10 Small Changes to a Healthier You

Don’t put off getting healthier and fitter. You will only ever have one physical body, so you need to take good care of it! Some people take better care of their cars and their shoes than they do their bodies.
There are small changes that you can make to begin your journey to a healthier lifestyle.

10 Small Steps on Your Journey to Better Health

1. Say NO to junk food i.e. processed foods

This means no crisps, no biscuits and no cakes. If you need a snack between meals, have some nuts or pop-corn.

2. Stop ‘social eating’

You meet up at the coffee shop with the girls from your ante-natal class and everyone’s having tea and cake, so you do too. If you aren’t hungry, don’t eat.

3. Guard your mouth

You’ve heard the saying, “don’t speak unless you can improve the silence”. That means, be careful what comes out of your mouth. If it’s not going to build someone up, or improve a situation, then don’t say it. The same is true of what goes into your mouth! If you are going to eat something, make sure it’s benefiting your body.

4. Change your mealtime habits:

• Eat at the table
• Reduce your portions and don’t go back for seconds
• Eat with a smaller fork or spoon
• Eat slowly and talk more during meals
• Don’t eat dinner after 7pm

5. Don’t ‘hoover’ the kids’ leftovers

I call this the stink-bug rule because a friend of mine used to eat everything that her kids left – if they dropped a piece on the floor she would ‘hoover’ it into her mouth. Now my friend’s eyesight is not the greatest. One day she was picking up and eating the pies the kids had dropped when she bit into a stink-bug. In case you don’t know what a stink-bug is – it’s a very stinky little bug! It produces the biggest stink when it’s in trouble. And this stink bug was in trouble!

6. Drink more water

Hunger and thirst have the same receptors in our brain, so sometimes we think we’re hungry when we’re thirsty. Drink more, but don’t drink any fizzy drinks or fruit juices, drink water and tea instead. Reduce your alcohol intake.

7. Take a 30-minute walk every day

Walk during your lunch break, or get off the bus a few stops earlier and walk the rest of the way. If you can’t walk during the day, try walking in the early evening instead of watching TV. You can put baby in the buggy and go for a nice walk.

8. Hang out with the right people

Surround yourself with people that will encourage your progress rather than hinder it. If you want to become more physically active, then hanging around with couch potatoes is not what you should be doing.

9. Cook your own meals from scratch

When you cook, you know and control what ingredients go into the meal, and avoid the preservatives and other chemicals found in ready-meals. If you don’t know how to cook, have a look at some of the easy to prepare meals on our YouTube channel.

10. Educate yourself

Swop the Soapies for some educational programmes, borrow a library book, or watch YouTube channels that can help you learn about nutrition and exercise.

NB: If you’ve been inactive for several years, or if you have any medical conditions and are on medication, you should check with your doctor before starting any new fitness programme or making any big changes to your diet.
You can usually get help and advice from your doctor, from weight-loss groups, and there may be some online information from your government.