Steps to a Healthier Life

STEPS to a HEALTHIER LIFE

1. Pray each morning and ask God to help you make good choices. Pray for “a way out” when you are tempted to eat things you know are not healthy for His temple.
2. Try to eat God’s food, not man’s food. Try to eat grains that have not been genetically modified. Try not to eat fruits and vegetables that have been sprayed with chemicals. It’s best to eat meat that has not been given antibiotics.
3. Try to eat fresh foods when they are in season, from smaller, organic farms. Preserved foods lose much of their nutritional content
4. Make things from scratch or use reputable companies that only use the necessary “real food” ingredients to make their product. When cooking from scratch you can use good flour, not as much sugar, and none of the chemicals, additives and preservatives.
5. Drink plenty of clean water. If you do not want to spend money on bottled water, consider a small, charcoal filtered water pitcher to make your own clean water everyday! It will pay for itself in a matter of weeks.
6. Exercise daily by incorporating more steps into your day. Walk instead of driving places. Use the stairs instead of the elevator. Park further away and walk to your destination.
7. Eat twice as many vegetables than you think you should unless you are a vegetarian. Make sure you are getting plenty of Vitamin D, Essential Fatty Acids, Vitamin C, and all your B’s.
8. Establish a habit of eating breakfast. Incorporate protein.
9. Portion your food. Don’t eat cookies or chips from the bag. Put dinner on the plate and then go back to the kitchen for more if you are hungry, don’t leave the pan in front of you on the table.
10. Know your eating patterns and replace bad patterns with good patterns one at a time. If you snack in front of the television, choose healthy portioned snacks instead of the coke and cookies.
11. When going to parties, bring the desert so that you can eat healthy sweets instead of things that will make you feel bad the next day. A cobbler made from brown rice flour, sweetened with stevia and organic blueberries is a lot better for you than a boxed pie from your neighborhood market. People will appreciate it more too that you were thoughtful enough to make it from scratch.
12. Eat clean fish at least twice a week for the Omega fatty acids. If you are not eating fish, make sure you take supplements.
13. Stay away from high fructose corn syrup, sugar, and sugar alternatives. Use pure Stevia, honey, or pure maple syrup to sweeten if you must. (Sugar contributes so many of today’s chronic illnesses including: arthritis pain, diabetes, tumor growth in cancer, chronic fatigue, ADHD, etc.)
14. Don’t give up. Hang in there!!  You can do it.  Be encouraged because God loves you!

Give careful thought to the paths for your feet
    and be steadfast in all your ways.

Proverbs 4:26