My philosophy on healthy living lies somewhere between crunchy mama and convenience, on-the-go mama. This is my own personal philosophy. The kind of life I want to live is the kind where I don’t have to be a slave to my lifestyle.
I don’t want to constantly be in the kitchen preparing, cooking, and cleaning from meal to meal. This is usually the case with the crunchy mama lifestyle. The time it takes to research, acquire, prepare, eat, and use organic, high-quality foods leaves little time for anything else in life. You can very easily be completely consumed by your lifestyle and eating habits. I respect the people who live this way because it requires an enormous amount of dedication, but it’s not the lifestyle I want to have.
Conversely, the typical on-the-go convenience family rarely plans ahead. They eat on location, whatever sounds good at the time and aren’t concerned about the ingredients or how their food is prepared because they are driven by hunger. This can be the least healthy of all lifestyles. Your cost of food is high for low-quality. Also, you tend to look for food when you’re already hungry and not on a schedule. This means you are probably a ravenous witch by the time you get food. Not fair to the husband or kids or anyone else within a one mile radius. You will typically grab the first junky, salty, fatty, or sugary thing you see. This also contributes to over-eating, under-eating, and a slew of other problems.
Where my family and I live is somewhere in between these two lifestyles. It’s also the kind of lifestyle I like to teach my clients. I plan ahead simple, healthy meals, and supplement with Herbalife products. This allows me to know what and how I will eat every day. One day out of the week to plan this takes a few hours and that’s the day I do all my meal prep. I prepare enough food for the week to have at least one prepared meal every day. Choosing healthy food is key and Herbalife makes on-the-go incredibly easy and convenient. I do my best to keep the prepared food very simple. You will be able to find some examples on the recipes page. Essentially, I put together carbs, protein, and veggies in an on-the-go container and then fruits and nuts and protein bars are my snacks. Here are some simple steps to staying healthy:
1. Plan ahead
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Plan your meals. ALL meals. For at least a week in advance. This will also save you a substantial amount of time. Whenever you go out bring sufficient food for the time you will be away from home. If I will be gone all day I have my shake first thing in the morning, bring one meal (already prepared), two snacks, and another shake. With this I am set for the day. If I am in a rush and just going out shopping I’ll stuff a few protein bars and a meal bar into my bag. Always be prepared. A one hour trip can turn into 3 hours. It can be a tough habit to form, but it will save your health in the years to come. Plan all your meals. This leaves little to no room for those impulse decisions of unhealthy, fatty and sugar-loaded foods you can be tempted to buy. Speaking of buying…
2. Don’t buy the junk!
It’s harder to eat unhealthy food if it’s not at home! If you truly want to make a change and you’re serious about it then open your fridge and all your cabinets and throw away anything unheatlhy and processed, artificial, and loaded with salt, sugar, and fat. DO IT NOW! Now when you go to the store DO NOT buy anything unhealthy. Here’s a good way to judge: Does it come in a box? Is it in it’s original form as it grew from the earth? How much added sugar does it have? Is it artificially brightly colored? Now, obviously this doesn’t apply to everything, but it gives you a good idea. No cookies, no ice cream, no crackers, no chips, no ramen noodles, no box pastas, no fake cheesy things, no drinks. If you tend to bake desserts with a lot of sugar (like cookies) then don’t keep a lot of sugar at home. Throw out the white flour and buy whole grain or spelt flour. The idea is that you will be less inclined to over-indulge if the resources aren’t there. Do most of your shopping around the perimeter of the store and stay out of the center aisles. Go for this: lean meats (chicken breast, lean ground turkey or beef, fish), LOTS of fresh or frozen veggies, whole grains and complex carbs (quinoa, brown rice, steel cut oats, buckwheat), and fruit to boot. Check the fiber content in prepared food like bread and go for high fiber foods.
3. Don’t drink your calories
Unless you are drinking a protein shake, healthy meal shake, or nutritional beverage do not drink calories. That means no sodas, no fluffy, sweet coffee drinks, no “hydrating” drinks, which have a lot of artificial dyes and unnecessary sugar. Instead, get creative and try to have water flavored with fresh lemons and fresh crushed mint leaves. I like to toss frozen berries into my water or use Herbalife’s Mango Aloe if I need something flavorful. Try some green tea (don’t add sugar or honey!). It may take a week or two for your taste buds to adjust, but then everything starts to taste incredible.
4. Stay active
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Get some form of physical activity every day. At least 30 minutes of active time is good. If you have kids, work this into playtime. Being sedentary is one of the worst habits we form. Go for a walk, take a hike, ride a bike, do some stretching, roll on a foam roller. In addition to your daily action, you need something more physically intense, like a workout. You may not need as much exercise as you think. On average, 2-3 workouts of 45-60 minutes per week is great, depending on your goals. To maintain my physical shape I do 2-3 workouts per week and to improve it I do 4. You don’t have to kill yourself, but get moving!
5. Feed Your Mind
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Just as your body can get fat, your mind can get fat too. Don’t let your mind get fat! When your brain is fat everything else in life will follow. Spend 15-30 minutes per day to work on your self. Read a book on personal development, meditate, listen to a motivational talk, write down your goals for that day, week and year, work on something that improves you as a person and makes you better. My husband and I promised each other at our wedding, “I’ll take care of me for you.” Take care of yourself. In the end, you are the only one who can make you happy. This is more important than anything else you need to do in a day. Skip a meal, but don’t skip your reading as Jim Rohn said.
Remember, nothing works if you don’t. There will always be challenges, road blocks, and difficulties in the way of what you want. The only person who can truly change your life is you. However, once you decide to change your life, nothing can stop you. You are always free to contact me if you need help getting started on a new life journey. Getting started can be the hardest part, but it’s exciting! Think about how you want to be, look, feel and get it!
