Give them a HEALTHY return to ScHoOL!

Starting school is a very good opportunity to create new eating habits in your family.  
Let's take advantage of it!

First of all, remember that creating a new habit requires slow and gradual change.  Talk to your family and make them part of the change. Explain your plan and involve them. If everyone participates it will be easier and there will be less resistance to eat healthier and improve their quality of life.

• Healthy Cupboard

In order to eat healthier and not fall into temptation, a simple principle is: DON’T BUY IT.

A few weeks ago, my husband and I bought a liter of Coca Cola to unclog a drain. At home we never drink soda, but knowing that we had it, we were tempted and took several glasses.

• Educate your family

It is very important that you include your children in the process of choosing food, invite them to the supermarket and teach them to choose the healthier version of the foods they like. Let them choose the fruits / vegetables and experiment with these new options. 

Children who are involved in the grocery shopping, are more eager to eat what they bought.

• Buy more fruits and vegetables

Make sure that more than a third of your purchase consists of fruits and vegetables.  Your purchase will be cheaper and have more ingredients to prepare meals and snacks with

• Plan your menus

Once a week plan what you will cook and anticipate your kids’ lunch the night before.  Involve them in the preparation and use that time to teach them how to eat healthier and lighter. 

There are many websites where you can find thousands of simple and innovative recipes for your family.

• School store

If your children takes money to school, spend time with them to explain what is better to buy in the store in order to feel lighter and more energetic.

• Home visits

When you have visitors at home or friends of your children, seek to provide snacks made from fruits and vegetables instead of buying bags of chips and dressings.

Remember: We seek long-term habits gradually developed. You do not need to radically change your food.  Try to make it as slow as possible so that the change does not become uncomfortable for anyone and that everyone finds new food options.

I hope these tips will be useful and that this return to the routine will be a new beginning for healthy habits.

Why TRY to eat better and exercise if you don’t see the results YOU WANT?

 For those who didn’t read last week, Atena Lara, nutrition and training expert, describes some "little things" that can make the difference between success and failure of our efforts to eat better...

DRESSING:

This subject is classic! You can be eating very healthy and low in calories but if you add guacamole to your chicken, “light cream” or olive oil to the salad you are adding many extra calories.

I'm not saying eat tasteless, just be careful about how you add flavor to the food: homemade sauces without oil, lemon, vinegar, soy, and chili powder in reasonable quantities, do not change the quality of your diet.

BEVERAGES:

We are so careful about our food that we forget to check what we drink!  Juices are NOT the best breakfast (whole fruit is the best choice), the cappuccino is not free of calories and you don’t necessarily need Gatorade to train.  It's best to drink clear water: put slices of lemon, strawberry or a tea bag in your water bottle, it gives some flavor and doesn’t affect your diet! 

ON AND OFF

Follow your objectives 5 days and stop for 2.  Ten intensive days and 3 lazydays are the WORST thing you can do.

First, your metabolism will never accelerate, as it does not receive a constant stimulus. Second, you lose time and money without getting anywhere!  Chances are in a few months, you will be in the exact same point where you started.  Third, the worst part is that you get tired and your mind is generating a sense of failure over and over again. 

As a tip, if you are not ready to start it’s OK. Take the time you need to convince yourself that you will do this and you're willing to pay the price, and once you decide CONTINUE until you are happy with the results. 

The name of the game is TENACITY.

For further information about this subject write to:

InspiringFitnessNow@gmail.com

3 reasons why you don't see improvements

This time we have invited an expert in nutrition and fitness, Atenea Lara, with 6 years of experience.  She will share some secrets to success. 
Hope you like it:

Why don’t we see results when we really try to eat better and exercise more? Actually there are many factors that may be affecting the speed of your progress ... however there are some “small details” that when we put them together make a BIG difference.

It’s not fair that your efforts to eat better and exercise don’t give any results due to “small“ or “harmless mistakes”. I share them here for you to pay attention and observe yourself!

HAVING HEALTHY FOOD AS SNACKS:

Eating a stick of celery, cucumber, one little plum, an apple, etc. The fact that something is healthy does not mean it contains no calories! You need to pay close attention to distinguish whether you are eating out of hunger or anxiety.

If it’s hunger, it's best to have an earlier mealtime and if it’s anxiety, try to do small activities to keep you distracted and away from food.

SKIPPING MEALS:

When you skip meals you will NOT lose weight faster, but your metabolism will slow down. Removing food groups from your diet (such as "carbohydrates" or "proteins") will change the way you process food and can cause vitamin or mineral deficiency affecting your health.

FILLERS:

Chewing gum all day, using artificial sweeteners in excess and drinking light soda at each meal affects your results! While these tools are useful in times of anxiety, they can become enemies when trying to create order in our eating habits.

These “harmless” products are made from chemicals, many of which are SO processed that our body discards them as they enter, but that does NOT mean they do not cause damage ranging from cancer to water retention.

I recommend you use less than 2 packets of artificial sweeteners, less than 3 sugarless gums a day and a diet soda only every 3rd day.

Next week will talk about 3 more "small" mistakes that hinder our efforts.

See you!

Do not forget to LOG OUT these VACATION

A small reminder:

Healthy tip: Try to choose BIG fruits like watermelon, melon, orange or papaya. These contain more water, fiber and less calories.