Little Steps for a Long Life

I’ve got some exciting news!!!

On June 6th and 7th, I’ll be attending the Food for Your Whole Life Symposium in New York City as a media blogger with my FaVe four fabulous nutrition bloggers–Janel, Jessica, Lindsey, and Elizabeth. This rocking event will dish the latest research on age-based nutrition for optimal health. And features health guru Dr. Oz, along with other renowned health experts, including Mollie Katzen, Michael Roizen, David Katz, Roger Clemens (not the pitcher), Karen Collins RD, Keri Gans RD, James Joseph, Petra Kolber, Joan Sabate, Brian Wansink, and Elisa Zied RD.

From now until June, each of us nutrition ladies will be posting on topics to make a healthier you—inside and out! Take a peek at what’s already been written here. My first post is on steps to making your time on Mother Earth longer and better. Here we go … ENJOY!!!

Little Steps for a Long Life

By Corinne Dobbas, BS, of Green Grapes Blog

We all want to live a long life. But, let’s be real, we want more than just that. We want our time on Mother Earth to be invigorating, energizing, and rejuvenating.

Now, there’s no one trick—or pill for that matter—to achieving this ideal state of being. However, there are little things along the way that can help you get there. And, if you haven’t guessed yet, those “little things” all revolve around living a healthy lifestyle. Because honestly, there’s no way you’re going to feel invigorated, energized, or rejuvenated if you’ve been staring at a screen all day, noshing nightly at the local Mickey D’s, going days without your fruit and veggie friends, sleeping four hours a night, or going waterless for hours at a time.

You see where I’m going with this? It’s our day-to-day actions that add up, and eventually form a lifestyle. And it’s when that lifestyle is full of healthifying behaviors that you’re heading in the direction of longevity. WooT! WooT! I don’t know about you, but that’s a direction I’d like to head in!!!

SO…Let’s take a peek at some healthifying behaviors, shall we? Great! Here we go! Eating more fruits and veggies, switching to 100% whole grain products, dedicating seven hours of your day to sleep, eating more home-cooked meals, breaking a daily sweat, and downing more H20! These ALL top the healthy lifestyle 101 list. However, just because they’re the renowned chart toppers doesn’t mean that everyone’s doing them. So—let’s move in that proactive direction!

Grab a pen and paper…

Taking the First Little Step

• Write down one thing you plan on doing to become healthier, and make sure it is a S.M.A.R.T. goal
  • S—Specific. Define your goal well. For example, “After work, I will walk 45 minutes three times per week around my neighborhood from this date forward.”
  • M—Measurable. Set a goal that is measureable in some way. You want to be able to assess your progress. Not “I will eat more veggies,” but “I will eat at least 3 servings of veggies from today on.”
  • A—Achievable. Make sure your goal is humanly possible! And reasonable for you! If you’ve never run a day in your life, your goal should not be “to run a marathon next week.” Instead try, “By the end of this year, I want to complete my first half marathon.”
  • R—Relevant. Create a goal that’s important to you and that you’re confident you can achieve. This will allow you to get the job done and will set you up for success. Ask yourself on a scale of 1 to 10 (10 being the highest level) where your goals falls. If your goal isn’t at least a seven in importance AND a seven in confidence that you can achieve it, modify or change your goal so it hits a seven in both categories, allowing for success!
  • T—Timely. Give yourself a time frame to accomplish the goal. If your goal is to “replace sandwich bread with 100% whole-wheat bread each day starting today,” your time frame would be daily, from this day forth. If your goal is “to lose 10 pounds,” shoot for a realistic achievable time frame, such as 2 ½ months (about a pound per week).

Little Steps do Equal Success

Remember, nothing happens overnight. Just start small. The first step is choosing one S.M.A.R.T. goal and then choosing another. And before you know it, you’ll be walking along that healthy lifestyle path with some extra pep in your step, inching your way to a more zestful day … and longer life!

Happy Healthifying!

P.S. Want a FaB prawn recipe? Check out my Prawn Veggie Orange Delight on Skinny in the City HERE