Blogging From the Beach to Give you Some Healthy Tips and Tricks

Blogging From the Beach to Give you Some Healthy Tips and Tricks

Hey you lovely reader,

A week ago I started Healthy Living Series and gave you the first few tips regarding the liquids that a healthy living person should be consuming. 

Today? Well, today, inspired by the hot weather in Punta Cana and all these amazing looking tourists, walking around in their fancy bikinis, I cannot help to talk about healthy food. Summer is coming and certainly we all are in the same boat putting all our efforts into the aim to craft the perfect body, right?

As the topic is quite lengthy and is the first one regarding the issue, I?d like to make it lighter and give you the primary tips and tricks before proceeding to something much more specific and straightforward. As I?ve mentioned before (here) I follow one specific principle when I eat, namely, combine the different food groups in a specific way so that they are digested more quickly and never make me feel bloated. As I?ll be talking about that in my next post from the series in detail, today I?ll pin point the primary, yet most essential steps, that you should take on the route of changing your eating habits for good. Steps that I have undertaken long ago that have certainly changed my body and mind in a positive way.

Eat to live rather than the reverse

It is quite difficult to make healthy food choices, having in mind the millions of foods we are surrounded with today ? Cadbury?s chocolate, Ben & Jerry?s ice-cream, Quality Street… not to mention the million fast food restaurants and their high-quality commercials that lure you to visit them. The thing is that your body is indeed your temple, your moving force, and you should treat it in this way. Eating when you feel emotional is in no way good either for your mind or for the way your body looks and functions. And if you don?t respect it, how would it respect you back? Precisely ? it?s not highly possible that you?ll be content with the results if you munch on you French fries with mayonnaise and ketchup (which I highly doubt are ever home-made, correct me if I?m wrong) filled with excessive amounts of sugar and salt, and of course food colouring.  Bliss, eh?

Breakfast 

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Breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And when I say the most I mean it. If you skip breakfast, by noon your body, shocked by the lack of food, goes into a storing regime and keeps all you have for lunch, uttering to itself  ?Well, s/he might skip one more meal – I need to have something stored for later?. I know how hard it is to force yourself to eat at 7 or 8 AM in the morning, but, you know, once you start having breakfast it gets much easier as your body gets used to it and start craving food from the very moment you open your eyes. So it’s really a matter of time (and some motivation and willpower from your side) for your body and mind to get used to this new and more healthier regime.

3 full meals a day + 2 snacks 

The more regularly you eat, the faster your metabolism will start running. Many (especially) girls are saving ?calories? by starving all day and then indulging in their favourite dishes at dinner. However, going to bed with your belly full is the last thing you want to do. How do you think your body will feel all cosily cuddled under the duvet, having to digest all the food you’ve just had? Instead, try to eat 3 full meals a day and think it this way – at breakfast you can eat more quantity-wise and more caloric foods as your metabolism will have sped up, while you?ll have burned all the food you’ve eaten by lunch time. Sounds amazing, right?
What about lunch? Well, you can allow yourself to eat more than you allow yourself to eat during dinner, as your last meal should certainly be the lightest and healthiest from all three.

Or in other words you’ll be fine as long as you follow the saying ? ‘At breakfast eat like a king, at lunch eat like a prince, and at dinner eat like a peasant.’ I think that would do for now.

Salad Dressings 

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And if you are one of those people, who adore eating salads, and in fact, eat mainly that and still struggle to get into shape ? well, now the time has come to have a second thought about the dressings you normally cover your salad with. No matter how much you try to eat your ‘I don?t know how many vegetables a day’ the already prepared and packaged dressings ruin all your efforts. When you do the math ? the calories you?ve consumed while enjoying your Cesare Salad would be more than if you’ve chosen to have a proper two-course meal. So, I suggest you go to the closest supermarket and purchase some Olive Oil, Balsamic Vinegar, Lemons and basil for example. These four ingredients are absolutely enough to make your salad taste like heaven.  (P.S. Next week I’ll be giving you a few suggestions for light and tasty spring salads).

Processed and pre-packaged food?

No, thanks. For a few years now I?ve completely omitted from my diet processed desserts and snacks or in other words almost everything that has been previously packaged in glittery and colourful wrappings – biscuits from the supermarket, ice-cream, waffles, ?all natural? crackers ? yes, all completely scratched. Instead, I eat dessert that are home-made or made in a restaurant. Yes, I cannot help myself to have a lovely crème brûlée or a cheesecake when it?s been properly prepared. And the thing is ? these desserts ? they haven?t affected my body in any way as the ingredients with which they’ve been prepared haven’t been previously processed (or at least most of them of course, today you can never be a 100% sure, can you?). And if you?ve wondered about the morning cereal ? Crunchy Nut and Cheerios also are no longer part of my diet. To put it bluntly, eating cereal is like eating candy soaked in milk. Sugar, Sugar, Sugar! I bet by 10 o’clock you’d be already starving as you’d have filled your belly with empty calories and nothing else. Instead, what I do is have some muesli, oats, fruits, and Greek yoghurt (and in one of the next health-related posts I’ll share with you some of my favourite breakfast recipes).  And certainly my choice of breakfast is not that fancy, colourful and sweet in comparison to the cereals offered in disparate and overly cute shapes. But, through adding some additional ingredients – honey, cinnamon, and fruit – I bet the content of your bowl will not only look fresh and amazing, but will also suit your taste.

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So for now what you need to remember is that the already processed and packaged food is anything but your friend. There are always alternatives and if you start looking around you’ll notice how much healthy choices are available for you out there. It’s really all about changing your mind set and trying to actually think in terms – what could I have that is both healthy and tasty? 

All natural vs. Organic 

Always choose the organic option if you have the choice and finances to do so. I’m quite sure you’ve seen this cute ‘all-natural’ label, which as a concept, however, is rather vague, used on almost every packaged food today. If you pay a bit more attention to the labels you will notice that these ‘all-natural’ products contain many ingredients that you certainly won’t be able to find in nature ? such as fructose corn syrup, genetically engineered ingredients, chemical additives. Actually, the other day when B. and I were on the airplane, he was handed a nicely packaged chocolate chip cookie, labelled ?all natural?. Yet, their expiry date was almost an year ahead. Well, quite dodgy, don?t you think?

Conversely, if you see a label ?Organic? that means that the product has been certified and it’s free of hormones, GMO, and antibiotics. And to be even more certain in what you?re stocking your fridge with ? I suggest you start regularly going to the closest market on Sunday (or whichever day) to get all the fruits, vegetables, bread, and milk you might need.

P.S. A quick reminder LTA’s 500 Followers Jo Malone Giveaway is currently going on here. So lovely, make sure to participate and win a scented Jo Malone Candle ‘Sweet Almond & Macaroon’. Good Luck!