BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE

EASY HEALTHY IDEAS FOR YOUNG ADULTS

You may not be the one responsible for grocery shopping and cooking meals at home but that doesn’t mean you cannot make healthy choices for yourself. Don’t underestimate your ability and your influence. You can be a powerful agent of change for your entire family. First and foremost, by setting a good example!

WHERE TO BEGIN

Start small. Take one healthy habit at a time and keep at it until it becomes a part of your life, and then move on to the next one. These are the most important things you can begin with:

• eat well
• cut down on sugar
• drink plenty of fluids
• take supplements

This will improve your appearance, your health, and your mood. Everyone around you will be forced to take notice of the change in you. And you never know, you may initiate a food revolution in your house!

Making these healthy changes is not as hard as you might think. Let’s start with some simple recipes…

BREAKFAST

A healthy breakfast makes all the difference in the world! I guarantee you, if you have a wholesome breakfast, you will have a better day overall.

Be creative with your breakfast. If you are not a morning person, no problem! Prepare everything the night before and just put it together in the morning. Here is my favorite breakfast…smoothie. I put everything in a container or a sandwich bag the night before (or prep for a few days at a time) and blend it in the morning.

Here are some amazing smoothie recipes…

Recipe 1

Ingredients

• Handful of kale
• 5 pitted dates
• 1 banana
• Chia seeds (you can substitute them with flex or any other seeds)
• 1/3 can of coconut milk
• Just a little bit of water if you don’t want your smoothie too thick

Blend it together in a blender or Nutri Bullet and enjoy!

Recipe 2

Ingredients

• ¾ cup water
• 2 cups pineapple chunks
• handful of grapes (or 1 medium ripe avocado halved and pitted)
• 2 cups spinach

Blend it together in a blender or Nutri Bullet and enjoy!

SNACKS

Eliminating junk food from your diet is a vital healthy lifestyle choice. This means cutting down on cookies, chips, sodas, energy drinks, and candy. So, what are you going to do about snacks?

There are plenty of healthy substitutes. Instead of reaching for a bag of chips, snack on any of these…

• dry fruits
• trail mixes
• nuts like walnuts, pistachio, almonds, hazelnuts
• granola bars
• fruits
• hummus
• homemade vegetable chips
• yogurt

No one said it will be easy. You will miss your sugary, savory snacks initially but trust me…with time these cravings will subside and you will eventually crave the healthy snack. Besides, who said you can’t have junk once in a while? Just don’t make it a norm!

DINING OUT

I know it looks weird if your friends go out to a restaurant and you do not eat. I am not suggesting you can’t or shouldn’t do that but be moderate about it. And every time you eat out, make healthy choices. Choose grilled food over friend food, choose a salad instead of French fries etc.

And make sure you detox regularly.

DETOX

Let’s be realistic. We can’t always eat healthy food. There are times we will eat things that we really shouldn’t. But it’s not the end of the world!

Simply clean up your system. The simplest way to clean out your body in general, and especially after you have unhealthy or processed food is to detox. In simpler words, you will drink delicious fluids to remove any and all toxins from your body.

You can mix and match any of these four ingredients, based on availability and preference:

• mint
• ginger
• cucumber
• lemon.

Making this detox drink is as simple as this…

Fill a pitcher or water bottle with fresh water and throw in a few sprigs of mint and half a lemon cut in thin slices. You can add the other two ingredients as well. (I love to have all four in mine!)

Let it infuse overnight and drink the next day!

This brings us to the last, and one of the most important topics…

FLUIDS

Fluids are the foundation of your wellbeing. Did you know that 50% to 65% of your body is water!

Your body depends on fluids to carry out all of these functions…

• distribute nutrients around your body
• give cells their shape
• maintain body temperature
• lubricate your joints
• manage digestive function
• arid waste from your body through urine

Fun Fact: Your brain is 75% water. When your brain runs low on fluid, it lets you know with a dull headache.

To stay hydrated, you need to replace the fluids you lose through sweating, respiration, and urination. Water also evaporates from your skin to keep you cool. Added together, on a typical day you lose up to 10 cups of fluid. Sweating during exercising or playing sports can double or triple that figure. Also, certain beverages, such as those that contain caffeine, increase fluid loss from the body.

You certainly don’t want to hydrate yourself with soft drinks. Replace soft drinks with coconut water, fresh fruit and vegetable juices, and fruit infused water.

How much do you need to drink each day?

Teens need about 6-11 (8 ounce) glasses a day!

Yes, it sounds a lot, and honestly, initially it is!

I hated drinking water while in school, because I loathe using public restrooms. I suffered because of it in the form of constant migraines and dry skin. They disappeared as soon as I started drinking adequate amount of water.

Start small and remain firm. These lifestyle adjustments may not be easy but I promise you not only will you feel healthier, you will feel happier, more confident, and will truly begin to shine!