Health routine tips

Bonjour,

Sustaining a healthy life style can quickly become difficult. Between our work life, family, kids, friends, it’s easy -and totally understandable, it happens to me too!- to step outside our health routine and choose what’s easy, hassle-free and convenient: for some it will be opting for take-away or processed food instead of cooking, for others it will be watching TV while browsing Facebook instead of going for a run or a swim and for others it will be… both! Sounds familiar?

So what can you do when you’re time-poor to eat healthy and exercise while looking after your family and your loved ones and performing at work?

Here are 2 of the tips I give to my super busy clients, in particular when they need to get back on track or simply when they feel overwhelmed.

2 tips amongst many but enough to help you go back to your health routine… Believe me (and my clients!), it’s much more easier than you think.

Health routine TIP 1: PLAN, PLAN, PLAN, it will save you time.

The key is to avoid falling back into bad habits. The solution? Plan, plan, plan:

• First of all, know how to shop. It sounds a bit patronising, I know, but if you follow this advice by the letter in particular if you’re uber busy, your waistline will thank you for ever. Sit down, make a shopping list and stick to it (and never do your grocery shopping when you’re hungry!).
• 

  Easy, quick, healthy and delicious.

  Always have versatile delicious real foods in your pantry like carrots, tomatoes, parsley, rocket, eggs, brown rice or quinoa. They are perfect to make nutritious salads and easy meals without having to spend hours in the kitchen!

• Think frozen vegetables and fruits already peeled and ready to use. I would usually go for fresh but frozen is ideal if you can’t shop a few times a week.
• Forget about biscuits and other sweet nasties. Choose nuts instead, or try my super healthy snacks ideas here.
• Each time you cook a meal, cook enough for a few days and freeze what you don’t eat on the day. It doesn’t take more time and you’re sure to have a healthy meal ready in your fridge and to keep your family happy and healthy.

With all these options, you’ll forget about the pre-made meals and take-away options, always loaded with sugar and bad fats. No more excuse to eat lollies all day or to skip a meal!

Health routine TIP 2: do like the French, it will save your life (and money).

It can be difficult to find an activity you can practice easily when you even struggle to find 2 minutes to enjoy a latte.

Do like the French: walk! The French aren’t super obsessed with going to the gym, running marathons or doing weights or cycling classes, but they are fit and one of the healthiest and slimmest countries on the planet. One of their secrets is walking. They walk to go to work, to the shops, to pick up their kids from school. They take their cars only when it is impossible to walk.

We are not designed to sit all the time, we’re meant to be active. Sitting is damaging our health, our waistline and is scientifically proven to shorten our lifespan. In the past, men used to walk between 10-20km a day, and women, between 4-6km! Yes, every day. We now tend to be sedentary for 60% of our day, mostly sitting.

Take every opportunity to stand and move every day:

• Break-up with your car – I know, it’s sad but you won’t regret it.
• Take the stairs and not the escalators or the lift.
• If you have to sit all day, go for a brief walk every hour.
• Get off the bus or the train one stop early.
• During a long meeting, stand up from time to time.
• If you have to drive, park further away from your destination.

Every step counts. Walking is critical to reduce anxiety, stress and depression, closely linked to weight gain. See all the benefits of walking in the infographic from the US Everybody Walk! campaign at the end of this article – impressive!

And you, what is your best way to stick to your health routine when you’re very busy? Let me know in the blue reply box below!

Have a beautiful weekend.

Yves