Small
Changes Yield Big Benefits
You can start
today - right now, even - on a road to feeling better,
looking better, living longer and enjoying a far better
quality of life.
We're all familiar with the big steps:
If you smoke, do yourself and those who love you a huge
favor - STOP. It'll be the best, though possibly the
hardest, gift you ever give them.
Nix unhealthy vices such as drinking, speeding, taking
your health and safety for granted, etc.
However many fruits and vegetables you consume, double
that!
Those are the "Big Ones", and I don't have
to tell you how important they are, but this article
is about the "Little Ones". They don't have
the publicity of the larger steps, but they're every
bit as important.
In no particlular order, here are the small steps I'd
love for you to start taking. Ideally, you'll take each
and every step each and every day - but realistically,
you should just aim at doing just as many as you can,
just as often as you can. Let's get to it!
Limit empty calories. You can't cut them out entirely,
but try to ditch as many sodas, doughnuts, cookies,
chips, fries, etc, as you can. Next time you go to your
favorite fast food restaurant (go ahead and admit it,
I've seen you there!), have a salad in place of the
fries and drink tea instead of pop.
Replace eating red meat with chicken or fish at every
opportunity. The steps will be even bigger if you make
sure the chicken or fish is grilled or baked instead
of fried.
If you're trying to lose weight, switch to using artificial
sweetener in your tea and coffee, and switch to a diet
drink. A while back, I began a weight loss regime. I
simply began using the little pink packets in my morning
coffee instead of sugar, and I sweetened my tea with
artificial sweetener instead of the cup of sugar I normally
used. The final switch I made was going from Dr. Pepper
to Diet Dr. Pepper. These are the only changes I made
to my diet, and I quickly lost over 10 pounds. You quickly
get accustomed to (and even begin to prefer!) the diet
drinks and sweetener. I literally can't stand the taste
of regular pop now, something I was once incredibly
addicted to.
Begin walking. Start with a trip around your neighborhood
or a stroll through the park or mall. Heck, even start
with lapping Wal-Mart, just start and start today. Make
your walking a priority and don't allow anything to
interfere with it. You will soon be so hooked on the
"walking buzz" that you won't allow yourself
to miss a single day. When weather or illness prevents
me from walking for a day, I feel crummy, absolutely
crummy!
Small changes can yield very big, glorious results.
My husband once told me that he had shaved stubborn
strokes off of his all-important golf game. I asked
him if he'd gotten new clubs, new balls, changed his
stance or started scoring creatively. He showed me one
tiny little maneuver with the positioning of his hands
- he said it made all the difference in the world. All
he did was change his thumb's stance!
In closing, here's a website I'd like for you to check
out: The Longevity Game. It makes you think - and thinking's
usually a good thing.
Keep checking back to Buttermilk Press.com, we'll be
adding health and fitness related articles at an alarming
pace. Make these changes today and you'll be thankful
tomorrow!
About the Author
Joi Sigers, of Hightide Web Publishing, is a web designer,
web publisher and web editor. Buttermilk Press, Cat
Pause and All Handhelds are a few of Hightide's Publications.
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