10 Top Tips for a Healthier Lifestyle

Tip 1: WALK IT

Walking is in my top 3 favourite exercises, and you should never underestimate how powerful walking is. This natural low-impact exercise helps to keep your heart strong. Try this in your lunch hour: just grab your coat and head out and walk as far as you can for 10 minutes, then turn around and walk back. Hey presto, that is 20 minutes, and you still have 40 minutes left to enjoy your lunch.

 Tip 2: DITCH THE SALT

So many foods are already full of salt, and too much salt in your diet is bad for your heart, and can increase your blood pressure. So swap salt for herbs and spices. This way you can still sprinkle on flavour to your food. One seasoning that I like to use myself is dried coriander with pink peppercorns and a little drizzle of lime.

Tip 3: BE A FIDGET

Every 20 minutes be active, especially if you are seated at a desk, as sitting for long periods slows your metabolic rate down, so you end up storing more calories. So if you can every 20 minutes take a quick break from sitting down, even if you just go and get a glass of water as this helps keep your metabolic rate raised. 

Tip 4:  SMOOTHIE SQUAD

Smoothies are a great way to ensure you are getting your vitamins, so try this nutritious green smoothie recipe of mine:

INGREDIENTS

1 ripe banana

1 cup fresh spinach leaves

1/2 cup cucumber, chopped

1/2 cup pineapple chunks (fresh or frozen)

1/2 cup almond milk (or any milk of your choice)

1 tablespoon chia seeds (optional)

Ice cubes (optional)

METHOD

Peel the banana and break it into chunks.

In a blender, combine the banana, spinach leaves, cucumber, pineapple chunks, almond milk, and chia seeds (if using).

Blend on high speed until all the ingredients are well combined and the smoothie has a creamy consistency. If desired, add some ice cubes for a cooler temperature and blend again until smooth.

Taste the smoothie and adjust the sweetness or thickness by adding more banana or almond milk as needed.

Pour the green smoothie into a glass and serve immediately.

Tip 5:  REWARD SHOPPING

Each month set out your weekly fitness goals, which could be as simple as walking 20 minutes every day. Then at the end of the month, if you have achieved this, buy yourself a healthy gift .

Tip 6: JUST ADD FISH

Fish is an excellent source of omega-3 fats which can help to protect your heart, so aim to have a fish dish twice a week. This one of mine here is a double treat for your heart, as it has both salmon and beetroot: simply take some cooked salmon and add some rocket, goat’s cheese and cooked beetroot.

 Tip 7: BE A SLEEPING BEAUTY

Sleeping is important, as this is when our body heals itself, and if we don’t get enough sleep, we simply don’t function on all cylinders the next day, and we slow our calorie burn down, so we can easily end up gaining weight, and then we can become more stressed, leading to a potentially vicious circle. A good 7- 8 hours should help keep you in shape and less stressed.

Tip 8: BE YOUR OWN CHAMPION

There is no easier way to get fit than to sign up to a charity event. This gives you the motivation, and then also the reward, and an uplifting feeling of knowing what you have achieved, so enter some sort of charity event as this keeps you on track with your healthy lifestyle and you then get your own medal for taking care of your heart and you.

 Tip 9: KNOWLEDGE IS POWER

Swap watching an hour of telly for learning online about how to live a healthier life. With Google and Youtube you can find the answer to everything, so get googling and start finding some healthy heart-friendly recipes.

 Tip 10: FRONT ROOM GYM

So if you want to get fit at home and not have to join a gym, then simply click here and you will instantly have access to over 800 free home fitness workout videos of mine, so  no excuse you can get fit at home for free.