Are you struggling to get healthy? Do you find yourself trying to eat right and exercise but get derailed easily? If that’s you, don’t worry, you’re not alone! Starting a new healthy lifestyle journey should be taken with baby steps because getting fit and losing weight doesn’t happen overnight!
The goal to bettering your health isn’t always about shrinking your jean size, although that is a great side-effect! Lowering blood pressure numbers, eliminating medications and preventing heart disease and type 2 diabetes are just a few reasons to get healthy and take control of your life and your body!
Eliminating junk food, refined sugars and processed foods is the best place to start! Then, adding in small doses of cardiovascular and light weight exercises can really help your body and your mind!
The benefits of eating right and exercising out-weigh any fad diet known to man. If the idea of tossing out all of your junk food and sweets from your pantry, giving up soda pop and eating out less sounds daunting or overwhelming, don’t fret!
Here are just a few benefits of choosing to live a healthier lifestyle, and how eating healthy and exercising daily can improve your mind and your body!
Improved Sleep:
Cutting out refined carbs, processed and sugary foods can improve more than just your waistline. When you eat an excess amount of refined carbs and sugars (think: white breads, pastas, rice, breakfast cereals and desserts) they can drastically hinder your sleep pattern. You’re more likely to wake up in the middle of the night from a deep sleep when you’ve consumed too much sugar and the processed junk.
However, choosing whole grains, whole fruits and veggies and drinking plenty of water, your sleep pattern can improve significantly!
Also, adding a daily exercise routine will help you sleep better at night. Not only will you get a great sweat and calorie burn in for the day, your workout will tire out your body, which leads to an earlier bedtime and a better nights’ rest!
Less Stress:
Stress is an inevitable part of life. We all stress about something, some more than others. Seven out of ten adults in the United States say they experience stress or anxiety daily, and most say it interferes at least moderately with their lives, according to the most recent ADAA survey on stress and anxiety disorders.
Just like the lack of sleep can affect your weight, so can the amount of stress in your life. Cortisol is a hormone released when stress is elevated. Do you get hungry when you’re stressed or want to eat sweet, unhealthy things? That’s because Cortisol also stimulates your appetite, thus causing a “pig-out” session when your stress level rises. Sorry to say ladies, the want to eat when stressed-out is more common in women.
Exercise is a known stress reliever. The endorphins released when exercising give you that happy, all-over good feeling! If you’re feeling the stress rise take a long walk or run, go to the gym or do an exercise you love to clear your mind, get your heart rate up and get your body on track!
Hormone Balance:
If you’re seeing your doctor more than you would like, the improvement of a better diet and exercise program may be your “magic pill!”
Dr. Sara Gottfried MD and NY Times best-selling author of The Hormone Cure, The Hormone Diet and Younger says “when it comes to burning more calories than you consume, this so-called weight loss equation only applies to perfect hormonal specimens; people who have their cortisol, thyroid, insulin, estrogen and testosterone in perfect balance. Ironically, these are rarely the people who need to drop a few pounds.”
Gottfried goes on to say “one of the great things about weight loss and hormone balance is that they go hand in hand. Just as hormone balance can lead to weight loss, losing a few pounds can help bring your hormones back into their optimal levels.”
Hormones can get a bad rap but keeping them in check with your doctor is important for a healthy lifestyle. Wouldn’t you rather have 4G service than just a few bars?
Improved Mood:
With improved sleep and less stress how could you not be happy all the time?? Oh yeah, life happens. Again, the excess consumption of simple carbs (remember white bread, pastas, rice and sugar) can really do more harm to your body and mind than you think. When you drive your car, I’m pretty sure you make it a point NOT to crash into other vehicles, buildings...you get the idea, right? So why would you want to fill your body with food that will ultimately make you crash before the day is over?
Eating sugary foods will always give you that mid-day slump and the hangry feeling that can occur when you’re eating un-filling simple carbohydrates. However, when you fuel your body with foods rich in fiber and whole grains, all the while drinking plenty of water, your mood can greatly improve! Additionally, the increased energy from eating healthy, exercising and losing weight, your mindset will adjust accordingly!
Less Aches and Pains:
Excess weight can put additional force on your bones and joints, thus hindering your ability to exercise or even complete daily tasks at home or work.
When you gain weight, your body does not adjust to accommodate the excess pounds. It simply cannot provide the support it needs to function properly, hence the joint aches and pains.
A study shown in the 2005 Arthritis & Rheumatism article states "that each pound of weight lost will result in a 4-fold reduction in the load exerted on the knee per step during daily activities. Accumulated over thousands of steps per day, a reduction of this magnitude would appear to be clinically meaningful."
If you’re suffering from knee or joint pain, here are some great exercises and stretches to do at home or in the office to help alleviate the pain!
Now What?
What are you waiting for? There is no better time like the present to take control of your health and your life and move towards a healthier way of living!
If you are ready to transition to a healthy lifestyle or if you are still struggling on your new lifestyle journey it’s ok to enlist the help of professionals! Taking advantage of Express Weight Loss Clinic in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle is a great way to get the results you want and to see success!
Contact your local office, or better yet, make an E-Visit appointment online from your own home to speak to a licensed clinician!
Express Weight Loss Clinic of Tyler
903-592-5670
4293 Kinsey Drive
Tyler, TX 75703
Express Weight Loss Clinic of Plano
469-786-1751
230 W Parker Rd, Ste 100
Plano, TX 75075