Take a Walk After Dinner

We often want to relax and be lazy in the evenings, especially after a long day of work and a meal. Help increase your steps this week by taking a walk after dinner. It does not need to be a race walk, just increase your overall steps by planning to walk one mile after dinner each night this week. Remember 1 mile is equal to 2,000 steps. So strap on the pedometer and get moving.

Throw Out Your Scale

Being healthy means having healthy lifestyle behaviors and habits. It is not necessarily related to the weight on the scale. Limit weighing yourself to no more than once a week at max. Focus on making healthy lifestyle choices to make improvements in your overall health. Weight loss is often one of the many benefits of making healthy lifestyle choices. If you need help in making better lifestyle choices, consider meeting with a Registered Dietitian or Wellness Coach. Contact the Wellness Institute at 375-8153 for more information on the programs available.

Maximize T.V. Time

Get active while watching T.V. Instead of sitting on the couch for your favorite show, walk in place or do some strength training exercises with light weights or an xertube. Or place your cardio equipment in front of the T.V. Want to mix it up a little? Strength train during the show and do cardio bursts during the commercials. Cardio bursts can include simple steps such as walking in place or step it up a little with jumping jacks, jump rope, mountain climbers, running in place, skiing in place or venture to the stairs (if you have them). This is a great way to be active without having to miss your favorite show.

Plan for 2-3 No Meat Main dishes this week

Eating no meat main dishes does not mean you are becoming a vegetarian. Look at it as becoming more health conscious. Decreasing your meat intake will help decrease the amount of saturated fat and cholesterol in your diet and increase your intake of vitamin packed vegetables. Check out this week’s Healthy Bites recipe and the lakehealth.org website for additional meat alternative recipe ideas.