What’s not to love about SPRINGTIME?

We all enjoy birds singing and tulips sprouting in the garden.  As the days get longer and brighter, it only follows that we are inclined to clean out our closets, and even our pantries.  But to truly reap the benefits of spring, we can also ‘spring clean’ our fitness and nutrition.

Cleanse our Body from Chemicals

The first step to a clean our body is to cleanse and support our digestive system.

Forever Living Products offers amazing product called Clean 9 (Vanilla #324 or Chocolate #325), which consists of a nine day program preparing the way for a cleaner, healthier, happier individual.  The healthy diet includes drinking aloe vera gel and natural diet capsules to help us stay healthy. Forever Clean 9 is designed to cleanse the body of unnatural chemicals. All we need is the desire and motivation to follow this program.  By staying committed to completing this program we can develop lifelong habits which are good to manage and will improve our overall health.

It is not uncommon to lose 12 pounds in just 9 days.

Fine-Tune Our Fitness Regimen

Spring is the perfect time to add outdoor activities to our fitness routine.  We can start by run-walking for 30 minutes each morning before work.  Let’s take this opportunity to explore a new trail or route in our neighborhood as the weather warms up.

According to researchers at the Bloomberg University it can also be especially motivational to have a trainer, instructor, or buddy who gives us positive feedback.

Renew Our Approach to Nutrition

If we fall into the ‘unhealthy foods on the go’ category, a simple spring cleaning change would be to schedule in a weekly trip to the market for fresh foods.  Let’s set aside an hour for shopping, and an hour for preparing and packaging the food so that we can take them with us during our busy week.

Is we already eat a healthy diet, but rely on the same key foods every day, let’s vary our choices by including 3-4 colors at each meal.  Let’s trade oranges for kiwi or iceberg for arugula.  If we are bored with the foods we eat, we may be more tempted to eat non-healthy foods and splurge on empty calories.  Instead, let’s buy a variety of colorful fresh fruits and vegetables.  Let’s add legumes and nuts to our diet.  When we are thirsty, let’s opt for a refreshing and rejuvenating drink like Forever Pomegranate Power #262, which has a great tasting blend of a unique mix of fruit juices and extracts, including Pomegranate, Pear, Mangosteen, Raspberry, Blackberry, Blueberry and Grape Seed.

Let’s Clean Out Our Fridge and Pantry

This spring, let’s determine to make our household healthier by cleaning out our fridge and pantry.

• First step: remove any ingredients that contain hydrogenated or trans fats.  These are two ingredients that have been proven to undermine good health.
• Next: remove all items that are beyond or nearing the expiration date
• Then: move any high-calorie, high-fat, or sugary treats to an isolated area far from the healthier foods.  These snacks should be eaten in moderation, so locate them in a hard-to reach area so they are not as accessible.
• Finally: do a major shopping trip to stock the pantry with the essentials.  Here are some healthy staples that no kitchen should be without: Barley * Beans * Broths * Canned or frozen vegetables * Canned salmon or tuna * Cereal * Cornmeal * Couscous * Crackers (whole grain) * Dried fruits * Nuts * Pasta sauce * Peanut butter * Rice (whole grain) * Rolled oats * Seeds * Spices and herbs * Sun-dried tomatoes * Tomatoes, tomato sauce, tomato sauce * Vegetable oil cooking spray * Wheat germ * Whole wheat flour.

Once our healthy foods are handy we will be able to re-focus our diet on fresh, wholesome fare.