My top 10 tips for getting healthy and weight management

New Year New Start New Ideas

Sorry I've been AWOL from the blog for a while, it's been a busy year, but I'm back :)

This year would you like to get fit and healthy and for once maintain it?

Well there are some easy steps you can take to achieve this goal:

 
The 10 step to a healthier happier you

 

1:  Drink water – I know I know, you are sick of hearing it, but the reason you keep hearing it is because it is the most simple basic step you can take for health.  Not only is it ESSENTIAL to life (no biggie) but it will help with weight loss, flushing toxins, keeping your skin fresh looking and young, and help every organ system in your body to function properly.  Before you ask, no tea or coffee is not a substitute, nor is soda drinks.  Drink water an average of 2L per day.  That is 8 glasses so an average of 1 glass every 2 hours.

 

2:  Juice – make 1 fresh juice per day.  Your juice should be more vegetable than fruit and always with a lemon or lime added.  This will balance your nutrients which in turn stops you craving, fill you and helps you to loose weight, alkalise your body, reduce inflammation, balance your body.  Ask my clients, when they don’t do their 1 juice a day the results are not as dramatic!

 

3:  No more excuses -  I always say there are reasons and excuses, and sometimes there is a strong reason why we cannot do something, but most of the time we are making excuses for ourselves.  Do not stand in your own way, you are far stronger that you believe and just because you have not managed to make the changes you wanted to in the past does not mean that you can’t this time.  All you have to do is get out of your own way.

 

4: Eat your meals young man/lady!!!!  Do not skip meals you will only end up eating at the wrong time and more calories.  You will also confuse your body and your metabolism.  Eat 3 meals a day.  Do not go long periods without food.  There are 5 body types and only one of them can follow a grazing diet, all the others need 3 meals a day, so eat!

 

5: Get fresh - Eat fresh, natural, local produce – eat foods cooked from fresh.  Lean meats, chicken, fish, eggs, vegetables (vary the colour), grains, pulses.  If a food has a tv/radio/newspaper advert you probably shouldn’t be eating it.  Ditch the boxes, packets, tins etc and eat food that you can recognize simply by looking at it, food you don’t need to look at the label.

 

6:  Ditch the microwave – I have seen over an over again an improvement in my clients health when they ditch the nuke machine.  It does kill your nutrients, it makes your food tasteless and if you are using plastic containers you are ingesting some of the chemicals from the plastic. 

 

7:  Exercise – the general rule for health and weight management is a 70/30 rule – 70% will come from your diet and the other 30% is exercise.  Exercise is anything that gets your heart rate up or exerts energy so get imaginative.

 

8:  Get smart – write a food diary – it keeps you more focused.  If you are serious it won’t feel like a chore.  It will make you be more honest with yourself about what is passing those lips of yours.   You can also use the food diary to plan your meals for the week if this helps.

 

9:  Relax – adrenal stress is one of the highest causes I see of weight gain.  Take time to relax, to smell the roses, to walk on the beach, to play with your children/dog/partner, do some deep breathing exercises, take up yoga, take a hot bath, meditate.  Do whatever makes your body release tension and go ahhhhhhhh.  This will calm the adrenal and prevent an excess of cortisol being released into your system.  Fat around the middle???  Then you are either stressed longterm or have a hormone imbalance (or eating hormone rich foods).  Get to bed early.  Don’t be staying up half the night then struggling to get out of bed in the morning.  Honestly what is so important that you have to stay up till 2am for that you couldn’t  catch upwith at another time during the day?  What’s more important??

 

10:  Get back up – Seek help.  Get friends or family to motivate you (people that want you to succeed) or go to a nutritional therapist and have a weigh in weekly, having to weigh in weekly is a good motivator to not slip too much, also they will be able to constantly keep you on track, put an individual plan together for you and offer advise when needed