TIPS & TOOLS FOR HEALTHY LIVING

June has marked the second month of posting on my blog and I can honestly say that creating these recipes has turned into quite an experience.  When we started this in January I found that recipes and advice were hard to come by, even in a media dependant world, but we prevailed and now I can pass some of these tips on to you.

• First and foremost, DRINK WATER.....only WATER!!!!! I know its hard, you have to know that I hated water with a passion.  I only drank sweet tea and water was not an option.  So I started by slowly taking away the amount of sugar that I used to sweeten the tea and eventually it became obsolete.  Then I began drinking more and more water.  Now, I am proud to say that water is my friend!

• The next thing is checking the nutrition facts on the foods that you purchase.  I never buy anything that has more than 10 ingredients UNLESS those ingredients are natural (fruit, herbs, spices, etc.)  DON'T FOCUS on anything but the ingredients.  If something says it has 5g of sugar, look to see why.  Is it because sugar is listed in the ingredients OR is it because it has strawberries in it....which have natural sugars.  Think of what your eating, if you cant pronounce it DON'T EAT IT!!!!!

• My third tip, is watch when you eat!  DON'T EAT PAST 7:00 PM, I cannot stress this enough. My family eats between 5 and 5:30 everyday, giving the food that we eat ample time to burn off.  When eating dinner, limit your calorie intake to under 500.  The bulk of your calories should be ingested at breakfast and lunch.  DO NOT skip breakfast, eat a piece of whole wheat toast or a granola bar...just don't think that not eating will help.

• No more fast food.  I have not had a fast food hamburger since 2010 and I don't miss it.  McDonald's, Sonic, Whataburger and Burger King are not your friends...however Subway is a great friend to have.

• Call in the REPLACEMENTS! Swap white bread for whole wheat, vegetable oil for extra virgin olive oil, milk for almond or coconut milk.  You see where I am going with this....take something you use all the time and replace with something good for you.  If your not sure what to replace it with, let me know and I can help!

• My final tip is get up and get moving.  I am not saying to jump up and run a marathon.  Just do little things, for example, park farther in a parking lot and walk....stand up while your reading...take a walk around the block...play outside with your kids.  A body in motion stays in motion and being in motion burns calories and burnt calories means you lose weight.

I have many more suggestions and I promise that I will list them, but in the mean time, just making these few changes will jump start a lifestyle change that could take any diet down!

If you have any questions, email or comment!  GOD BLESS!!!!!