I Eat These Fruits and Veg Every Day to Maintain my Healthy Lifestyle
I’ve been maintaining a healthy weight for three years, and often, I get asked How do you keep off the weight? I’m here to let you in on my strategy. You won’t need to buckle your seat belt, or tighten your shoelaces, or hold on to your hat, because what I have to say isn’t an earth shattering revelation.
And I must be open about this, I am no expert, I’m not a nutritionist or fitness training professional. This is strictly based on my own experience. This is what has worked for me.
Here are my 4 simple steps to maintaining a healthy weight and/or lifestyle:
- What do you Eat? I eat a lot of things. I don’t hold to any special diet or food combinations, or time restraints. I eat whatever, whenever, however. But, moderation and portion control are key. I will not joke about that. You cannot eat everything you want to eat all at one sitting! Balance, always balance. Is there something special you like to eat that might not be on the dean’s list of healthy food items? Great, balance it with a healthy food item. I like to practice mindful eating. Keep aware and limit yourself. Sure, this takes practice and discipline, but it can be done. Here are some examples of what I eat in a week: 1 apple, 1 Cutie, 1/4 of a cucumber, sliced in wedges, 3 baby peppers, sliced, 1/2-1 cup of baby carrots (this is every day) Greek Yogurt with granola (a couple tablespoons) topped with honey, eggs, string cheese, peanut butter, sliced deli turkey, gluten-free bread (one small slice, but sometimes two!) protein dairy shake (like Premier Protein) nuts (peanut and almonds) tuna, salad greens, lean meats such as chicken, fish, pork, lean cuts of beef such as sirloin, any and all vegetables, quinoa, Jasmine rice, potatoes. All right, so this list could go on forever, but that is a basic run down of what I like to eat. I will stress that I eat an apple, cutie, cucumber, carrots, peppers (see photograph above) every single day. This helps remind me to get in my vegetable requirement for the day. Next!
- What Kind of Exercise Do you Like? I don’t like to sit a lot, I get stiff, I start walking around like I’m about 90 years old, and it sort of resembles how a crab crawls. I don’t like to do it! So moving around is really important. I do cardio, I won’t lie. Maintaining a cute figure can be tough, but it’s worth it! I like walking, I run/jog. Sometimes I do intervals where I jog slowly (you won’t believe how slow!) then fast, or walk a minute and run five minutes. Sometimes it’s just a quick run of 2-3 miles. I cannot leave out strength training exercises. So I mix it up, two days of focusing on the upper body and two days of focusing on the lower body. I’ve taken a lot of time with this, studying various techniques and forms and fitting them into my schedule. and then applying the suggested exercise into what I can easily accomplish. I’ve compiled a list of great exercises and routines, but all of it came about over time. My advice is to take your time, know what you can do and how long you can implement it into your lifestyle. Everyone is different, so make your routine work for you, and make it fun! Fun is key! Otherwise, you probably won’t enjoy it and you won’t stick to it. At the bottom of this page I’ll list some YouTube channels I personally subscribe to. But, there are loads of channels out there and something may be better for you than what I do.
- Hydrate, always hydrate. I drink water, but I actually like water. Some people don’t. So I can understand why hydration is a challenge. I have to actively remind myself to drink water. For some reason it just isn’t easy. It might surprise you to learn that you are probably not even drinking enough water. The eight glasses a day rule just does not apply to every one. There are many factors to consider. For instance, if you exercise, you might need more water, if you are on medication, if you are pregnant, or the change of season. Just a note on water, you can get water from fruits and vegetables too! Here’s a simple calculation that I learned on WW : If you are younger than 30 multiply your weight (in lbs) by 0.642, if you are 30-55 years multiply your weight (in lbs) by 0.56, and if you are older than 55 multiply your weight (in lbs) by 0.481. See? Easy peasy!
- Move, move, move. I move so much more than I use to. As the saying goes You can’t outrun the fork. Even though I get in 20-30 minutes of cardio (sometimes longer) I can eat more than my fair share of any calories I burned. Any extra movement or even standing, is going to help in that area. To improve your moving around set a timer that goes off at an interval you deem suitable to remind yourself to stand up and move around. I love to dance around my house, and my favorite room is the kitchen. We call it Kitchen Dancing. Find what movements you can do and get started!
YouTube Channels I subscribe to: Blogilates, Athleanx.com, Erin Stern, Fabulous50s. Worth checking out. And remember, I pick and choose what I like, what I can do, and how much time I’m willing to put into it.
One reminder: be very careful when choosing a diet regime, or exercise program. When strength training learn good form, it is the foundation of every move. Moderation is the key! You don’t want to break your body down as your trying to build it up. Accidents can happen, so please be careful and stay safe!
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April Voytko Kempler is the author of The Altered I: Memoir of Holocaust Survivor Joseph Kempler available on Amazon in print and ebook and Barnes and Noble in print format, and anywhere books are sold.
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