Maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle can be difficult in the long run. Earlier this year, I made the decision to focus on my health by becoming more active, drinking water, getting enough sleep and making better choices when it comes to the foods I eat.
When I began making conscious efforts to be healthy, it was easy. I was motivated and it was a new challenge. As the days and weeks went on though, the challenge to stay on track has become, well, challenging.
I fell into a rut of eating the same thing because I knew it was good for me and I didn’t take the time to expand my knowledge. Because of this, food and meals became boring and I began to lose interest in my goals.
Maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle is a marathon, not a sprint and I decided that if I was going to be successful, I needed to expand my knowledge and drop some old habits. Here are some things that have been helping me.
Track your day
Keeping a record of what you eat, your exercise and your goals will help you to analyze your day. The only way this helps is if you track everything, even if it sends you over your daily goals. There are numerous free and paid apps out there. Find one that will let you track your food and exercise as well as the nutrients you are getting. You should be able to set certain goals like water intake, fibre consumption, calories etc.
Drink your water
I used to reach the end of my day and realized that my only liquid intake was the coffee I had at breakfast. This isn’t good. To fix this, I set an alarm for almost every hour during the day. When it went off, I grabbed a glass of water. Hydrating throughout the day is better than drinking it all at once at 10pm.
Food variety is the spice of life
During my first week, I ate the same thing over and over because I knew that eating those meals were safe. This is completely fine, but you will get to a point where you need to break away and try new things before you decide to just give up in a fit of tears (or so I’ve been told).
Adding fun, healthy snacks to your daily diet can be a great motivator to staying on track. Through research (AKA Google) I’ve become quite creative at adding foods in between my meals that are satisfying and keep me going. For example, we all know that cheese, in large amounts, is bad for healthy diets. Cheese is kind of like that friend that you should see in limited qualities. You have a lot of fun when you are together, but you wake up in the morning with way too many regrets.
I love cheese, so I’ve figured out a way to satiate that craving in a low calorie snack. I’ll share it with you here and there is a recipe video tutorial below.
- Breton Sprouted Grains crackers (sea salt)
- Light cream cheese
- Cherry tomatoes, chopped
- Balsamic reduction
- Chives, chopped
- Spread cream cheese on Breton crackers
- Add cherry tomatoes on each cracker and set on a plate
- Drizzle balsamic reduction over crackers and top with chives then serve
- Balsamic reduction can be found near the balsamic vinegar in grocery stores. It is a thicker consistency and more flavourful then balsamic vinegar.
Feel free to share your healthy living tips in the comments. I can use all the help I can get.
Disclosure: Sponsored post. Thank you for supporting
companies like Breton that support This Bird’s Day.
Sheri publishes, and writes at This Bird’s Day where she shares all of the thoughts in her head without the voices. Sticking mainly with content for Canadians, Sheri shares family stories, product information and anything that fits into her (and her family’s) daily activities.
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This is a great post. I really like your tips. Tracking your day is so important and helps you consciously focus on what we’re eating. It’s hard to change our habits unless we completely understand them.
Thanks for the great tips and healthy appy idea which will be useful through the holidays!
You are welcome Christine. It is always helpful to have some yummy food on hand that you can eat at any time.
Good tip about the water. I need to drink more water. We portion our meals so they don’t end up a whole plate full. In between meals we may have fruit or veggies. Good for you for eating healthier.
Thanks Betty. Setting a water alarm until you get in the habit is a good idea. It has helped me a lot. I like the portion before you start eating idea.
Mmm…I get a 2 or 3 pm snack craving every day that I bet this would take good care of! Looks so yummy.
Thanks for your comment. Afternoon snack cravings are the worst for me. This is a great option.
Congrats on your progress Sheri! Love me some Breton crackers – their gluten free ones are amazing.
Thank you Heather. They are really good too. Would also make a good base for this.
These look amazing! You had me at balsamic reduction. I put it on everything!
Thanks Merry. It goes on a lot of things around here too.