Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a magic wand we could wave and automatically lose the weight we want, and drop all health problems?  Of course it would be nice, but it is not reality.  If you are currently in unhealthy cycle of eating food that is not nutritious and not exercising it can be hard to break those habits.  My advice is to do it slowly.  Add in one new habit every week.  Master that habit, make it part of your everyday life, then add a new one in. For instance, an easy one to add would be to drink green tea twice a day.  The health benefits gained from drinking this green liquid outweighs the effort to make it twice a day.  When added into your daily routine, studies show your chances of getting cancer and heart disease become lower.  This is largely due to the high amounts of antioxidants in the tea. Green tea has also been know to boost our metabolism, without increasing your heart rate.  Even though green tea won’t help you drop a significant amount of weight, when added into a healthy regimen, it can most certainly help your cause.

More changes you can make are listed below:

1. Remove all  processed foods from your home unless they are an organic product.  When you remove processed, chemical laden foods from your diet, your body wins.  Why?  Processed foods contain high amounts of salt, cancer causing preservatives like nitrates, and have little to no nutrients.  So in order to get any nutrients at all you need to eat more of the processed food.  When you eat food that is full of nutrients you don’t have to eat as much.  An obvious benefit of eating less is more weight lost.  Plus the nutrient laden food will give your body what it needs to heal or stay healthy.  If getting sick less and losing weight is something your interested in, don’t buy the chemical induced products.  Your body will thank you.
2. Eat Green.  Green foods like spinach, kale, broccoli, brussel sprouts, and asparagus are full of  vitamin C and other healthy inducing vitamins and minerals.  “Kale in particular also has bone-boosting vitamin K, vision- and immune-boosting vitamin A, and even anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids.  Another potent cruciferous veggie, Brussels sprouts have vitamins A and C as well as birth-defect fighting folate and blood pressure-balancing potassium”.  Asparagus is full of fiber, and has a an amino acid called asparagine that cleans out all the bad stuff from our bodies.  Have you ever noticed that weird smell in your urine after eating the stalky green vegetable?  That is the asparagine letting you know it did it’s job.
3. Eat Organic foods when possible.  Yes, I know, organic foods can be more expensive, but from personal experience, they are not always.  Vons, the store that I shop in, has their own store brand organic products.  I love them.  They are on sale a majority of the time, and can be cheaper than a non-organic.  If they aren’t they are usually only a few cents more than the non-organic version.  If you can’t commit to a full organic line up, staying away from the dirty dozen is a great way to start.  The dirty dozen refers to the foods with the most pesticide residue.  They are :  apples, celery, sweet bell peppers, peaches, strawberries, nectarines (imported), grapes, spinach, lettuce, cucumbers, blueberries (domestic), and potatoes.   It is not proven that buying an organic apple versus a non organic is more nutritious.  But, I personally tout buying the organic version because of what you consume when eating non-organic.  Non-organic foods contain chemical pesticides.  Hormones and antibiotics are given to non-organic animals.  Plants can be genetically modified (a whole other post), and they are full of food additives (MSG, fats, food coloring, sugars, etc.).  If you are truly passionate about your health, the additions in non-organic foods will not help you achieve your goal.  At this point we aren’t even completely sure what those items can do to us over time.  I personally don’t want to find out.
4. Eliminate carbohydrates from your dinner.  Unless you are training for a marathon or working out 7 days a week, chances are you don’t need the additional carbs.  Your body doesn’t have time to burn the extra carbohydrates from the time you eat dinner till it’s time to go to bed.  You should be able to consume enough during the earlier part of the day to sustain you.  I have a lot of recipes in this blog to help you achieve that.  Eat cauliflower rice instead of a traditional rice.  Make cauliflower mash potatoes with a turkey meat loaf.  Use zucchini noodles to make a lasagna.  Use spaghetti squash in place of your favorite pasta.  There are so many delicious substitutions you can make.  I always make my husband and I the non-carb version and add carbs in for our boys.  Children truly do need the carbs and it is not hard to make them a side of sweet potatoes fries or brown rice.
5. Hydrate!  Would you drive your car without oil?  I hope not.  Same theory applies here.  Consider water the oil to your engine.  Your engine being your body.  Our bodies are made up of 60% water.  Without it your body will stall, then completely stop working.  Water takes all of the bad stuff like free radicals, and toxins out with the trash, so to speak.  It keeps all of your organs running like a well ‘oiled’ machine.  Plus, it keeps hunger at bay.  Most people confuse thirst for hunger.  Next time you feel your tummy grumbling, down a glass of water and wait.  The sensation to feed your face may dissipate.
6. Be prepared.  Benjamin Franklin stated it best when he said, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail”.  It means exactly what it says.  If you don’t plan what you are going to eat during the week and prepare,  it is going to be much harder to succeed.  I have two suggestions to keep you on track.  First,  prepare meals on Sunday for the week.  Chop all your veggies and protein, then separate all the ingredients into different bags or Tupperware.  Second, if you have the time  make your meals for the week on Sunday and freeze them, if possible.  If you don’t have the time to this, there are personal chefs that will do this for you.  Either way, prepare yourself.  Have snacks on hand, especially if you know you are not going to be at home.  If you make a plan and stick to it you are going to be successful.