It doesn't matter who you are or what you do, finding the time to get healthy is hard. If you are a working parent, balancing career and kids, those two things consume your life and there is little, if any, time for you. If you are a stay- at- home parent, chances are you are over committed with all things related to kids and home (sport practices, dance lessons, PTA, and caring for every aspect of your family). I don't think I ever believed my stay-at-home mom girlfriends about how busy they were until I became one. The point is, staying healthy and getting in shape feels unattainable because it's just one more thing to add to the already impossibly long list!
For busy people like all of us, sometimes the key to being healthy is to incorporate healthy habits into the time we have already allocated to something else. This might mean going for a walk on your lunch break, or doing squats in between pancake flips (yup, I do this). It could also mean just changing the way we do the things we already do.
The good news is the time you can make the biggest impact on your health is time already allocated every week foraging for food. The average American spends about one hour a week grocery shopping, but what you do in that hour can help you reach your goal or keep you in your rut. The grocery store is where you set your dietary tone for the week...good or bad. This is where you can set the course for a healthy week or make the bad decisions that end up on your hips later in the week. The point is...if you can get through this hour making the right decisions, losing weight could feel effortless.
If you are like me, then temptations in our homes are the hardest to resist. I know that if I am aware of the presence of corn chips or ice cream in my home, I will eventually give in and eat them. If they are not in my home I won't go out of my way to go to back to the store to get them if I'm craving salt or sweet. Because I do the grocery shopping, a have a ton of control over what foods are in the house. If you are trying to be healthy then it's a good idea to make sure you are the one in your household doing the shopping. If someone in your home insists on junk food, it's ok to ask them to respect your decision to remove temptations from your home. If you are the week willed one in the house, and are prone to buying junk food, then perhaps sending someone else in the house with more will power is best. Also consider taking a healthy friend grocery shopping, not only to get some shopping tips but also to keep your grocery cart headed in the right direction.
If you can control this one hour, you can lose a lot if not all of your extra weight. Plan out your healthy meals and snacks for the week and limit your shopping to those ingredients. Leave the junk behind to avoid it showing up later on your behind..lol!
If you need a little help figuring out what to buy and prepare as healthy meals and snacks, consider purchasing monthly or yearly healthy meal plans and shopping lists from cleaneatingonline.com.
As always, I wish you the happiest and healthiest life!
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