As a freelance performing artist that balances crazy schedules from time to time, I know firsthand how hard it is to find time to take care of yourself. Often, we don’t realize that taking care of ourselves is one of the best things we can do not only for ourselves, but also for the people we love. We ALL have the power to EAT WELL, EXERCISE EFFECTIVEY and make these a permanent part of our lives. No matter what fitness level we may currently be in, we can all start taking those baby steps that’ll take our bodies towards a healthy, active life—for the rest of our lives!
Simply put… If we consistently burn all the calories we consume in the course of a day, we will maintain our weight but, if we consume more calories than we expend, we will gain weight. So, any effective weight loss program needs to include these—a plan for SENSIBLE EATING and a plan for SENSIBLE EXERCISE.
I’m no food expert, nor am I a fitness guru. I see myself as a “work in progress”, picking up helpful things from the things I read, chance upon on the net or learn from people around me. With that said, here is a simple guide I came up with that I think will help a lot of us in our journey to eating and exercising better:
SENSIBLE EATING: Develop and maintain a healthy, balanced nutritional routine. The basics are making healthy food choices and developing healthy eating habits.
- Balance Food Choices by eating a diet that includes a healthy assortment of carbs, fats and proteins. Be sure to to choose the right kinds of carbs like whole grain breads, beans, pasta, vegetables and fruits.
- Choose Good Fats and use monounsaturated oils like olive, peanut and canola when preparing your meals.
- Eat Less Animal Protein as people tend to eat more animal protein than their body actually needs. Substitute vegetable protein found in vegetables, seeds, grains, legumes and soy products for animal protein in your diet, and consider eating more fish.
- Eat Simple Foods which nature created as beneficial to health in their purest form and avoid foods that are canned, processed or refined, and those that contain additives and preservatives.
- Drink Plenty Of Water, drinking 6-8 glasses of water and other fluids daily like caffeine-free teas, mineral water and plain or sparkling water favored with a little fruit juice.
- Manage Hunger and avoid waiting until you’re starving to eat because this increases the chance of overeating and making bad food choices. Studies show that having several smaller meals a day works better than having a few larger meals.
- Allow Time To Digest, eating your meals in a relaxing environment, without external distractions. This enhances your body’s ability to digest and metabolize food effectively.
SENSIBLE EXERCISE: For those who haven’t been exercising regularly for quite some time now you might want to gradually “break yourselves in” by doing movements of the easiest, most effective exercise there is: Walking!
Walking is a workout you can do anytime, day or night. Its low-impact movements are nothing too fancy or complicated. Walking lets you burn calories and help you lose weight in a safe, effective way, if you get moving and start walking you can:
- Lower your risk for heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and colon cancer.
- Improve your mood and help relieve insomnia.
- Maintain bone density and help prevent osteoporosis.
As you know, nothing happens overnight… The idea is to Start Slowly and get you moving by walking, Boost Energy gradually to build endurance then start checking different workout programs until you feel that you’ve found the ones that are best suited for you. You can then Mix And Match routines, incorporating different exercise types you enjoy and customize/plan your weekly workout schedule. Don’t forget to Take Time To Stretch before and after your workout and when you’re ready, you can look into Adding Weights for the added benefits of strength training. Remember, doing too much too soon can cause injury or frustration and end up being counter-productive so find your pace and slowly start burning those calories so you can be on your way to a healthier lifestyle.
Believe that by eating well and exercising effectively we can all start losing weight and more importantly, improve our health one day at a time! -JJV
* Photos from healthychildblog.com, saidaonline.com
