An Apple A day....

Do you ever feel confused with what to do with your health? Are you anxious to prevent disease but feel like there are too many ways to do it? Or are you just overwhelmed by the mile long row of vitamins that all look like they would work for you?

Every day that we open a magazine, sign onto the internet, or turn on a TV, we are bombarded with someone telling us how to be healthy. Maybe its a website banner for weight loss supplements, a full page print layout for the newest diet plan, an instagram post of a vegan sundae, or a medication commercial educating us on why we may need this newest drug and how much better our lives would be if we took it.  Whatever the media may be, the message remains the same, "In order to be healthy and live a long life, you need to spend a lot of money and follow a complicated plan." 

I have news for you. It doesn't. Good health and long life are within your grasp and you don't need a second mortgage to afford it or a Phd to understand how to obtain it. All you need is a little common sense and an openness to step outside the box.

Sometimes the simplest answer is the best answer and sometimes too much detail is actually too much detail. This couldn't be more true than with health and wellness. Getting back to the basics of what to eat is the true strait path to better health. This is as easy as it sounds. It means you are choosing real whole foods over fake heavily processed foods. It means you are choosing activity instead of sitting around. You are choosing to get to bed early rather than staying up late, and choosing more fruits and vegetables instead of trying to supplement with a powder. It also means you are choosing whole grains instead of cutting out whole food groups. 

In addition to eating simply its important to also cook simply. Instead of needing a complicated recipe that involves 20+ ingredients, you can steam some vegetables, drizzle some olive oil and top with herbs and spices. Or instead of dousing a loin of meat with BBQ you can simply roast it in the oven with nothing more than salt and pepper- actually taste the food for what it is rather than tasting the flavor of the marinade or your dipping sauce. 

​So make your first step easy. No need to stress. Turn the TV off, deactivate the fitness app. Maybe your start is an hour earlier bedtime. Or perhaps you start by adding in an evening walk. Maybe you eat an apple, in fact maybe you eat an apple every day...