Just a small step can helpI applaud the website for giving people easy tips to enact today. Many people feel overwhelmed when they try to be healthier. There are so many choices! How should I work out? What should I eat? What diet should I try?
All of the tips I've read on the list look good to me, and they'll get you started in the right direction, but my head is spinning if I try to remember just a third of them! Therefore, I wanted to give you a much smaller list of steps you should take. Ones that I see provide the greatest change to my clients time and time again. You can look at these as the "biggies".
1. Learn to cook.
To some this sounds easy, to others this sounds completely impossible. I'll tell you though, time and time again, that those who learn to cook can actually control what's going into their bodies. You don't have to be at the mercy of restaurants, fast food joints, and microwave meals.
With them, you're never sure what is being added to your food, whether it's too much butter, or too many preservatives. By cooking for yourself, you can know exactly what goes into the recipe and into your body. Not too mention you save a lot of money! Who doesn't like that?
Now a lot of people will them come back at me and say "I don't have the ability to cook" as well as "I don't have the time". To the first one, I say that's nonsense. That's like saying "I don't have the ability to ride a bike" when you've never even tried to learn. It doesn't have to be complex. We're not shooting for a spot on the next season of Top Chef. (great show!) I've made tons of recipes that are both easy to make and healthy AND they taste great! So don't push off cooking yet. Who knows, you might even like it!
To those who say "I don't have the time", what I really hear is "I've chosen something else more important than my health." Now I understand that we all have stressful jobs, and families to raise, and all the rest of life's responsibilities. But can you spare two hours a week? Just two? You can cook up a ton of food in two hours and tupperware it up for the week. You should always try and cook extra. This bulk cooking allows you to better plan your meals too. You know what you're going to eat, because it's already sitting in your fridge ready to go!
I could continue forever, but I just want to emphasize the importance of learning to cook. There's a reason I listed it as number one.
2. Exercise frequently.
I know. Wow. What a revelation? Now when I say "exercise frequently", I also mean "with variety". I don't want you to add three more days on the treadmill this week if you hate it already. This will bore most people and they won't stick with it. I want you to find physical things that you LIKE to do. Yoga? Spinning class? Rock climbing? Martial arts? Biking? Hiking? Nintendo Wii? Just walking? Personally, I love Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and leave each class bruised, sweaty, and happy.
I don't want people to think of exercise as a chore, but as a way to move about and use their body. There's a lot of ways to use your body, so get out and get moving, if just for a little bit more each day.
3. Eat frequently.
This is probably going to sound the strangest coming from a personal trainer, but I want a lot of my clients to eat MORE. Now if you think this means camping out at a Chinese buffet for every dinner, then you're clearly proving that common sense ain't common. You also skipped step number one!
I want people to eat more often, especially breakfast, and eat a variety of foods. When we're getting in shape, a lot of people feel they have to starve themselves to get the body they want. Hardly! With all that activity we're doing (step number two!) we need to properly fuel ourselves! And this means more food!
More food eaten throughout the day actually keeps our blood sugar at a more constant state - which helps improve energy levels. It helps increase and regulate our metabolism as well.
What should I eat more frequently? If you give it a second of thought, you'll probably come up with the answer yourself. How about more fruits and vegetables? Haven't your parents been telling you to eat those since day one? They might be onto something...
4. Cut back on the alcohol.
This is definitely the hardest for a lot of people. Cook for yourself? No problem. Exercise more? easy. Eat more? I thought you'd never ask. But when I ask someone to cut back on alcohol, suddenly I'm the fun police looking to ruin their lives.
I'll interject that I love a good beer. Sitting down with some friends and having a pint or three is a fun, relaxing time for me. I'm not suggesting that you sit at home like a hermit, but I am suggesting that cutting back on the number of drinks you have a week will help tremendously to getting the body you want, and living a healthier lifestyle.
Personally, I'll have about 4-5 drinks a week, on average. This works for me. Your mileage may vary. To some it might be a lot, to others it's Tuesday night. But honestly look at the number of drinks you are having. Do you really need 2-3 a night? They add up and wreak havoc on the body.
A funny story - a friend of my sister's played in a recreational kickball league. Now if you're familiar with these at all, it becomes a reason to run around a field for a couple hours, then head to a bar and drink for a couple more. Now this friend hurt his leg one game and was unable to attend the games (and the drinking afterwards). He was concerned that this decrease in physical activity (no more kickball!) would result in an enormous increase in the scale. As you guess it though, he actually lost weight. Even though he wasn't running around, he also wasn't drinking afterwards. Let this show you that drinking really can put a lot of unwanted pounds on!
So those are my four steps. Are they simple? Yes. Are they easy? Not at first. It's not easy to change habits, but give just one of those a go and you'll start to develop habits for a healthy life.
Take that step!
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