jogging girls
Originally uploaded by lkc45

Cut out all the crap (yes, all)
Go a week without all the extras you usually indulge in. This will allow you to gauge what you miss most and sort out sufficient sized portions to decrease the need to snack on chips & chocolate in between meals. If you still need your snacks, replace the bad stuff with stuff that's less bad. After a week, reintroduce the indulgent foods you really truly enjoy- and reintroduce them in QUALITY & MODERATION. For example, if you love love love your chocolate, that's great, but instead of a family sized dairy milk, try a few blocks of dark chocolate.

Replace indulgent snacks
A big mistake a lot of people make when detoxing, dieting, changing food habits - whatever you would like to call it - is that they try and cut certain meals out all together. If your body is used to having a mid morning snack each day, it's not going to be easy to just skip this mini meal altogether. What should be implemented is recognition of what is a better type of food to have as a snack. Food high in fats, sugars or salts should all be eaten in moderation - so having potato chips every single day is going to have less of a positive effect on your body then say if you were to eat a banana. Try replacing your snacks with some of these healthier options:

Handful of cereal (try Special K, not Fruit Loops)

Piece of fruit or handful of dried fruit (bananas or apricots are a good option)

Sultanas

Crackers (eg. Saltines or Vita Weats) with vegemite

Unsalted Nuts

Greek Yogurt

Strawberries

Start carrying a bottle of water everywhere you go
We all carry enormous carry all style bags with us on a daily basis, don't we? Why not make good use of space and make sure you have a bottle of water with you for when you're on the go. This way you'll think to get into the H20 every time you rummage through your hand bag & this will decrease your chances of allowing your body to get to the point of dehydration and which is really great, because when you're body is dehydrated it can often mistake this for craving food when what it actually requires is a good pint of water. So, more water, less unnecessary snacking - and that's got to be a good thing on the hips & purse, right?

One Wine, One Water, One Wine, One Water
Lets face it, our generation is a generation of binge drinkers. We are straight laced and fabulous career men & women during the week, but come 5pm Friday the cork is popped and the hair is let down for a good 48 hours. This kind of drinking really takes its toll on our bodies and contrary to popular belief, the calories in our beer, wine and cocktails DO count.

Introduce Incidental Exercise Into Your Day
Exercise by accident! You don't necessarily need a gym membership to get a decent workout. General consensus is that we should be working out at least 3 times a week for a minimum of 20 minutes. Ideally we should all be getting active every single day, but so many of us work behind an office desk and spend 8 + hours sitting. So how can we find the time to fit in some exercise?

First of all, forget all your excuses. We are all busy, we are all tired - but if we ignore our bodies, we will all be obese. Plus, exercising can increase energy - combating the very reason you feel you don't want to give it a go. So pull up your schedule and check out your daily routine... Get the bus? Try walking instead. If its too far to walk the entire way, walk half way and then get the bus for the rest of the distance. You need not do it morning and night, just pick one and start today.

Another great incidental exercise for us office dwellers is to make use of the fire exit stairs. It's so simple to say we are in a hurry but how much longer does it take for you to climb a few flights of stairs? (Those of you with offices on the 23rd floor are excused - but you could apply the bus principle - walk half, lift half). And as a bonus, it will give you plenty of 'walking in heels' expertise, which most of us need, right?

Cut the caffeine down
Like any other city worker, I understand there is no better way to start the day then with a deep breath of the aroma of freshly brewed coffee. But let's leave it as a kick start to our days and give our bodies a rest from then on. Our bodies get energy from everything we eat, not just the coffee we chug!! Try a banana smoothie instead.


Alright, over to you- what does your body need right now?