4 Easy Daily Health Habits

In theory I wasn't going to set any specific resolutions this year, other than to be mindful of how I spend my time. Then I came across Healthy Habits for the New Year, written by Food Babe, and decided #1, 3, and 4 seemed easy enough for me to actually stick to. And so far I've done all 4 of these habits (almost) every day since the new year. I know we're not that far into the year, but considering my track record with resolutions, that's a pretty big deal for me. 

#1 - Drink Warm Lemon Cayenne Water Every Morning

Seems like a lot of benefits for very little effort, doesn't it? These benefits are all listed in Food Babe's post, and I'm trusting her on this, because aside from Pinterest I haven't done a ton of research on the subject. As soon as I wake up in the morning I make myself a warm mug of water, squeeze in half a lemon, and a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. Food babe didn't give measurements, so I just eyeball the pepper until there's a thin film on top of the water. Then I stir it all together, drink it up while I'm making Ez his breakfast, and wait 30 minutes before I eat anything. Simple! And it doesn't taste as awful as I thought it would. It also clears my sinuses, so maybe that should be listed as a benefit as well.

#2 - Fast at Least 12 Hours Every Day

Twelve hours sounds like a long time, but this one is actually pretty easy since you're already fasting for at least 8 hours while you're sleeping anyway. Being pregnant, I thought this one would be the hardest for me, but it's really no big deal at all. We usually finish eating dinner by 8 pm, I wake up around 7/7:30 when Ez does, drink my lemon cayenne water, wait 30 minutes, and it's already been 12 hours.

According to Food Babe, it takes at least 8 hours to fully digest a day's worth of food, and then only after all the food is digested does your body start getting rid of dead cells and regenerating news cells. As an added bonus you start burning stored up fat - which happens only after your body has used up all of it's stored glucose. Two pretty big benefits right there.

#3 - Drink a Green Drink Every Day

This habit is really just about getting an extra serving of veggies into your day. I'm not a juicer. Fresh pressed juice is expensive, and I don't want to buy a juicer because I hear it takes a ton of fruit/veggies to make a single glass of juice, and then you have all the leftover bits of the veggies to clean up. Smoothies, on the other hand, are delicious and relatively cheap to make at home. Plus, Ez loves them so much, so he and I are both benefiting from this habit. 

Here's our current fave smoothie recipe, which I'll call a Cold-Busting Tropical Smoothie:

- 2-3 large handfuls of spinach

- 1 banana

- 3-4 fresh pineapple spears

- 2 large spoonfuls of plain Greek yogurt

- 1 tbsp of flaxseed

- enough Trop50 orange juice to blend it all up at your desired consistency

(can you tell I'm not big on measurements??)

This makes about two servings, and Ez usually gulps his down without pausing to breathe.

#4 - Walk 3 Miles Everyday

This isn't one of Food Babe's goals, but I think it's important to get some activity everyday, especially since I'm pregnant. The official goal for weight loss/maintenance is to walk 5 miles everyday, and I do often walk that far, but 3 is my easy minimum that I shoot for daily. A few times a week Ez and I will walk about 2.5 miles around our neighborhood, and most days I walk anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour on the treadmill while Ez is napping. I definitely have to make this a priority in order for it to get done, but now that it's become a habit it's really easy. I don't have a fancy pedometer or anything, I just use Map My Walk to keep track of outdoor walks. Ez needs to get outside and run around the park anyway, so it's not a big deal for me to walk him there instead of driving. 

So those are the 4 healthy goals I've actually stuck with since the New Year. An extra goal that I've been trying to remember to do (and slipping up a lot) is to drink my 8 glasses of water each day. I have the big, reusable water glasses that I fill up each day, but somehow I still often only get to 6 or 7. I'll keep working on that one!

Any easy health resolutions you've added to your routine this year?