Simple Tips Help You Get Back On Track To Better Health
Getting back into your eating and exercise routine can be challenging after the holidays. There are stashes of holiday cookies in the freezer.
There’s still some eggnog calling to you from the fridge. And the extra food packed away because of that would-be millennium bug beckons to be consumed.
Your gym membership is still valid, but getting up early enough to pump iron and/or hip-hop in an aerobics class sounds like torture. You could exercise after work, but you’re too tired and all you want to do is eat and be with the family.
Fulfilling that declaration of health and fitness you made while clinking champagne glasses on New Year’s Eve now seems insurmountable.
It’s not. Here are 10 tips to get you back on track:
1. Breakfast - don’t leave home without it. It sets the tone for your food consumption for the rest of the day. Less food consumed earlier in the day means a large dinner followed by abandoned consumption of cookies, fudge and nog in the evening.
Take five or 10 minutes in the morning to have a bowl of cereal with milk for quick-burning fuel, and microwave a low-fat Morningstar Farms vegetable-protein sausage patty or links for some slow-burning fuel.
Or spread a piece of toast with Adams’ natural peanut butter, a good source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat. Or how about a bowl of oatmeal with a handful of heart-healthy nuts like almonds, cashews, macadamias or peanuts?
If you insist on skipping breakfast and blasting to an espresso stand, include a Balance or Luna bar with your double-shot to bolster calories and provide sustainable energy.
2. If the time between breakfast and lunch is greater than four hours, include a midmorning snack like a small apple and a low-fat cheese stick, or a handful of pretzels and a small handful (two to three tablespoons) of heart-healthy nuts. A low-sugar yogurt like Cascade Fresh, Dannon or Yoplait Light is also convenient.
3. Drink water throughout the day so you’re not overly hungry in the evening. When we don’t drink enough water, our bodies can confuse hunger with thirst. Consuming six cups per day is reasonable for most people - but your body might require more.
4. Take time to eat lunch. Lunch is your second major fueling stop. Skipping it causes overeating before and after dinner. Include a protein, carbohydrate, healthful (monounsaturated) fat source and fiber - in the form of vegetables or beans. How about a sandwich with lean meat, mozzarella cheese and a touch of mayonnaise, and a side salad topped with olive oil and vinegar or a canola oil-based dressing? Litehouse uses monounsaturated canola oil in its salad dressings. My top pick for mayonnaise is Safeway Select, also made with canola oil.
A tortilla stuffed with grilled chicken, vegetables and heart-healthy olives and avocado also makes an appetizing lunch.
5. Eat an afternoon snack that includes some slow-burning fuel. A handful of heart-healthy nuts and a small piece of fruit helps ward off pre-dinner cookie consumption (and possibly snapping at other drivers while you hurry home to munch).
My favorite afternoon snack is two tablespoons of Adams’ peanut butter on two or three saltines, washed down with a cup of water. Or how about an energy bar, or a leftover half-sandwich from lunch? A few slices of lean lunch meat and a piece of fruit will slowly raise your blood sugar and keep energy levels up during the late afternoon.
6. If you’ve followed the previous tips, you should be in good shape for dinner. Dinner should include a lean protein, carbohydrate, vegetable and a healthful fat source.
The lean protein should be no larger than the palm of your hand. Chicken, fish, beef, pork, turkey, shrimp and tofu are good choices.
Include at least 1 cup of a fibrous vegetable - such as green beans, broccoli, cauliflower, zucchini, mushrooms, onions, tomato or asparagus - along with a green salad.
Adding some monounsaturated fat - such as olive or canola oil-based salad dressing, olives, avocados, nuts and/or Saffola soft tub margarine - will help the meat digest more slowly so you aren’t foraging for food an hour after eating.
A glass of wine with dinner is calorically OK, but two or three glasses can add fat to your frame.
7. If the time between dinner and bedtime is more than three hours, you’ll probably need a small snack. Try to keep the calories under 200. Snacks similar to your morning and afternoon work well. A large evening snack can diminish your breakfast appetite - which contributes to the weight-gain cycle of undereating during the day and overeating at night. How about a cup of tea and one holiday cookie, or a small handful of nuts and one small cookie?
8. Allow yourself small amounts of I-know-I-shouldn’t-have-that foods to help resist the temptation for big-time bingeing.
9. Get plenty of rest so you’re able to get up early enough to exercise in the morning, and/ or eat breakfast and pack a snack.
10. If you’re not already exercising, try consistently getting just five to 10 minutes on your treadmill, stationary bike and/or light weight training. The key is consistency, By doing it every day, you’ll help build up your metabolism and establish a lifelong habit. Always check with your doctor before beginning an exercise program.
Start with whichever tip seems easiest, then add another, and another. And by next New Year’s Eve, when you clink glasses, you can watch other people make resolutions of health and fitness.