouth-watering dishes.   It’s also the hardest time to stick to your weight loss routine while trying to stay healthy.    Here are some Healthy Christmas Tips you can try out to make the holidays more enjoyable.

Swapping Fatty Ingredients

If you’re a turkey lover like me then try to reduce the fat content in the turkey gravy by starting off with some homemade chickenstock.    Next add some of the turkey drippings and season to taste.    You can also trim the skin off the turkey and the ham before plunging into the juicy meat; this reduces a lot of fat.    Try some whole wheat or whole grain bread to make those scrumptious leftover turkey or ham sandwiches and switch to margarine instead of butter and cut down on the sugar in some of your favourite recipes.

Healthy Appetizers

Having slices of fruit, a fresh green salad, or a simple vegetable soup will fill parts of the stomach and cause you to eat less later on.     Drinking water before a meal has also been known to fill you up so you eat less of the high calorie and fatty foods.

Portion Control

We would all want to sample the variety of food on the table.     That is quite all right but you must control the portions you take.    Watching portions is a critical healthy eating tip especially when it comes to dessert.    Try a thin slice of fruitcake after Christmas lunch leaving room for when you feel hungry later to sample another dessert.     Remember, everything in moderation.

Cut Back On The Drinks

This Christmas make your holiday toasts with fewer calories and less fat.    Instead of using soda, make a punch for everyone to enjoy.    Also limit the number of alcoholic beverages you consume.    A glass of water is refreshing and washes down the meal without all the calories.

Exercise, Exercise, Exercise!

Exercise is very important in maintaing a fit and healthy body especially during the holidays.    With all the buzzing of Christmas shopping, and preparation, make time to exercise.

Enjoy Your Christmas!

You can still enjoy all the trimmings of Christmas and not gain weight.   Just remember to watch your portions and fill up on the healthier foods.    With all the Christmas dinners and parties you may attend, snack on some nuts before you go, this will also help you to eat less.   In my next post on this topic I'll suggest some great menu options, recipes, for you to try, LOOK OUT FOR IT!

HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

How To Have Gorgeous Healthy Skin

Our skin protects our body.   What can we do to protect it?   Practicing good habits is the to key to proper skin care.     Here are 5 tips Doctors advise that we practice to guard our skin against skin cancer, dryness, wrinkles, discoloration and more.

1. Limit Exposure to the Sun

The Ultraviolet rays from the sun harms our skin in many ways and constant unprotected exposure causes skin damage such as dryness, wrinkles, age spots and skin cancer to name a few.    We need to practice using skin care products and wear protective clothing that will help keep our skin looking fresh and young.

2.  Drinks lots of Water

Water keeps our skin hydrated and moist, which prevents chapped skin, flakes and dryness.   Using a moisturizing cream or lotion for your skin type right after you shower is a good habit to develop.    Even though water is good for the skin, too much of it dries the skin out.    So practice taking warm not hot showers limiting them to about 5 to 10 minutes.

3.   Be Health Conscious

Pay close attention to what touches your skin.    

·      Don’t share personal items such as lip balms and toothbrushes.
·      Don’t touch your face with your fingers and wipe the telephone before use.
·      Don’t share drinks with others.

Practicing these will lower your skin’s exposure to germs.

4.  Choose a Tender Skin Care

Use mild cleansers and wash your face twice daily with warm water.   Massage face in a circular motion, rinse, pat dry and apply moisturizer.

5.  Know Your Skin

Observe your skin and pay attention to any noticeable changes such as rashes, dryness and irritations.    If they persists you need to get medical attention.

Doctors also recommend healthy foods that will help us have healthy glowing young looking skin. 

Take a look!!!   

How Do You Protect Your Skin???

Shopping Smart – Benefits Of Meal Planning

Believe it or not planning your meals has its benefits.    For one thing it teaches us to shop smart and maximize our time to prepare for the other areas of our lives.    These are some of the benefits to meal planning.

Limited Trips

The number of trips you make to the supermarket will be less.    In this way it lowers your stress in having to make several trips to the store.

Less Stops.

In trying to get the best bargains and making the most of our money, we tend to visit at least three other supermarkets to GET THE BEST DEAL!  But when you add up the extra gas, extra driving and extra browsing makes you get EXTRA TIRED!  The best thing to do is find a store where you can make all your purchases in one place and stick to it!   Your body will thank you for it in the long run!

Know What You Need.

It would be pointless when you get to the supermarket and you don’t know what you need.  To solve that problem you need to know what’s in your pantry or cupboards and refrigerator and freezer.   It may be challenging at first but creating an inventory of what you have a what you need will help avoid a lot of impulse buying.

Remember planning ahead can improve your health and save you time and money!

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Too Busy To Exercise?

It isn’t easy maintaining a healthy lifestyle, especially when we have our job and loved ones to take of at home.  In fact, it’s pretty challenging to fit in exercise on a regular basis.  Here are six tips to fit exercise into your daily routine.

Take the stairs as often as possible!

Its been proven that stair climbing burns more calories than a traditional walk and increases your chance of losing weight!

Sneak In a workout during your lunch break!

Carry your gym clothes to work with you and hit the gym during your lunchtime.  Not only will you keep your waist line in check but you’ll be more productive for the rest of the day.

 

  

  

Try some 10 - minute workouts at your desk!

Use your chair or your desk to do some arm presses.   Keep some dumbbells or exercise tubing in your desk.   These come in handy when you can’t make it to the gym.

  

Get off the Couch!

Try working out while watching TV!  Just move around the furniture to give yourself some room to move!  That’s what I call killing two birds with one stone!

   

Make a Schedule!

It may take some time but if you make a schedule and stick to it, it helps.  Sit down and look for any waste or excess time your may have to squeeze in some extra training.

Prepare Your Clothes Before You Go To Bed!

When you prepare your mind to workout the night before you actually get up with a zeal to workout.   I use this a lot to fit in my workouts. 

Try anyone of these and you’ll notice a difference!