Healthy Living Tips and Links

Plant Based Diet
A 100% plant based diet wont be everyone’s cup of tea. But it may be worth you reading up on to make your own informed choice. Perhaps you will simply choose to incorporate more plant based foods into your current meal plans. Canada Food Guide does recommend that we try and consume more plant based proteins. So, if a 100% plant based diet isn’t right for you perhas

Meal Planning
I love to cook but I get bored of plain recipes. I have recently started using this app to help me meal plan and it’s amazing. When planning plant based meals it can be challenging to learn what to do with all the vegetables, and challenging to get bold flavors. This app sure helped me with that.

www.forkoverknives.com

Are you getting the essentials?
Often we forget to take our vitamins, or drink enough water throughout the day. It can be helpful to have an app that keeps us mindful of the things we need to include in our daily diet. The following app has worked very well for me.

You can find this app on the Playstore – Dr. Greger’s Daily Dozen

How much water is enough? BC Health recommends that we drink 6 to 8 (250ml) 8 oz glasses of water per day.

Canada’s Food Guide
In 2019 Canada’s Food Guide came out, and it shocked many. It no longer recommended ANY dairy products whatsoever, and it encouraged people to eat more plant based proteins.

https://food-guide.canada.ca/en/

Grocery Shopping and making the list
My best tips for busy households is do the online grocery shopping and either pick them up or have them delivered. If you have time to do the shopping great. But if it becomes a task you dread or you rush through and may not make the best choices, then consider online ordering.

I also find the www.forkoverknives.com app amazing for it’s ability to create my shopping list based on the recipes I choose. I’m sure other meal prep sites may have this option as well. Find ways to make the tasks of getting healthy food to the table simpler.

Trying to eat healthy with a family
There is no doubt that changing your eating habits is easier when you are just feeding yourself. But, when you are also feeding other family members it can feel near impossible. I found talking honestly with my spouse and children about why I needed to make a change to my eating habits got them on board immediately. If you are in a supportive environment then those around you should want to help you succeed at feeling better.

If you are looking at modifying your diet then there’s a reason for it. And whatever that reason is it matters, and should matter to those around you. Whether it’s to diminish pain, to loose weight, to lower cholesterol. Involve your family in being part of your support system.

Muscle mass decreases
Did you know that after taking just 2-3 weeks off of working out you start to loose muscle strength! You will be able to reach your peak fitness levels faster after a break, than when they first began training. But, still best to try and not loose it to start with.

Cardio/Aerobic Fitness Decreases
Your Cardio Fitness starts to decrease much faster than muscle mass and strength does. Within just a few days of not doing cardio you can see a drop in your cardio fitness level. So if you take a week off and think you are panting harder when you start back up, you aren’t imagining it.

Bone Density
If you google “how to increase bone density” within the top 3 responses will always be “perform strength training or weight bearing exercises”

Joint Hypermobility
If you google “how to improve joint hypermobility” your top responses will state, do exercises to strengthen the muscles around the joint. The key is to do the exercises regularly, cautiously and with little or no weight to start.

HDL vs LDL – Cholesterol
Drs often talk to you about your LDL which is your bad cholesterol, but not so often about HDL. HDL is your good cholesterol, and moderate physical activity can increase your HDL. When your HDL goes up your total cholesterol level goes down. In addition, the more you exercise the more your body will expel LDL.

How much activity do you need?
Children 5-17 should have 60 mins per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity.

Adults 18-65 should accumulate 150 mins per week of moderate to vigorous aerobic activity, in latest 10 mins intervals. That’s only 21 mins per day. However, many don’t achieve this.

Canadian Physical Activity Guidelines