Five Healthy Changes I Have Made

1. Drink More Water: I honestly feel better when I drink more water. I have a 32 oz water bottle that I keep with me at work, bring with me on errands, take to the barn and keep by my side at home on the weekend. I fill up the water bottle at least 3 times a day.

2. Cook at Home: I have been using Hello Fresh to cook at home more often. I am going to be limiting my Hello Fresh deliveries now for budget purposes (stay tuned for this post), but I feel like these last 5 weeks or so of using Hello Fresh have helped me jumpstart my cooking at home journey. A really simple dinner I have been making is eggs with either a side of toast or banana with peanut butter. I have also been eating breakfast at home more often. Eating a bowl of cereal before work helps to make sure I don’t grab something bad for me once I get to work. My favorite cereals right now are Special K Red Berries and Honey Bunch of Oats.

3. Walking: This is a huge one for me. I ride 2 times a week, but I wasn’t feeling like I was being active enough. I started walking 2 weeks ago and now I crave the walk. I walk on the days I don’t ride and usually do about 40 minutes to an hour. This week I took two days off due to rain, but tomorrow I am hoping to get back on the path!

4. Portions: Before I started my healthier journey, I was extremely impressed for one of my friends for their portion control. My supervisor is a great baker and brings cupcakes to work a couple times a month. My friend has always been good at having only half of the cupcake. If someone brought in doughnuts she would always ask if someone wanted to split a doughnut with her. When I started trying to pay for attention to being healthier, I knew I wanted to implement the portion control that I have been witnessing. This has been a game changer for me. When I have dieted in the past, I always thought I had to completely eliminate sweets. I would abstain from eating sweets for a couple weeks then as soon as I would have even the smallest bite of any kind of dessert there was no going back. I would start eating everything in sight. The portion control route is so much better. I don’t eat sweets every day and when I do, I make sure I only eat a small amount.

5. Snacks: I’ve been focusing on listening to my appetite, eating only when I feel truly hungry. Having healthier snacks available has helped because now when I am hungry, I can grab something healthy. Some bars that I have been enjoying are the apple cinnamon fig bars and the chocolate raspberry RX bars. Other snacks that have helped me to curb my sweet tooth cravings are bananas or apples with peanut butter and popcorn with a handful of Midnight Double Feature trail mix from Whole Foods. This trail mix has mini dark chocolate peanut butter cups in it and is so good with popcorn.