5 Steps to a Healthier Life

Starting a new diet or exercise plan can seem really overwhelming. Whether you’ve tried and failed on numerous occasions or have a lot of weight to lose, surmounting the weight demon can seem impossible. The way I achieved my weight loss success was through a series of small steps. I couldn’t imagine a drastic change in my life when I was going through recovery from surgery, so I made small changes. These are 5 simple steps that I feel will really help you make a change in your life for the better without being overwhelmed.

1. Keep a Food Journal
Start keeping a food journal. Use an online resource like My-Calorie-Counter.com or Livestrong.com and record everything you eat for a full week. Write down the good and the bad and see what you consume in a week. Let’s say you’re consuming 2700 calories a day, which is a pretty big number. Rather than doing something drastic like cutting it down to 1500, cut it by 500 calories a day. It’s a small amount you won’t probably notice, but this allows you to lose a pound a week at a healthy, safe rate. As you lose weight, adjust your caloric intake gradually.

2. Go the Distance
Start incorporating small forms of exercise into your daily life. Park your car in the furthest slot away from the door so you have to walk more. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Go for a 20 minute walk after dinner. Start small. If you try to take on a huge exercise program right off the bat, chances are you’re going to get sore and give up. Try to move for 30 minutes a day. If you can keep that up for a month or so, join a gym.

3. It’s All Greek to Me
There’s a reason the Mediterranean Diet is worshipped by doctors for its health and nutritional benefits. One of the big staples is Greek yogurt. Use plain non-fat Greek yogurt as a substitute for sour cream or heavy cream in recipes. You can’t taste the difference and you cut hundreds of calories with this simple substitution.

4. Breakfast of Champions
Eat a good breakfast. A good breakfast is not a donut in your company’s break room nor is it an Egg McMuffin. And don’t go thinking you can skip out on this important meal. Eating a healthy, well-balanced breakfast will jump start your metabolism working right away. If you don’t eat in the morning, your metabolism slows because your body thinks it’s in starvation mode. You feel sluggish and irritated because you have no nutrients to get you fired up in the morning.

Try 1/4 Cup Greek Yogurt, 1/4 Cup Non-Fat Milk, 8 Blueberries, 4 – 5 Strawberries, and 1/4 TSP of Honey for a great morning smoothie. Eat with a slice of bread with 1 TBS of Peanut Butter. This 350 calorie breakfast will keep you full and get the metabolism going.

5. Be Strong
Lift weights. Cardio is an extremely important part of exercising. It burns calories and builds a very strong and healthy heart. However, you can reap far more benefits from your cardio workout if you incorporate a good strength training program as well. Lifting weights builds muscle which burns fat. You will burn more fat if you both strength train and do cardio. Ladies, you will not bulk up and look like a guy with strength training. It is healthy and especially necessary for women to prevent osteoporosis.

Remember, start small and work your way up. Don’t get discouraged. Know that making small steps towards a healthy life will result in a big payoff.

Simple Substitutions

As everyone kicks off their New Years resolutions with a healthy diet and exercise plan, many fail within the first few weeks as they tend to go too extreme with their new plans.

Overnight they go from eating 3500 calories a day and no exercise to 1200 calories and 5 days a week at the gym. No one can keep up with that type of drastic change when it happens so quickly. Besides, then it turns into a diet, not a lifestyle change. A diet has a definite end point, changing your lifestyle is permanent.

Trainer Bob Harper from The Biggest Loser once said if you want to lose weight, make 5 small changes. It’s true, a big change starts with small steps. So, instead of making very drastic, overnight changes to your life, do some small, simple substitutions instead.

One thing I’ve learned very, very recently is that Greek yogurt makes a fantastic substitute for sour cream and heavy cream when used in cooking sauces. I had a recipe from Rocco Di Spirito for Penne With Vodka Cream Sauce that contained neither vodka nor cream. Instead he substituted those ingredients with Greek yogurt. It tasted fabulous—not like some of that cardboard fat free stuff out there and it was only 316 calories per serving instead of 655.

After having success with that recipe, I decided to try it on my own. The other night, I got home from work late and needed something quick and easy to make. I love hamburger stroganoff, and it’s super easy. Unfortunately it’s fairly bad for you because it takes an entire container of sour cream. So I used 93% lean ground beef (120 calories for 3 oz), 98% fat free cream of mushroom soup and 1 container of Greek yogurt instead. I seasoned with onion and garlic, and I honestly could not tell the difference from the old recipe. I saved hundreds of calories with this simple substitution, but didn’t sacrifice flavor.

Lots of baking recipes call for apple sauce instead of the same amount of butter or eggs. You can’t tell the difference, but it tastes great. Try using whole wheat bread or pasta instead of white. Saves a few calories.

Changing your life to be healthier doesn’t mean having to give up your favorite foods or eating fat free cardboard the rest of your life. Small changes and substitutions are the key.

If you have any healthy substitutions you’d like to share, please comment. I’m always interested in how to make recipes healthier, but not taste like they’re healthy.