9 Tips to Live and Eat Healthy

We’re already 3 and a half month into the year. How are your healthy/life goals coming along? Are you surprised that it’s not as easy as it seemed at the beginning of January? haha yeah, me too… It’s funny how we always seem so excited about creating a new & better life for ourselves in the first week of January, but then routine quickly sets back in and we slowly forget or drift away from our new goals.We always say that life gets in the way, but I think we can make sure that a good life can get in the way too!

I personally think that living a healthy life can be a lot simpler than we are led to believe. The fact is that large corporations won’t be making much money from you if you live a clean and healthy lifestyle, so obviously they’re more interested in creating illusions of healthiness to sell 😉

So, here are some easy tips and reminders to help us back on the right track.

It’s easy, check it out (obviously, this is a short list that doesn’t include everything, but it is a GREAT start!):

1. Reduce the amount of processed/prepared foods (including pre-made mixes, pop and juices), and cook/bake from scratch more often. By buying basic staples instead, you’ll be able to spend the money on much higher quality ingredients (i.e., organic).
2. Drink more water (spring or filtered) and less pop/juices/coffee.
   
3. Reduce the amount of meat that you eat Better for you, the animals, and the planet, since CAFOs (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations) are huge polluters.
4. Buy as much organic food items as you can afford (especially the dirty dozen in the produce aisle; go for grass-fed and free-range meat), and go for real ingredients, like for example plain organic yogurt made with whole milk from grass-fed cows, that you can mix with fresh fruits, preserves, and/or maple syrup, instead of buying individual drinkable yogurts that contain various chemical preservatives and possibly synthetic dyes.
5. Add more vegetables to your daily diet, especially raw. This will give you essential nutrients and fibre that our bodies need so desperately to function.
6. Reduce the amount of chemicals used in the house by switching to non-toxic cleaning products, or even better, make your own for a fraction of the price! Avoid using pesticides/herbicides/insecticides in and around the house at all costs. Find natural alternatives.
7. Reduce your exposure to toxic chemicals even more by using natural bath products and cosmetics. For example, you can use a simple mixture of fine grey sea salt, unbleached sugar and olive oil to use as a scrub, and use simple natural moisturizers for your skin like sweet almond oil, fair trade shea butter, argan oil or coconut oil, or even a high quality cold-pressed extra-virgin olive oil. I regularly use all of these (including on my face), don’t be afraid to give it a try. It works really well, especially after a shower when your pores are open.
8. Try to move and stay active every day with simple little changes like taking the stairs instead of the elevator, going out for a walk at lunch, a quick bike ride, or going to a yoga class. If you go to the store, why not park further away on purpose to sneak in a few extra steps in your day? If you’re a stay-at-home mom or if you work from home, take advantage of the stairs (if you have some) and doing squats while doing the laundry, or even ask a neighbour to go on a daily walk. (check out the infographic below)
9. Last, but not least: Get more sleep! It really helps to establish a regular sleeping pattern, going to bed at a decent time (i.e., before midnight) on a daily basis, and making sure to get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. If you get 6 hours or less, it is considered sleep deprivation, and that affects your brain, your moods, your digestion, as well as making you crave the sweet and fatty foods, which leads to weight gain. Sleep is so, so, so important, and yet people neglect getting the appropriate amount on a regular basis, only to pay for it in more ways than one. To make it easier, check out the infographic below to make it easier to get our ZZzzzzzs on!

I hope that these are good reminders that we can all work on (I have a few to work on myself!).

ECP xo

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Source: http://www.signaturemd.com/10-easy-tips-to-help-you-sleep-better/

Note: all copyrights of the images and infographics to their original owners. I do not own any of them.

This is for editorial use only.