6 Helpful Hints for a Healthy Home
Let’s face it: The daily balancing act between our home and work schedules can make life feel a bit hectic. Tack on a couple of growing children and only 24 hours in a day, and it can seem next to impossible to lead a healthy lifestyle. Never fear, Joe’s is here with six health hacks to help keep your family on track!
1. Meal Planning/Food Prep
• Start planning on a Friday, that way you can give yourself the weekend to figure out next week’s meals.
• Plan each meal day-by-day and choose a variety of foods. You can name each day with it’s corresponding meal to get your family excited about the familiarity of what’s to come (who doesn’t love a good Taco-Tuesday?!). If you’re feeling fancy, you can rotate the meals in a two-week cycle for more variety for your family. You can even plan a takeout night; it still counts as a “planned” meal.
• Meal plans will save you moolah. Once you know exactly what you’ll be buying, there will be less room for those impulsive buys that tempt us in the grocery aisles. You can focus on your planned items and get out of there in record time!
2. Shopping Habits
• Start with a grocery list. Make sure you have a list of well-balanced items based on the needs of your family.
• The first rule of thumb before hitting the aisles at your local grocery: Shop on a full stomach! Your impulses are no match for a growling stomach. You’ll be more inclined to make better choices when you’re not starving.
• Make sure you opt for whole grains, plenty of fruits and vegetables. The USDA recommends 6-11 servings of grains, 3-5 serving of vegetables and 2-4 serving of fruit daily based on age, gender and activity levels.
• Make sure your family gets their share of vitamins and nutrients from their daily meals. Those essential vitamins include: Calcium, fiber, B12 and other B-vitamins, Vitamins D, E and Iron.
• Try to choose water and low-to-no calorie drink options, as well as low-fat or non-fat milk. Remember that most drinks are empty calories.
3. Eating Habits
• Eat together as a family as often as possible. This not only serves as built-in family bonding time, but it promotes slower eating, which is better for digestion.
• Chew slowly and take your time eating. Our brain takes about 20 minutes to register the chemical reaction our bodies have while eating, so if you’ve eaten a decent portion, wait. Your brain will catch up and your feeling of hunger will subside.
• Cater serving sizes to fit your family size. Try to serve smaller portions, then let your children ask for seconds if they would like. This way, you can also pack them a lunch/snack from leftovers the next day.
4. Breaking the Fast
The phrase “Breakfast is the most important meal of the day” has become somewhat of a cliché. This one, however, still holds very true in our lives. Breakfast is the first time your body receives nourishment in 6-8 hours (if you’re lucky enough to get that many), the longest stretch without food in our 24-hour cycles. The longer you put off breaking that fast, the more food you will eat when you sit down to eat. That’s how “binging” happens, my friends.
• Eating within 2 hours of waking up can impact how levels of glucose and insulin are regulated for the remainder of the day.
• Breakfast can help reduce heart disease. Skipping breakfast can cause overeating, which can lead to high blood pressure and high cholesterol.
• You’ll lose weight by eating more throughout the day. Your metabolism gets a boost from breakfast. When you eat less, your body goes into “hibernation” mode and stores fats longer than necessary.
5. Cheat Day/Meals
Cheat meals are said to psychologically keep you on track to eating healthier on a daily basis. The thought is that by having planned indulgence, we are more likely to resist “temptations” when we know a cheat meal/day is nigh. Make sure self-control and portion size are still at play when deciding on cheat meals. Don’t use a cheat day to excessively overeat or over-feed your family.
6. Get Active!
• Get moving with your family for 30 minutes of physical activity each day. Whether it’s a physical game, morning stretch/yoga or small activities throughout the day— every minute counts!
• Actively clean the house together. This promotes movement in the home while also keeping it nice and tidy!
• Plan playtime as a family: Try to limit TV, computer and video game time; encourage more physical activity instead.
• Walk together around the neighborhood after dinner, if and whenever possible.
Not too bad, right? We hope that this list helps jumpstart healthy lifestyle practices for your family. If you’re already riding the health wave, hopefully this list gives you a few ideas, or even a gentle pat on the back for a job well done. Now, go forth, and thrive! Your family will thank you later.