healthy diet

Does Health After Marriage Exist?

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healthy lifestyle

Society tends to normalize the idea of getting comfortable after marriage and ‘letting yourself go’ with the person you love.  Whether you are busy putting in crazy hours at the office, shuttling kids to and from events or just not finding enough hours in the day to get it all done, it’s easy to allow your health to take a backseat.  However, how good is this for you?  Does loving your better half unconditionally mean you accept to see them run their health into the ground?  Follow these Healthy Lifestyle Tips For Good Health After Marriage.

If you are looking for a way out of this rut, the solution may be working together.  This could begin with just you and your partner or can be a family wide approach.  The key is togetherness.  When you work as a team, you will gain support and accountability to stay on track with a healthy lifestyle while limiting temptations that may have previously led you to fall off the wagon.

5 Tips For Families To Achieve A Healthy Lifestyle

  1. Identify Your Goals

As your relationship and family dynamics evolve, you will, too.  Whether you are struggling to navigate a food sensitivity, trying to lose weight or looking to reduce stress, your health needs to be just as much a priority as going to the dentist or showing up to work.

We tend to forget that how we treat our bodies ultimately decides at what capacity we can carry ourselves through life. The food you are choosing to fuel your body with, the lifestyle choices you make and the thoughts you have are all affecting your overall health.

Remember, it is not selfish to put your health first.  It is necessary.  It’s important to recognize your individual needs and openly share them with your partner.

2.  Commit Together

This is the most crucial part.  Too often, clients will share that one of their biggest obstacles is watching their partner or children indulge while they are trying to be “good”.  As if it isn’t hard enough to pass up the refined sugar donuts in the staff room all day.  The last thing you need is to come home and watch your partner eat a bag of chips while you’re trying really hard to stay on track.

The only way to overcome this is to create a household that supports the food choices you want to be making.  One of the easiest things you can do is to plan a pantry clean out.  As a family, decide what good quality foods you plan to restock it with.

When it comes to kids, this can be surprisingly easy.  Kids only know what they are exposed to.  The younger they begin to enjoy healthy eating, the more likely they will ask for it.  Pre-packaged snacks may be convenient but chopped fruits, veggies, good quality cheeses, seeds and nuts are easy solutions that pack tons of health benefits.  They’re good for mom and dad, too!  For further reading, click here to discover “#Relationshipgoals”.

3. Meal Plan Together

At first, this may seem like work but it will soon become a routine that you’ll be thankful you started.  You can invite your kids into this discussion as well.  Develop a repertoire of easy meals and snacks that can be rotated throughout the week or month.

To start, consider what you already enjoy eating.  Even if that answer is Mac & Cheese or chicken fingers.  There are tons of recipes out there to make it healthy and enjoyable for the whole family.  It is all about the small steps to start your journey.

4. Get Moving Together

This one is so important and easily attainable with a little creativity.  You need to get your family up and moving.  This doesn’t mean you need to sign up for a triathlon or drag your kids to the gym.  Simply get outdoors!  While you may be tempted to stick the kids in front of the TV and plop on the couch, a quick walk in your neighbourhood will do the whole family some good.  Being active for at least 30 minutes a day is crucial to lower your risks of cardiovascular disease and metabolic syndrome.

5. Communicate

We know you’ve heard this one.  You need to communicate throughout your health journey.  Identify what’s working, what isn’t and what’s next.  Perhaps you didn’t love the kale smoothie your partner prepared for you – and that’s ok.  What’s important is not to sub that kale smoothie for your old habits.  Instead take the time to figure out a different healthy alternative.  Click here for a mixed berry smoothie the whole family is sure to love!

Communicating your changing needs is the only way to get the best results out of your health journey.  If you find you need more support making healthy choices, meal planning or identifying your specific dietary needs, consider working with a Holistic Nutritionist or Health Care Professional to help you attain your optimal health.  Click here to connect with a health professional near you.

More questions? Click here to connect.  We would love to support and guide you on your health journey!

I Just Spent $150 on Groceries and Then Ordered Take Out

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$150 groceries

“I just bought $150 worth of groceries and then ordered takeout because I couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of deciding what to cook.”

Having just heard this from a dear friend, I am wondering, has this ever happened to you?

Don’t fall victim to ordering high calorie takeout while you have a fridge full of perfectly good food!

Planning is the key to staying on track with your chosen lifestyle of eating a diet rich in whole foods. In a world full of fast food options and busy schedules, it is easy to get distracted from eating well. I have outlined some tips and tricks to stick to help us all stick to a healthy diet.

