Tuesday, May 13, 2014

♡ 10 Health & Fitness Tips for Beginnners ♡

Here are some health and fitness tips for beginners.  You have to start somewhere, and if you're reading this, you already took a huge step - starting!

I hope you find these helpful.


1. Start slow. You don't have to trash your treats and go out and replace it all at once. Try to start out with replacing one or two things a day with a healthier choice. For example, say you're used to eating a waffle and chocolate milk for breakfast. Maybe try an egg bowl  (fried, boiled, or scrambled eggs with some raw or cooked veggies) and a smoothie.
Some of my favorite smoothies-
Berry Smoothie + healthy lunch
Green Apple Smoothie
Easy Morning Smoothie
Oatmeal Cooke Dough Smoothie
Tropical smoothie- pineapple, coconut milk, banana or mango, orange juice.

2. Don't look at the calories. I know it might sound crazy if you're trying to lose weight, but try not to count your calories - you NEED calories, as long as you are getting them from a healthy source; for example, avocados are high in calories but they are a GOOD fat and are great for you.

3. "Fat free" doesn't always mean it's healthy. Just because something is "fat free" doesn't mean it's good for your body. There is a lot to be said about good and bad fats, so click HERE for more information.

4. Limit packaged foods. Even though I'm gluten-free, if a gluten-free item is in a box or bag, it's still not the healthiest choice. Processed foods aren't real foods. Try to limit your intake of packaged foods; your body will thank you.

5. Fresh is best. Very similar to number 4, fresh foods are always the best choice for your health. If you get anything from this post I hope it's this - when in doubt about how to eat healthy, it all boils down to eating real food. Fruit, veggies, healthy meats (such as hormone-free lean meats). I post a lot of paleo recipes because the focus is real food. 

6. Be careful about dairy. There is a lot of controversy about dairy, but when you think about it, you wouldn't drink human milk, would you? Dairy has lots of fat and hormones. I don't know the most about dairy, but here is some more information on it. I love rice milk, coconut milk, and almond milk as alternatives. There's also soy milk, though I don't recommend it because soy can mess with your hormones, which is why it always seems to cause my skin to break out.

7. Be gentle with yourself. If your body isn't used to healthy food it will go through a stage of detoxification, which can be a little uncomfortable for a bit, but as someone who has gone through detox I can honestly tell you that you will feel MUCH better after it's all over. Here's a video on how to handle detox. (This is for a raw foods diet, but these are good tips for any healthy eating lifestyle.)

With fitness, just like healthy eating, your body may not be used to it, so don't start out doing anything crazy. Maybe start walking, doing a little cardio, or even yoga. Yoga is great for balance and strength training; it still tones just as well as anything else for me. Here are tips on how to add more fitness activities into your life with ease.


And here are some of my favorite fitness videos-
Bikini Workout
Stretching Routine
Outdoor Workout 
Workout Ball Routine 
At Home Workout Routine (my favorite)

8. Make time for yourself and your health. Yes, becoming healthier takes time, but YOU are worth it. If you don't have much time to cook, set aside a free day to stock pile meals that you can store in the freezer to pull out as needed. (If you need ideas, Google and Pinterest are your best friends.) Or, if you need to be at work early, wake up a little earlier to make yourself a healthy breakfast and pack a nice lunch. Remember, you're worth it.

9. Skin deep. Your skin absorbs about 60% of what you put on it, so you might want to look at the chemicals in your skincare. If you're looking for good brands, I love Rainwater Botanicals, Andalou Naturals, Deep Steep, and some products from Devita. It's important to try to read labels....which leads me to number 10

10. If you can't read it... I know it's hard, but if you can't read an ingredient or don't know what something is, it probably shouldn't be in or on your body. You can easily research what a specific ingredient is. Just make sure you read those labels, with both skincare and  food.

An of course drink as much pure water as you can.

I'll be having more health and fitness posts to come very soon!! 

Stay Healthy,
Taylor 


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