53 TIPS TO GREAT HEALTH AND A SEXY BODY
QUICK START CHECK LIST
You can do it, TOO!!!
Post one of these on your refrigerator and put one in your handbag and step out with confidence that you have strategized your way to great health and a sexy body!
In fact, if you’re ready to start transforming your diet and your lifestyle TODAY – I encourage you to check out this website: ldvnutrition.com.
Happy 53 Tips and big hugs to you!
GET STARTED
1. Start and keep a food diary. This simple exercise will identify patterns in your daily food intake and will help you stay focused and avoid overeating.
2. Set goals. Be realistic about both what you set out to achieve and over what time frame. Keep it simple.
3. Write your goals and post them in visible places like: your computer, refrigerator, and bathroom mirror.
4. Write a mission statement that will help you stay on track.
5. Treat your project like you would treat a business plan and make it a priority.
GET ORGANIZED
6. Plan ahead. Plan your shopping for the week. Print the recipes you are planning to use during the week and use them as a shopping list. That will help you stay focused in the store and get only what you need.
7. If you don’t have time to shop consider buying your food online and have your food delivered to your door.
8. Be practical with your approach to a healthier lifestyle. Make changes one meal at a time. Start with breakfast adding plenty of fruit, juices, oatmeal, etc. Then gradually make similar changes in your lunch menu before finally moving on to your dinners.
9. When you cook, prepare meals for at least two days at a time. Most people don’t have time to cook every day; so, when you do cook make soups, sauces and other meal staples that can be used as part of several meals over a couple of days.
9. Have breakfast, lunch and dinner each day. This will keep your energy sustained all day long. Avoid skipping meals as this can cause sudden hunger and create a desire for snacking.
10. Start your day with a healthy breakfast. Breakfast literally means breaking fast after so many hours since the previous night’s dinner. Skipping breakfast can adversely affect your day on many levels: lack of energy, headaches, mood swings just to name a few.
GET HEALTHY
11. Make your plate a rainbow. Eating colorful foods is important to your health. The phytochemicals that give plants their rainbow of colors support a range of body functions and protect your health in many ways.
12. Add plenty of green vegetables into your diet. Green foods – promote healthy vision and help reduce your risk of cancer!
13. Have a one large salad a day. Eating lots of leafy greens is my key to eating food that is low in calories and high in vitamins.
14. Have a serving of cooked vegetables at least a few times a week in the form of soups, stews or steamed vegetables.
15. Eat more unprocessed food that is high in nutrients. Unprocessed, raw foods are the most nutrient-rich and naturally low in calories. Lack of nutrients will produce odd cravings. For example, inadequate mineral levels produce salt cravings, and overall inadequate nutrition produces cravings for non-nutritional forms of energy, like caffeine and processed sugar.
16. Eat seasonal foods. Often the body craves foods that balance the elements of the season. In the spring, people crave detoxifying foods like leafy greens or citrus foods. In the summer, people crave cooling foods like fruit, raw foods and ice cream, and in the fall people crave grounding foods like squash, onions and nuts. During winter, many crave hot and heat-producing foods like meat, oil and fat.
17. Fiber rocks. Fiber is a type of carbohydrate that your body can’t digest, and therefore must expel. Fiber fills us up so we eat less, keeps our gastrointestinal track regular. All whole foods are high in fiber.
18. Drink lots of water. I know everybody knows this but do you really do it? Lack of water can send the message that you are thirsty and on the verge of dehydration. Dehydration can manifest as a mild hunger, so the first thing to do when you get a craving is drink a full glass of water.
19. Eat sweet vegetables and fruit. They are naturally sweet, healthy and delicious. The more you eat, the less you’ll crave processed sugar.
20. Use gentle sweeteners like maple syrup, brown rice syrup, dried fruit, stevia, barley malt and agave nectar.
21. Minimize the amount of animal food you eat. All animal food is high in unhealthy forms of fat and are generally not nutrient-rich. Eating too much animal fat can also lead to cravings for sweets and other fattening foods.
22. Get your protein from plant sources like beans, nuts and seeds, whole grains, and green vegetables. They are all high in protein!
23. Experiment with spices. Coriander, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom will naturally sweeten your foods and reduce cravings.
GET SMART
30. Become a food detective. Learn how to read the labels and ingredient lists so you know what is in the food that you are buying.
31. Become an expert. Learn all you can about foods and nutrition. You will find that there is a whole new world of wonderful, delicious and easy-to-prepare foods waiting for you. You will also learn why the Standard American Diet (the “SAD” diet) makes so many Americans fat, sick and ugly.
32. Get familiar with an ANDI (Aggregate Nutrient Density Index) score chart. This simple outline rates the nutritional value of all foods and will give you directions as to which foods are the most nutritious to add to your daily menu. The Whole Foods Stores now use the ANDI index.
