Getting healthy with Wendy Lazar
Forming a Healthy Lifestyle
With our busy lifestyles, how do we have time to eat healthy? Do you hear that often? I hear this and many other similar statements, all the time.
Granted, unlike our grandmothers, most of us do not have time to spend the day in the kitchen. However, even with our busy lifestyles, it is essential we eat healthy in order to maintain energy, good health and wellbeing.
Are you in a rut of rushing and multitasking day after day?
Example: After work, while on the cell phone booking appointments, rushing one child to football practice and another child to dance class, then rushing to put gas in the car, picking up clothes from the dry cleaner, and then on to the drive thru to pick up a fast food dinner, while rushing back to get the first child, and then the second, eat in the car, get home to finish homework, and get into bed by a decent hour…and often times not. Sound familiar?
Slow down for a few minutes and ask yourself if this is the healthy lifestyle that you hope to teach your children.
Let’s start with multitasking.
Remember when we got our first cell phone to use for emergencies only? How long did that last? How many times do you take calls you wish you hadn’t? Have you answered a call when a loved one had something they needed to say, and you missed it? I know how important cell phones are, I use mine for business and yes, I have been guilty for what I have just asked, which is why I asked. I have caught myself missing things that I will never have the opportunity to get back again. These days, I’ve committed to only pick up the phone when it is absolutely necessary, and never when someone I love is speaking to me.
What about diet?
The meaning of diet used to read: The consumption of food and drink for habitual nourishment. Now the meaning mentions restrictions.
The meaning of food has remained the same: A substance, usually a plant or animal that can be metabolized to give energy and build tissue.
When we feel hungry it is because the brain sends a signal to let us know we need a replenishment of nutrition in order to maintain energy and build healthy tissue. If we respond with nourishing foods, we have energy and build healthy tissue. However, if we respond with substances that lack nutrition, our body starts to break down healthy tissue such as muscle and bone in order to stop starvation/malnourishment. If we continue to eat substances that lack nutrition (high in calories, fat, sugar, salt and chemicals), we continue to break down healthy tissue and replace it with FAT, as we continue to be hungry. This becomes a vicious cycle and leads to the top three diseases that claims lives in this country, Heart Disease, Cancer and Diabetes. At the turn of the century these three top killers were in 5th, 6th and 7th place. Coincidentally, there were approximately 20,000 items in the grocery stores to choose from, and now we have over 300,000. Where did all of this other food come from? These are items that are pre-made, processed, packaged with chemicals and artificial additives that the human body can not process. Yes, it is fast and easy but we end up paying for it with our health.
Additionally, there were no cell phones, PCs, or video games back then and exercise was the norm.
Let’s keep this very simple. Why don’t we get back to eating plants and animals that can be metabolized to give energy and build healthy tissue? It takes just as much time to fill a water bottle, make a sandwich and put a clean vegetable and fruit in your child’s lunch as it does to place chemical laden, ready made foods, cookies, chips, and sugary fruit juice.
I work late two days out of the week so I had to find a way to work out the dinner schedule. On these nights I have something easy and fast to prepare. I can put a piece of fish under the broiler while making a salad and setting the table, or use the leftover chicken breast from the night before over a salad or even make breakfast for dinner (scrambled eggs with whole grain toast and fruit). The entire meal including clean up takes less than 40 minutes.
Who has time to exercise?
Exercise is a necessity to health and wellbeing. There are many ways of exercising.
Try a quick sprint, walking the dog for 20 minutes, a few laps in the pool, or turn on a TV exercise program or video, or if you have the luxury of time, the gym.
What about quite time?
All it takes to rejuvenate your mind, body and spirit is 10 minutes in the A.M. and 10 in the P.M. If you don’t meditate or pray then consider sitting or lying quietly with soft music and do nothing.
Weekends and Holidays are for necessary activities and REST and by the way, the only time TV, computer and video games are allowed in my house. It hasn’t always been like this, but now I insist.
I know we all have different time constraints but making excuses and not taking the time to enjoy life is not living. Been there, done that! I encourage everyone to push everything aside for a few minutes and take a look at how you are living. Do you have quality time with those you love? Do you have quality alone time for yourself? Are you eating and serving your family the healthiest foods possible? Do you take time to exercise and then relax? Make a list right now of the positive changes you desire and then make them happen. We are intelligent, resourceful women; it’s easy to make positive changes in our lives, if we first have the desire.
If you feel you don’t have the resources, reach out and ask for help. It is all around us.
Interested in becoming a Get Your Genius Resident Genius?Click here to contact us and please include your bio, a link to your website and a few sentences why you feel working mothers can’t live without your expertise.