10 Healthy Tips

Since I got so much feedback from my post about healthy grocery shopping (you can read it here!), I thought I'd do another post on 10 different cheap(er) things you can do for your health:

1. This one is pretty easy but surprisingly, not a lot of people do it. Drink 8 glasses of water a day. That is 64 oz of pure water. Juice, coffee, tea or milk do not count and are not a substitute. Drink water! By the time you are feeling thirsty, your body is actually already starting to become dehydrated. So do your body a favour and drink more water!
2. Eat 6-10 servings of fruits and vegetables every day. An apple or an orange would be considered one serving. Another way to tell if it's a serving is if it equals 1/2 cup. An easy way to add more fruits and vegetables is to have a salad with supper, add vegetables to your omelet, or fruit to your baked goods.
3. This one is nice and cheap. It actually doesn't cost anything more than time. Chew your food. Ideally, you should chew every bite 25-50 times before swallowing for optimal digestion. It will help with portion control, digestion, blood sugar levels, and nutrient absorption. Obviously, if it's something like yogurt or soup, you don't need to chew it very much, but the point is to make it almost a liquid in your mouth before swallowing. 
4. Exercise for 30 minutes every day. This one is a hard one for me. It's not that I never move around but, it's not so easy to take time to go for a run anymore when I barely have enough time to finish my cup of coffee. My solution is to do pilates every day with a DVD. I roll out my yoga mat, pop in my DVD, and make my husband promise not to laugh at me. I'm looking forward to the weather being a bit warmer so I can go out more and garden!
5. Don't drink pop or soda drinks. When I worked at a summer camp as a teenager, the best thing for a dirty toilet was to pour 2 litres of pop down the toilet and let it sit overnight. In the morning when we got back, the toilet would be clean. Imagine what that does to your stomach! It's full of preservatives, sugar and garbage. Don't do it. Especially don't do diet or 0 calorie drinks. They are actually much worse for your health than the normal soda. Every once in a while they are okay as an indulgence, but not on a regular basis!
6. One of the questions I get asked the most is if you should be buying organic or not. Organic tends to be more expensive and we all like to save money. There are actually many fruits and vegetables that you can get away with not buying organic, but there are twelve called the "Dirty Dozen" that you should make an effort to buy organic. They tend to have more pesticides and garbage on them than other fruits and veggies. I put a printable for you at the bottom of the page which you can stick in your wallet and refer to when you go to the grocery store. 
7. Drink tea and coffee every day. They have many different health benefits including preventing colds and flu and providing your body with many beneficial phytochemicals. Try not to add sugar since that will diminish some of the health benefits. (Ice tea and lattes don't count, but nice try!)
8.  Eat an ounce of dark chocolate every day. Chocolate is good for you! At least dark chocolate is. Try to get at least 70% cocoa and eat an ounce a day. It's great for your skin, preventing mentstrual problems, and full of antioxidants. 
9. Throw out your table salt. It is bad for you and contributes to a whole whack load of health problems. Use sea salt instead!
10. Eat breakfast every morning. They used to say that eating breakfast would help you lose weight. Now they're finding that it's not true in every case, but there are plenty of other good reasons your should eat breakfast including the fact that it helps your brain function better. We could all use a little more of that!

So I hope that helps encourage you for the start of this week. If you're interested in getting even healthier for the spring, try some of these detoxes (Just remember to consult your doctor or health care professional before starting anything!)

                                                                                      Source: naturallysavvy.com via Melody on Pinterest

Please feel free to print off this list but please only use it for personal use and link back to this website. Thanks!