Healthy Habits In the Making

Making new, healthy habits can be challenging for anyone, and getting enough motivation to keep our will active is not a guarantee. Taking baby steps towards goals is always the best way to begin, for there is less chance of falling on your face on the way. 

I am going to offer a few tips that may help on your journey to becoming healthy and fit. 

First of all, make a grocery shopping list that suits your ideals. Only buy the items on that list so that you don't have foods in the house that tempt you and yet make you feel guilty eating them. 

If you are craving dessert, try eating some protein if you'd like to cut the craving for sweets. This often is quite effective. If it's not or you'd rather not have extra protein in the moment, make sure you always have plenty of fruit or some yogurt around for your sweets substitute. I often make some tea sweetened with stevia. 

Get up 15 minutes earlier in the morning and do some push-ups, sit ups, crunches, squats, or run a mile. If you can't manage to get out of bed, hit those squats or push-ups while you're waiting for your coffee or your breakfast to cook. If you have a break at work, do the same thing. It will all add up, and best of all, be strengthening a new habit. 

Join the Pumpup community if you use a smartphone. It's the most positive, supportive group you can imagine, and you will attain your goals. 

Best of luck to you, and happy journeying. Xoxo ❤️

Agricultural Change & Awareness: from a fit perspective

The world, one could say, is a little bit of a mess right now. There's a lot going on and much of it is not very pretty. In the world of agriculture, this hasn't been pretty for awhile, but with more and more people becoming interested in where their food comes from and what nutrient value it has, there is potential for positive change. In Essex, New York, on the shores of Lake Champlain, one organic farm has grown it's family to over 200 members who are part of a CSA (community supported agriculture) model, and because of its popularity (helped by the farmer Kristin Kimball's book, The Dirty Life) more small organic farms have sprung up all over that area of northeastern New York, operated by young people, some of whom used to have occupations as lawyers or travel writers. 

Suddenly food is important again. And it is. The fitness world knows it. We derive our cognitive and physical capacities from health, which is supported by enough nourishment and enough sleep. Therefore movements like this one in New York are important to all of us. If food wasn't so mass produced, perhaps it would hold more nutrient value and we could take fewer vitamins and supplements, for the plants and the animal products that we ate potentially would hold more of them for us. 

Each of us can look in our own backyard. Perhaps there's a small farm, or a garden space, that we can take hold of or be a part of. It actually can save on the cost of groceries, which stops many people from being able to buy organic or biodynamic foods. And these steps could make one part of our crazy world picture today, a little less crazy. Community and food and fitness-they fit together.