Christmas and New Year have come and gone and most of us have probably done it again – we’ve likely been eating foods that are laden down with sugar and additives and consuming more alcohol or fizzy drinks than we would throughout the rest of the year. We feel sluggish and stare at our post-Christmas bulge wondering how it got there!
The thought of a detox crosses our minds but we rarely let that thought go any further.
When you need a quick fix in order to get started with feeling good and healthy; there’s only one thing for it – visit Nuts & Grains in Mullingar to help you create the “new you”.
While it is admirable to set goals to achieve better health, we also need to check with ourselves as to how realistic these goals are? Research shows that the average time we can stick to a “diet” is around five weeks. The old unhealthy habits then start to sneak back in to our lives. Going “on a detox” for a week is not really going to help us achieve long-term health goals. We have to approach things from a holistic long-term perspective.
Little By Little
The key is to focus on one or two healthy changes at a time and apply them consistently until we don’t need to think about them. These small new changes become normal habits and without realising it, willpower is not a necessity anymore for you. You’ve achieved your goals just by these small, gradual lifestyle changes.
Set yourself only one or two healthy habits and then practice them consistently for two to four weeks, until they ‘stick’, before adding another. By the end of a year, you will have made at least twelve changes that are now part of your normal routine.
Some suggestions are:
• Add in one or two different colours fruit or vegetables per day (red, orange, green, yellow and purple) as each colour has different beneficial effects. Particularly important fruits and vegetables include green leafy vegetables, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, onions, garlic, citrus fruit, asparagus and berries.
• Drink diluted apple cider vinegar once or twice a day before meals.
• Swap a bar of chocolate for a handful of unsalted mixed nuts.
• Add a fermented food to your normal diet such as kefir, kimchi, kombucha, miso, sauerkraut or sourdough bread.
Nuts & Grains is located at Chapterhouse, Friars Mill Rd, Mullingar. Call in for a chat to see how they can support you (and your digestive system) in making the small changes to help you achieve your long term health goals. You can also visit their website nutsandgrains.ie or telephone them on 044-9345988 for more information.
