Healthy habits can start at home and will transfer throughout your everyday life that will have amazing affects on your body physically as well as mentally. A few habits that I've incorporated this year to "slowly" transition me into a great healthy lifestyle is by taking a daily walk, drinking more water and cutting back on the fried foods. Even if it's only 15 min. of exercise, that kind of cardio does wonders for your heart, strengthen your lung capacity, tightens those legs, and is heaven to your buttocks!! I've also started to count how many bottles of water I drink. Health officials have always told us to drink about eight bottles a day, but I try to push myself to drink at least ten. (Living in the South can make it so easy to do this because of the extremely humid weather conditions, but consciously I am aware of what I put into my body.) Speaking of "putting something into my body", I limited the amount of fried foods that I have as well. I may have three fried items every other week, this way, I can keep the excessive oils out of my body, off of my face, and NOT clogging my arteries causing me to have an early heart attack. My exercise regime has not vastly improved, but it is a step in the right direction.
Close colleagues and family members have gotten on board with this new lifestyle and have immediately began to feel and see results. By having that support system or that group of girlfriends to help you by pushing you in the right direction rather than giving you that fried chicken can keep you looking towards your goal. You don't have to create a number or say"Hey, I'm going to lose 45 lbs." because if you do this, you'll create unwanted stress, drama, and conflict with yourself. You don't want to "set a number" only because if you do not attain your "goal weight/number" and you don't make it, then, you'll begin to feel a certain way about what you're doing. DON'T BE DISCOURAGED.... GET ENCOURAGE-MENT AND KEEP MOVING FORWARD!!! Also, it's best that when starting a new health regime, do it slowly as to where you don't "shock" your body and it crashes. You won't get any results doing that.
In conclusion, find ways and workout plans that work for YOU. It doesn't have to be a pricey and expensive package that requires you to do all of these elaborate things, you just have to make the first step in towards wanting a better life and doing the necessary things in order for you to achieve your goals. Remember it's your internal that you want well, then, the physical will follow. Most try to do this the opposite way, and they don't know how to handle the "new them". I know that I had to make my mind stronger in order to stop eating the fried foods, so, I won't feel guilty about having what I love SPARINGLY. Walking is easy and everybody has to do it.... I just take little detours here and there, so my body is now used to using those muscles for a longer time than what I originally could before. Creating these new healthy habits has now helped me gain a new perspective on how I live and who I affect with the choices I make. By being myself and customizing a plan that I would actually follow and including some great recipes along with my water intake, I have lowered my cholesterol by 3 points, toned my muscles, and I have clearer healthier looking complexion. So, savour your HEALTHY "Tasty Bites" with a walk to the playground with the kids! (And they'll gain those healthy habits from YOU) =)
-Chef Tara L. Browning
P.S.- Listed below is a link provided to you via our friends Kaiser Permanente.
http://thrive.kaiserpermanente.org/be-inspired?WT.srch=1&WT.mc_id=101849&WT.seg_1=PF-4-spRBLX3GP-pcrid-15444483538-healthy%20lifestyle-b#thriving-together
