Adding in More Exercise

How is your New Years Resolution going of being healthier and exercising more? I hope well. If you have fallen off track though, maybe remembering "bikini" season is around the corner will light a fire and get you motivated again. Remember, it is all about small changes and incorporating exercise and healthy eating into your day routine.

To help with this, I have another tip for you today.
Drink more healthy beverages. Healthy beverages are going to be:

• water
• kefir, either milk or water
• raw milk, if you choose to add this 
• tea, without all the added sugar, maybe a little honey if you like, but a little
• vegetable and fruit smoothies or just eating more vegetables and some fruit

I am not talking about sodas, sugary sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit juices, anything with loads of sugar in any form. This is healthy beverages I saying to add in, dump these.

The reason, one you are probably dehydrated. If you are not consuming some water and vegetables even meat, that is not sacrificed in its cooking, daily, your body will not have the fluids it needs to function properly. If you consume a lot of caffeine, eat a lot of sugar or carbohydrates, you may also find yourself dehydrated  By drinking more, your body will begin to function better and rid itself of toxins, naturally. When we pee, our body is excreting toxins. I am NOT suggesting over consuming any beverage, even water. Too much water can be a bad thing. How to tell if you are consuming too much water, your urine will be colorless. You want to have some color to your pee. If you are dehydrated, your urine will be dark yellow. The darker the yellow, the more dehydrated your are. We want to be in between both extremes, not colorless and not dark in color. This is how to judge if you need more or less liquids. Also, do not drink a lot of water just before, during or right after a meal. If you do this, you will dilute your gastric juices you need to break down your food. It is best to drink something with enzymes in it such as kefir or raw apple cider vinegar, this will aid in digestion. 

Reason number two, you will need to get up and go to the bathroom more often. If you are not used to consuming water and other healthy beverages, your body is going to need to get rid of it and this is done by peeing. This fits into our talks about moving more. When you get up to "go", take the long way to the bathroom and back. Pick a restroom at the other end of the hall or maybe even up a flight of stairs you walk up and down. You obviously to not want to take 15-20 minutes to use the restroom every time, but use this as a time to move. Once you arrive back at your desk, do a set of lunges, squats, push up, over head arm raises, planks, pick one exercise and do as many reps as you can. Every time you come back to your office, or cubie, do a different exercise, work a different part of the body. Even if you do not have time to get your workout in, you are just fine because you have done your workout through out the day. It does not all have to be done at once. Use this opportunity to move your body. Remember, even exercising for two hours a day, does not negate the harm of sitting for six hours a day. We need to move frequently through out the day.   

This is a small change to make with BIG results. You will find yourself healthier and leaner without thinking about it too much.

Saving the world one stick of butter at a time.
God's many blessings,
Jenn