33. Always fill your cart with an abundance of whole foods: vegetables, fruits, beans, whole grains, nuts and seeds. These foods are packed with vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, enzymes and fiber and they are crucial to your health.
34. Never go to the store hungry! If you want to avoid temptation and buying a lot of snack food eat a heathy snack before going to the store. That way you can focus on your shopping list.
35. Avoid food additives that are put into processed food to make them last longer. These additives may cause many side effects including: food allergies, weight gain, decreased absorption of minerals and vitamins, cancer risks and more. Example: artificial colors and sweeteners, MSG’s, sodium nitrate, BHA and BHT, etc.
36. Never buy food that has added sugar on the ingredient list. If Sugar is one of the first three ingredients, it’s a dessert not a food. Overconsumption of sugar can cause weight gain, bloating, fatigue, arthritis, migraines, lowered immune function, obesity, cavities and cardiovascular disease. It can also disrupt absorption of nutrients, possibly leading to osteoporosis, depression, PMS symptoms and stress. Need I say more?
37. Avoid artificial sweeteners. These chemical substances belong in chemical labs, not our bodies, and have many unhealthy side effects.
38. Avoid food high in sodium. Too much sodium in the diet is associated with hypertension (high blood pressure), a major risk factor for heart disease and stroke.
39. Reduce or eliminate fat-free or low-fat packaged snack-foods. These foods contain high quantities of sugar to compensate for lack of flavor and fat, which will send you on a violent roller-coaster ride of sugar highs and lows.
40. Reduce or eliminate refined carbohydrates like white rice, white pasta and white bread. They are digested by our body the same way as simple sugars and can elevate your glucose levels.
41. Replace refined grains with whole grains. Whole grains are an excellent source of nutrition, as they contain essential enzymes, iron, dietary fiber, vitamin E and B-complex vitamins. Because the body absorbs grain slowly, they provide sustained and high-quality energy.
42. Reduce or eliminate caffeine. The ups and downs of caffeine include dehydration and blood sugar swings, causing sugar cravings to be more frequent.
GET A HUG
43. Primary foods feed us, but they don’t come on a plate. Elements such as a meaningful spiritual practice, an inspiring career, regular and enjoyable physical activity and honest and open relationships that feed your soul and your hunger for living all constitute primary food… and are keys to our happiness.
44. Being dissatisfied with a relationship or having an inappropriate exercise routine (too much, too little or the wrong type), being bored, stressed, uninspired by a job, or lacking a spiritual practice may all cause emotional eating. Eating can be used as a substitute for entertainment or to fill the void of “primary food” that nourishes the soul.
45. Get more sleep, rest and relaxation. When you are tired or stressed, your body will crave energy—in the form of sugar. These cravings are often a result of being sleep-deprived, going to bed late or waking up early, sometimes for months and years on end.
46. Slow down and find sweetness in non-food ways! You body does not biologically need sugar, but it does long for hugs, time with friends, outside time, workouts, massages, etc. When life becomes sweet enough itself, no additives are needed!
47. Eat mindfully. Turn off the TV. Get away from the computer. Don’t text, talk, read, clean, drive…JUST EAT AND ENJOY! Sit down and savor the food you are eating with no distractions.
48. Get good night sleep. The National Sleep Foundation recommends 7-9 hours for adults and as much as 11 hours for children. Doing the same thing every day before going to bed helps you fall asleep faster and makes it easier to keep a regular sleep schedule.
GET MOVING
49. Get physically active. Start with simple activities, like walking or yoga. Start with 10 minutes a day and gradually increase. It will help balance your blood sugar levels, boost your energy, and reduce tension without medicating yourself with sugar… or other unhealthy alternatives!
50. Exercise keeps you young. Workouts such as brisk walking or cycling boost the amount of oxygen consumed during exercise. Improving your aerobic capacity by just 15 to 25 percent would be like shaving 10 to 20 years off your age. Aerobic exercise may also stimulate the growth of new brain cells in older adults.
BONUS TIPS – GET SUPPORT
51. Meditate, get a massage or take a warm bath. Me time that helps you decompress and relax is an important ingredient in staying balanced and neutralizing the stress in your life that often results in eating binges and other forms of emotional eating.
52. Get support from your family, friends and other loved ones. Find a buddy or partner to team up with. Having others participate in your process will increase your commitment, raise your sense of accountability and create added levels of sharing and fun.
53. Get support from a professional. The changes described in this checkout are easy to sustain if you make them a permanent lifestyle. Your transition will be faster, smoother and more successful with the help of a professional health coach.
Renata Petecka, Certified Nutrition and Health Coach help clients with:
weight issues,
cardiovascular and cholesterol problems
type 2 diabetes
sugar and food addictions
emotional eating help clients with:
weight issues,
cardiovascular and cholesterol problems
type 2 diabetes
sugar and food addictions
emotional eating
