11 Steps to a Healthier You

11 Steps to a Healthier You

With so many people being confused by the seemingly different messages around achieving health, it is no wonder our health and fitness is declining – faced with too much choice we aren’t doing much (if anything) to improve our health. Here are a quick 11 steps to a healthier you.

These will get you on the right track, without any confusion!

• Hire a Personal Trainer. By having a qualified professional put together your exercise plan you are going to be given a structured, balanced exercise plan that will help you reach your goals quicker.
• Eat vegetables – lots of them. Most of us eat far too few. Read this article to find out how you can get more into your diet. The majority of your diet should be plant based, supplemented with good quality meat.

• Drink water. The quickest, simplest way you can improve your health. Drink lots of water and drink it every day. With the majority of your body consisting of water, keeping it topped-up daily is a good idea.
• Work standing up when you can – sitting is a silent killer. If you can, walk around whilst talking on the phone. If you drive, take regular break but get out of the car and move around – apart from preventing back pain it will also wake you up!
• Stretch and foam roll regularly. If you sit for long periods you develop muscle imbalances and tightness. You can control this with a proper stretching and rolling routine and it will only take 10 minutes per day. This combination also keeps tissue quality high and helps to remove waste products from the tissue.
• Don’t think of a workout as an hour in the gym – a 15 minute kettlebell circuit at home or cycling to work are ways you can get exercise in. Don’t feel guilty about breaking a workout into two 15-minute sessions rather than one 30 minute workout if thats all you have time for. Just keep the intensity up and the quality of movement paramount.

• Ignore daily calorie guidelines – they don’t factor in body size or activity levels. Counting calories is a difficult and time consuming activity to try and do with any real degree of accuracy. Stick to good quality meat, fish, eggs, fruit and vegetables and you won’t go far wrong.
• Don’t drink coffee before bed. This is obvious – it’s a neural stimulant, but also sleep is your time for rest, repair and recovery. Limit your sleep and you will limit your health. Go to bed tired and fall asleep quickly.
• For journeys less than 1 mile in length, walk when possible. Apart from it being greener, it also contributes to your daily activity, keeping your muscles working and your calorie burning up.
• Try intermittent fasting. This fantastic dietary approach has reaped lots of fat loss and health rewards in both me and my clients. Remarkably simple, remarkably effective – just like all good diets should be!
• Take measures to reduce stress in your life. Stress changes blood hormone balances, in turn having a knock-on effect on health. Try meditation, walking, sleeping, yoga or exercise as a way to reduce stress.

Achieving health doesn’t need to be a challenge – bring these changes into your lifestyle and you will start to notice the improvements very quickly!

11 Steps to a healthier you that can be implemented quickly and easily!