What's Holding Us Back?

We all know how hard it is to stay fit nowadays with the endless obstacles in life. Whether it's emails that need to be read to just being too lazy and not wanting to work out, people need to start to get up and move no matter what is going on.

The body you are sitting in right now as you read this is what's keeping you alive. In order to remain alive, you must take care of yourself and that includes keeping up with your hygiene and also staying fit and healthy. If that's not at least a little bit of an inspiration to you, well, we'll work on that. 

Something that holds many people back from exercising in the 21st century are cellphones. These contraptions are so popular and they've become such a necessity in life that wherever you go, almost every single person will have one in their hands. Basically what I'm saying here is people are too busy wasting time on their phones when they can be out on a beautiful walk in the forest and/or enjoying the fresh air outside. 

It's hard to tell people to simply "go out and exercise every 30 minutes every day." As much as this would do for your body, people tend to push that aside and try and get by without putting in a single minute of exercise at all. That's not the way to do it. Others seem to believe that you can exercise for hours on end, come home to eat junk, and still get the body they want. Vise versa is also another issue: you can eat super healthy, rarely exercise, and you'll still get that dream body. 

It's hard to know where to start. For many, a strict trainer started them off on the right track. However, for others, it may have just been cutting off every single sugary item they had and forcing themselves to go on a run until they started seeing the changes they wanted to see. 

Healthy Tips!

ON THE GO!

These type of snacks are tricky. What do I want? Do I want the apple or the cupcake? Right there is a simple, yet popular, comparison we use to define the decision process of picking out a snack to eat.

What people don't realize is that there are so many options on what to make and how to prepare them. There's also so many excuses people use to try and convince themselves why the healthier option just isn't as convenient. Yeah, that's right, I caught you red-handed. I've got some easy pick up 'n grab snacks that are just as convenient as, say, a chocolaty granola bar from a 7/11.

Here are three ways you can come up with easy snacks:

1.) Prepare them prior to your daily outing! It's a lot easier on you if you already have it made and need to leave quickly.

2.) If you don't have time for option one, just simply lay out the ingredients you want to use and make it quickly before you leave. 

3.) Lastly, if you really have no time to make anything at all, start looking into healthier substitutes for things you usually eat when you go shopping. For example, compare peanut butter and almond butter along with a fatty, high sugar granola bar to a high protein, low sugar one.

Here is a very simple recipe that I personally enjoy. It has lots of beneficial nutrients such as potassium, Vitamin A and C, Fiber, etc. 

- ½ a cup of strawberries

- ¼ cup of blueberries

- 2ish leaves of dino kale

- ½ ripe avocado

- 1 large ripe banana

- ¼ cup of Greek yogurt

- ¼- ½ of soy milk depending on the thickness

- 1 handful of ice 

This smoothie comes out to be a greenish-brown color, but that's only because of the added vegetables. To answer your question that is already developing in your head, no, you cannot taste all of the kale and avocado. Those provide many nutrients and are actually considered "super foods." Avocado provides very healthy fats and kale provides many vitamins that help clear up skin and keep the body going strong. 

That's simply one little snack you can make easily. That total process is approximately 10 minutes at most. It only gets to that point if you're totally focused on the measurements as well. 

Here is a little tip:

Keep AWAY from the "reduced fat" labels at all times. Back in the 70's, the food industry thought that the fats in food were the reason for obesity. To solve that issue, they removed a lot of the fat from foods. However, a lot of the flavor in food comes from the fat. So, "how did they maintain the flavor?" might you ask? They replaced the fat that had been removed with sugar. Yeah, that's right, sugar. 

"32 Healthy Store-Bought Snacks." Family Circle. Web. 08 Dec. 2016.

3 Ongoing Popular Food Trends from 2016!

Oatmeal

Breakfast: a difficult meal to create. 

Many people are cramped and don't have enough time to whip up a nutritional breakfast. However, there are many easy ways to create a meal that will last you throughout the day.

A healthy oatmeal:

• steel cut oats
• coconut milk
• nuts
• fruits
• chia seeds

These are only a few options to make your oatmeal fun and delicious!

Quinoa

Quinoa is a protein based rice that is very beneficial for the body. It is also a good source of iron, magnesium, vitamin E, potassium, and fiber. You can put many different kinds of foods inside of quinoa to make it a full meal. For example:

• celery
• tomato
• lean meats: chicken, salmon etc
• tofu
• carrots
• green beans

Acai Bowls

Acai bowls have been quite popular for a few years because of their healthy ingredients. They're a good meal to have throughout the entire day, no matter what time it is. 

They include:

1.) An acai berry from the Amazon is blended up with berries and bananas on the bottom

2.) Add toppings

Toppings:

• bananas
• honey
• chia seeds
• nuts
• fruits