A healthy lifestyle is something we all strive to achieve but can sometimes be a little harder to implement into our everyday lives than we initially think. However, making gradual small changes to your diet and activity habit, can have a big and lasting impact.
Maintaining daily exercise
Whatever your definition of exercise is, the bottom line is that exercise is just about movement. Whether it’s dancing in your living room or running 10km, it all counts and aids in a healthier lifestyle. The beauty about movement is how it makes you feel mentally and physically and the lasting benefits it has that you may not be aware of. Just some of the benefits include:
- Enhances self esteem
- Helps maintain flexibility as you age
- Improves joint stability
- Improves memory in elderly people
- Improves mood and reduce symptoms of anxiety and depression
- Increases and improves range of motion
- Maintains bone mass
- Prevents osteoporosis and fractures
- Reduces stress
- Reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, and diabetes
Simple ideas to increase exercise
- Get walking – get out and go for walk to the mailbox, around the block or take the dog for an extra-long outing. If you need to make a phone call, walk around the office or your house. Park your car at the far end of the carpark or a couple of blocks from your office. These are great ways to include exercise into your everyday life.
- Make housework fun – put some music on and get the vacuum cleaner out, wash your windows or rake the leaves. All these chores you’ve been meaning to do could actually make you feel better both mentally and physically!
- Get creative with the kids – a dance party in your living room for 20 minutes is a great way to get the heart rate up. Make an activity course in your garden and have a race your children. Get out the hula hoops, skipping ropes or jump on the tramp. Children will get so much enjoyment out of whatever activity you choose to do with them.
Maintaining a healthy diet
Not only can a nutritious diet help with weight management but it can also improve your health and quality of life. More fruits and vegetables, and less process foods are the best way to maintain a healthy diet, but there are some simple ways to change to your day to day as well.
Simple ideas to maintain a healthy diet
- Cut back on sugary beverages – it’s very easy to consume sugary drinks without even realising. When buying or consuming a drink, always check the sugar content on the bottle. Juices contain a lot more sugar than you realise. If in doubt, stick to water.
- Carry healthy snacks on you – having a few snacks in your bag or in your car is a great way to keep you topped up throughout the day. Things like almonds, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, apples, bananas are all great snacks to have on hand when you need them.
- Get organised – meal planning is such a great way of getting the right nutrients in to your body. We often fall back on a takeaway or ready meal because our lives are too busy. If we plan our meals out in advance and do a big supermarket shop, it will help you feel motivated when it comes to making the meals.
- Smoothies – these are great for getting a whole lot of nutrition into our bodies. There are so many vegetables you can include in a smoothie (lots of leafy greens are great) and pack in as many as you like. Then by adding a small amount of fruit (I recommended frozen bananas) smoothies make a delicious meal or snack.