Half the battle of making nutritious meals is having all of the ingredients stocked in your pantry or refrigerator. Before you do your weekly grocery shop, sit down and make a meal plan for the week. At the same time, create your shopping list to reflect the ingredients that you will need for your week’s meals.

Remember that flyers are your friend. Not only are flyers meant to point out the weekly sales, but they can also act as an inspiration for your meal planning. Flyers generally feature fruits and vegetables that are in season or are at least readily available and cost effective. Use the flyers to choose a star ingredient for each meal and then develop your meal plan around those star ingredients.

Leftovers are a time saver. Batch cooking is an easy way to ensure that you have leftovers on hand, so that on nights that time doesn’t allow you to be in the kitchen to prepare a meal from scratch, you have something to easily heat up and have on the table in minutes. Try making a large pot of soup, stew or chilli to have in the fridge or freezer for quick, easy meals.

Try adding the following recipe to your meal plan next week.

loaded sweet potatoes

Loaded sweet potatoes

2 large sweet potatoes
1 small sweet onion, diced
1 jalapeño pepper (remove seeds for less spice)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
sea salt

Guacamole Topping

1 avocado
1 roma tomato
1/4 sweet onion, diced
1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped (optional)
sea salt
juice of one lime

Preheat oven to 375ªF. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Cut sweet potatoes lengthwise and then thinly slice. Dice onion and jalapeño pepper. Add sweet potatoes, onion and jalapeño pepper to a bowl. Toss with olive oil, garlic powder and sea salt to taste. Bake sweet potatoes until tender.

While sweet potatoes are baking, prepare guacamole topping. Cut avocado in half and remove the large seed. Using a spoon, scoop out the flesh of the avocado into a bowl and chop into small pieces. Dice tomato, onion and jalapeño and add to the bowl. Add a pinch of sea salt to the avocado mixture and add the juice of one lime.  Mix well.

Serve the sweet potatoes and top with guacamole.

Serve the loaded sweet potatoes with a garden salad, and a protein of your choice (free-range chicken, wild-caught cold water fish, grass fed beef). Enjoy!

Could Your Boy Belly Cause a Heart Attack?

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Could Your Boy Belly Cause a Heart Attack?

Do you carry extra weight around your abdominal area? Research is telling us that people of normal weight who have extra central body fat are at an elevated risk of dying of heart disease.

Central obesity it extra fat around your midsection, and there is an easy way to calculate if you may fall into this category.

1. Measure your waist at your belly button.
2. Measure your hips at the widest part of your buttocks.
3. Divide the first number by the second number.

For men, your waist-to-hip ratio should be no greater than 1.0 and for women it should be no greater than 0.9.

If your numbers are higher than the suggested ratio, there are simple changes that you can implement to reduce your ratio and improve your health.

The first thing that you need to do is to add more fresh fruit and vegetables to your diet. It’s very difficult to make a massive diet and lifestyle change all at once and be able to sustain it long term. So the most important thing you can do is eat more fruit and veggies and these foods will begin to crowd out the bad foods.

I also want you to moderate your meat intake. A serving of meat is the size of a card deck. Which does not mean 8 decks stacked on top of each other!! When was the last time you ate a steak that fit in your hand? I bet it’s been awhile.

Over the years, our portion sizes have grown and grown into rather ridiculous quantities of food. Our bodies don’t need that much food and literally can not digest that much protein in one sitting. This extra protein ends up being stored as fat and can contribute to central obesity, putting you at risk for heart disease.

Avoid fast food, processed food and packaged food.

Eat real food!! Learn to make a few delicious recipes that you enjoy. Check out our blog of recipe ideas here.

And of course, move your body more often. Add some gentle cardio to your routine, go for a power walk at lunch, hit the gym and sweat it out.

The very first sign of heart disease is erectile dysfunction. Your arteries and capillaries are very active and sensitive in that area, and can be the first to indicate that there is hardening of the arteries or plaque building up in your blood vessels.

Obviously not a topic that you want on your radar, but heading to the doctor for a prescription to help in this area is one of the worst things you can do. It puts added stress on your cardiovascular system and masks an important symptom that is telling you that your body is in distress.

This is the time to make healthy diet and lifestyle changes to let your body naturally heal and return to abundant health.

With Sources from:
http://www.health.harvard.edu/heart-health/research-were-watching-belly-fat-boosts-risk-of-dying-of-heart-disease