New Year New You!

Tips for Simple, Healthy and Delicious Post Holiday Living...

1.    Dust off the Vitamix and start the day with a power packed smoothie. By starting the day with fresh fruits and vegetables you are preparing your body with useful vitamins and minerals for fuel to get through the day. 

2.    Snack on fresh raw vegetables or protein packed raw nuts. If you can make 70-80% of your diet raw foods you will be amazed at how you feel, and look!

3.    For lunch, go easy on the proteins and stick with a menu of fresh vegetables for lunch, salads with olive oil based dressings, vegetable soups, wraps, etc.

4.    Treat yourself to a balanced dinner with one protein and vegetables OR one carb and vegetables. Don’t mix complex proteins and complex carbs at the same meal.  For example Pasta with pesto sauce and vegetables is terrific, pasta with meat sauce, not so much. Sorry, pasta Bolognese lovers…but you can have your Bolognese sauce on zucchini noodles! 

5.   Limit (or avoid) red meat

6.   Limit alcohol consumption to weekends and no more than 5 oz. of red wine per day during the week if you must have that nice glass of wine with your healthy dinner.

7.   Exercise daily, at least 30 minutes of cardio, a good paced walk, whatever your cardio pleasure. Remember to have a good stretch!

8.   Get plenty of rest. Disengage in social media after 9:00 pm, and let yourself get to sleep a little earlier.

9.   Drink lots of water. I start the day with 8 oz. of warm water with a tablespoon of fresh lemon juice and then I continue to drink as much water as possible throughout the day.  Keeping a full water bottle on my desk makes it easy to reach for it all day long.

10.  Don’t forget to breathe! When you feel stressed, take a deep breath, relax, and take time to enjoy the beauty of your surroundings. Schedule time for yourself to decompress and regroup.

Don’t totally deprive yourself. If you feel a need to splurge, do it, but do it in small quantities and occasionally. And remember, there is no better motivator than results. You will love the way you feel when those few extra holiday pounds come off.

Here are some great menu ideas and recipes to get your started!