GET THE HEALTHY EATING HABIT

Try a little exercise…

Eating healthily is great, and gives you loads of energy! And once you start to eat more healthily, you’ll probably feel like making other areas of your life healthier, as well.

Add some exercise into the health equation, and you’ll quickly feel the benefit.

How? A really useful strategy is to keep an exercise log for a couple of days, just as you kept a food diary on Day 3. Write down what you do:

• how often do you walk, how far and how fast?
• do you take an exercise class, go for a swim, go for a jog?
• how often do you take physical exercise that’s strenuous enough to raise your heartbeat, and leave you breathless?
• how much time do you spend seated – in your job, or watching tv?
• how much time do you spend behind the wheel?
• what physical exercise do you get as part of your daily life – do you do housework, gardening, play with kids?

Add up the total amount of time you spend being active, and the time you spend sitting – or lying! – to work or relax.

Guidelines vary, but you should be aiming to raise your heartbeat for 20 minutes, at least three times per week – these are minimums.

You should be walking daily – a brisk walk, not a stroll. And you need to try and get as much physical activity into your life as you can – walking up a flight of stairs instead of taking the elevator, getting off the train or bus one stop early and walking the rest, doing a few simple stretches every day, maybe learning some weight-based exercises, joining a Pilates class…the choice is wide.

As with the healthy eating habit, let your exercise routine develop slowly. Think of one thing you could do regularly to increase the amount of exercise you get. Start doing it. Then add something else, and so on. Encourage your family to join you.

So, now now you’re ready to get the healthy eating habit, and make it a part of your life. Each week, set yourself a schedule like this:

• plan healthy meals for the week, including fresh seasonal produce and healthy cooking methods
• shop locally for fresh food, two or three times each week
• enjoy cooking this lovely food, and making great healthy meals
• remember to eat plenty of fruit and veg
• drink water rather than soft drinks, and cut back on alcohol
• cut down on processed foods
• add some exercise to your life…

…and above all ENJOY eating your delicious healthy food. Make the healthy eating habit one that lasts a lifetime.

This is the last part of this mini-course. Remember, if you need some help to get your healthy eating strategy going and want to improve your overall fitness at the same time, this superb e-book Melt the Fat can really help you, with hundreds of healthy eating and fitness plans.

Day 7 of Get the Healthy Eating Habit, free ecourse.