6 Easy and Simple Changes To a Healthier Life
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Both my husband and I have struggled with weight. We will lose it then find it again and we have spurts of wanting to take control of our health but something has always derailed us. This past July, my husband started taking his health very seriously. He was tired of looking in the mirror and not being happy with what he saw, feeling awful, and hating the way his clothes felt. So he started working out and he wanted to really focus on changing our eating. So I jumped on board! We ate more veggies and less carbs/sugar. We watched our portion sizes and would even share meals when we ate out (if I wasn’t super hungry…after all I was eight months pregnant!) In general, we were just more mindful of what we ingested.
So here are a few things we found that have helped us in our health journey:
*Please read this disclaimer. I am not giving medical advice, these are only things my husband and I did to start our health journey*
1. Check Your Ingredients
Go follow Karalynne on Instagram @just.ingredients and start with this post. I never really knew how to read an ingredient list or what half of the ingredients were (or how to pronounce them). Then my aunt told me about this Instagram page and my whole outlook changed. What on earth have I been ingesting? My two year old is eating this? It was such an eye opener for me. So I started slowly – I did not throw away all my food and start fresh, that would have been unrealistic and way too expensive all at once. But as we finished things, I replaced it with a healthier option. I realized that these small changes could really benefit my families health.
2. Portion Control
Watch your portion sizes. Our bodies don’t need big portions to function. We had portion control and would even share a meal when we weren’t that hungry. Or we’d split a burger and a salad instead of eating a whole burger. Even a small change like that helped us. We were more mindful of how much we ate and what we ate.
3. More Veggies
Eat more veggies! If you’re like me who was never a fan of any vegetable, you don’t eat enough! One of our go-to dinners was these chicken sausage links (my favorite was an apple and gouda one – so good!) and mixed veggies. Life was super busy for us so we even got pre-cut veggie mixes. This made eating healthy easier for us at the time. And if you eat more fruits/veggies, you tend to eat less carbs so they usually go hand in hand.
4. Be Mindful of Your Drinks
That Starbucks pit stop can harm your health goals more than you think. Definitely look at how many calories and how much sugaris in that drink. We do not count our calories, but are definitely more aware of what we intake. I’m not saying we don’t go to Starbucks (I’m currently sipping on some guava white tea), we do but not as often anymore!
5. Drink More Water
If you don’t do anything else on this list, do this. Drinking enough water will do wonders for your body. It will help your digestive track work properly, hydrate your skin, regulate your body temperature, gets rid of waste, and so much more. Our bodies lose water through sweat, urine, etc and needs to be replaced. If you’re inputting less than you’re outputting, then you will become dehydrated. A good guide is to drink half of your body weight in ounces of water. So for example, if you weigh 200 pounds, you would want to drink around 100 ounces of water per day.
Here’s a few ways to help you drink more:
- Set a timer (whether that’s on your clock app or downloading a water app to send you reminders) in 15-30 minute increments.
- Have a glass of water before every snack and meal.
- Eat more fruits and veggies, you can get fluid intake from the food you eat as well.
- Keep water with you at all times. I have a Yeti like this with this attachment with me always. My husband takes this to work with him everyday. I like both because they keep your water cold and you can track your water intake as well.
- If you want to have something other than plain water, add fresh fruit or lemon to your water. Or I like having these when I’m sick of water and need a little something. These also helped when I was pregnant and water tasted gross to me. It has a “hint” of flavor but keeps it at zero calories. My newest find are these. I love the Watermelon flavor. I find them at my local grocery store (H-E-B)
6. Get Moving
You don’t have to pay for a gym membership or sign up for a workout program. Go for a walk or a run, go play at the playground with your kids or grandkids, grab a friend and go for hike. Just get your body moving! Turn off the TV, get off Instagram, and go! Not only will it help you physically but also mentally. When James, Luke, and I are having a rough time, we go outside. We’ll take a walk around our apartment complex or I’ll let James run around in this grass area in front of our door with a ball or get him some bubbles (he’s obsessed with bubbles right now). He is so much happier and calmer afterwards too – it’s a win-win for us.
