Proactive Health: Make the Healthy Choice “Hacks” -Eating and Exercising

Lifestyle choices can help to keep us from getting sick or hurt, having a flair up of a chronic condition, and/or in the event of an illness or accident, heal quicker or stronger. Below are a variety of “hacks” which make the healthy choices of eating and exercising easier ones.  Next week we’ll be focusing on sleep.

Eating

• Drink More Water: If you’re dehydrated, you’ll feel hungrier, so drinking more water will make help to curb your appetite. Use a water bottle or mason jar as your drinking glass so you’ll know how much water you are consuming.

• At the grocery store purchase items that are healthy, easy to prepare and that you enjoy. Consider a healthier pasta noodle; baked corn tortilla chips; dark chocolate; baked spicy sweet potato fries; whole grain bread instead of white; quinoa or brown rice instead of white rice. In short, don’t bring junk home so you’ll be less tempted. Plan a shopping list

• Stock up on healthy snacks such as fruits (apples, bananas, grapes); nuts; homemade trail mix; Greek yogurt; hard boiled eggs etc.

• Frozen is fine: A healthy alternative to fresh foods, you can even buy pre chopped veggies so you’ll always have them on hand and they wont go bad as quickly as their fresh alternatives. Do avoid frozen foods packed in sauces and syrups.

• Going out to eat? Select a restaurant that has calories and fat content as part of the menu and order accordingly.

• Eat cold greens instead of warm ones.

• Trying to eat more protein? Add chicken to pizza; use Greek yogurt instead of mayonnaise; mix in liquid that forms on top of yogurt; choose quinoa over rice.

• Boost veggies in your diet by ordering veggie pizza; add fruit to cereal or oatmeal; butter toast with avocado; add canned veggies to canned soup; have a smoothie instead of a bowl of cereal.

• Make smoothies in a Mason Jar-less clean up

• Use a crock pot, cook large and freeze.

• Make Mason Jar Salads  Buy prewashed greens

Exercising: Skip the gym and incorporate physical activity into your daily life.

• Schedule “walks and talks.” Instead of a meeting in the office, or  having a lunch date with a friend, arrange a time where you can take a walk and talk.

• Volunteer for jobs- like being a guide in a Museum , delivering flowers or books in a hospital, feeding and/or walking dogs, taking grand kids to the park, gardening-which keeps you moving. In addition to the physical benefits you get an extra boost from having a sense of purpose.

• Call a friend and star gaze

• Watching TV? Stretch. Clean the house between commercials. That way you don’t sit for too long and you get some exercise and a clean house

• Take up drumming

• Use Kinect or other video games that require you to move

• Play (Ping Pong, shoot some hoops, climb a tree, hopscotch)

•  If you’ve been sitting for a while, take a Kripalu Yoga break  (they only take 5 minutes) or consider one of Lee Holden’s short Qigong videos, which are less than 10 minutes. 

• Garden

• Wash your car

• Walk or ride a bike to work, use public transportation

• Get a dog, which will get you outside no matter the weather

• Use a standing desk

• Go dancing