Take care of your body, it’s the only place that you have to live.
— Jim Rohn
Too many people today treat their body like a leased car. They’ll put in cheap gasoline, they’ll let the tank drop down to almost empty before they refill, they pay very little attention because, in the end, they know they’re giving it back in three years. The body, on the other hand, is with us forever. It bodes in our favor to treat it like the precious gift it is. Putting in cheap gasoline into the car will still allow it to get from point A to point B but eventually the car starts to run crummy or slowly starts running less than wonderful. If we want our bodies to be in peak condition and love us back and we need to do a better job than most of us are doing.
1. Eat colorful. All the colors of the rainbow is a great guide for eating clean. Try eating a salad with all different color vegetables. Adding in an array of fruits to your diet is a phenomenal way of getting the colors of the rainbow into your body.
2. Ditch any of the processed foods. That stuff on the shelves that can manage to last longer than you and I does nothing for our bodies! The additives, preservatives, sodium, “natural flavoring” (whatever they are!?!?) baffle our bodies and cause us to crave more and more of the foods that we were eating. Trying for natural versions encourages us to eat much less.
3. Walk around with your water bottle. Too often we start snacking because of the fact that we are thirsty. If you have your water bottle with you then you are “locked and loaded“ and ready to combat any of those ‘fake cravings’ that might come your way.
4. Be mindful of sugar. Sugar is hiding in a lot of places that we might not recognized. Lots of juices that we might once thought of as “healthy“ are filled with sugar as are many of the sauces or dressings that we use alongside many of our foods.
5. Eat food that you have cooked as often as you can as opposed to getting food cooked by others. When you’re the one doing the cooking, you know what has been put in the foods, how it was prepared, how much oil, salt, dressings, sauces were used, etc. Bottom line - YOU are the boss and YOU make the decisions. It makes a huge difference.
Taking care of yourself should not feel torturous. It should be fun. Time constraints can easily lead to feelings of frustration about meal planning. So, try to start simple. Don’t make meals too complicated for yourself. Start with things that you know you enjoy. Treat yourself like whatever your version is of a fancy-schmancy car! Don’t treat yourself like a lease that’s going back all too soon!
Remember- you’re a keeper!!