Now that the resolutions for the New Year have been honored or forgotten, it is truly time to make some changes. Don’t wait for the weekend, the new week, the beginning of the month, nothing else. Start now.
Time To Change
There is room in every area of your lives to incorporate something to make you a better, more efficient, timely or productive person. But nothing will make a more global, noticeable, positive change in your life than to learn and practice better nutrition, right now. Learn, practice, experiment, apply – enjoy.
What you do to incorporate positive changes toward what you put into your body, as equally as what you keep out of it, will affect everyone’s life you come in contact with on a day to day basis. Family members will benefit but so too will friends, coworkers, and acquaintances. You will exude a glow and a confidence that everyone will want a piece of, and you’ll be eager to share.
DAILY REGIMEN
Start with a daily breakfast regimen that makes you, forces you, to put instant energy into your body. Coffee is not breakfast. Toast is not breakfast. Neither are energy. You want real food that takes real thought and real time to prepare and enjoy.
Eggs on a slice of whole grain toast with avocado will instantly perk you up, fill you up and send you off with good, clean energy and focus. Skip cheeses, sauces gravies or condiments. Use olive, coconut or real butter as oil sources.
Oatmeal with walnuts, dried cherries or fresh fruit and prepared with equal parts applesauce and water will not only fill your belly, but will satisfy your sweet tooth as well. Both these meals can be shared with other family members and in sharing you’ll receive the added benefit of knowing you contributed to someone else’s well-being as equally as your own.
LUNCH WORTH SAVORING
Your lunch can and should be your largest meal of the day. Fill it with a great, green salad and some protein source to top it, like chicken, salmon or turkey, and you’ve got the makings of a great afternoon. Stay out of the fast food lines, stay away from “diet” drinks that only make you fatter, thirstier and more insulin dependent. Learn to appreciate and request tea. Keep the salad dressings to a minimum, just enough to add flavor, always some left over instead of a “double,” and toss the croutons, crackers and breads, opting instead for an apple or unpackaged add-on. Eat it slowly, with attention to all the different flavors popping from walnuts, tomatoes, and colored cabbages and enjoy the time, rather than racing to be finished.
Now, take a walk. You have time. If the weather is uncooperative, find stairs. Walk. Do it daily.
DELEGATE DINNER
This is the one meal most people skip most often, choosing instead to graze into the night on the crap that makes you fat. Stop now.
Plan your meals. Delegate responsibilities. Involve everyone in the family so they will appreciate the time, effort and end-product; and reap the benefits of time, talk and food well spent. Use a wide variety of fresh foods, vegetables, moderate starches and good protein sources. Stay away from fast or fried foods. Let everyone top their own foods rather than saturating salads or vegetables with dressings or condiments.
SNACK SMARTLY
The best snacks will be the ones you have to prepare with care and a little attention; apples and peanut butter, almonds and cheese, hummus and whole grain crackers; all require minimal preparation but will be more rewarding than any packaged, processed snack. A couple pieces of dark chocolate with grapefruit slices, pieces of turkey with lettuce or spinach; avocado and tomatoes. Is your mouth watering yet? So simple, so nutritious, so beneficial to your psyche in knowing that it was a good choice.
Start making more smart choices at all your meals. Start thinking about what you’re going to eat, how you’ll prepare it, who you’ll share it with; and you’ll be on a path to many better things, from the way your skin and hair shine, to how you feel and how well you sleep. Make changes. Adapt. Learn. Grow. Give. Now.
