I think it’s safe to say that most of us are capable of making better daily decisions when it comes to improving our overall health. 

It’s all about daily habits…

Once a habit becomes deeply embedded it’s very difficult to change. For example the longer we don’t go to the gym the harder it feels to start. 

But the longer we sustain a habit, and the more we notice the positive benefits from our new behaviour, the more likely we are to keep doing it in our daily lives. 

The key is making small, sustainable changes, ones that don’t drastically alter your life but over time make a huge difference. 

In this post the aim isn’t to do a drastic transformation – but to instead look at some common unhealthy habits, and replace them with healthier alternatives…

#1 Swap the Cigarettes… 

In the UK more than 120,000 people die each year from diseases caused by smoking. We all know that smoking kills and seriously damages health. I’m not here to lecture you! But there are healthier alternatives that can lead to quitting in the long term, one of the most popular is vaping.  Not only will you reduce the damage done to your health, but your bank balance will thank you for it too!

#2 Increase your Walking by 20 minutes per day…

Something I do with my 1-1 personal training clients is get them to do an extra 20 minutes of walking per day. One of the most popular ways to do this is to park your car 10 minutes further away from work. Other great options include taking a walk on your lunch break or factoring in a long weekend walk. You can burn anything from 300-400 calories per hour.

#3 Grab A Protein Bar….

Who doesn’t like chocolate? There’s nothing better than tucking into a creamy bar of milk chocolate after a long day at work. The trouble is that most chocolate bars contain a whopping number of carbs and calories – too many calories leads to weight gain! 

One of the best ways to keep chocolate in your diet without feeling guilty is switch your regular chocolate for a protein bar instead. For example Grenade Carb Killa bars only contain 215 calories, and 13.5g of carbs, compared to a Snickers bar which contains 230 calories and a whopping 30g of carbs! Carb Killa bars are also extremely tasty!

#4 Alcohol Choices 

For many adults alcohol is a popular weekly choice. For example a Friday night down at the pub, or a bottle of wine whilst dinning with friends. Although alcohol can definitely fit into your weekly routine without having a negative effect on health – the devil is in the dose!

Binge drinking (although perhaps ok once in a while) can cause devastating effects to hormones, lead to depression and weight gain. 

In terms of mitigating weight gain when choosing alcohol try and select alcoholic drinks that contain less calories…

Wine (1 glass) 

• Red Wine (250ml) = 214 cals
• White Wine (250ml) = 211 cals

Spirits (single shot) 

• Vodka = 64 cals
• Whiskey = 65 cals
• Gin = 72 cals

Beers, Lager, Ciders (1 pint)

• Stella = 227 cals
• Guiness = 125 cals
• Carling = 138 cals
• Strongbow = 239 cals

Misc:

• Prosecco (1 glass) = 80 cals
• Champagne (1 glass) = 95 cals
• Bucks Fizz = 89 cals

You can see that spirits are a more friendlier calorie choice – but remember the devil is always in the dose! You’d be better off having 2 pints (approx 350 cals) than 5 double whiskey and cokes (approx 650! excluding the Coke!). 

With spirits choose diet mixers to slash the calories down further. For example a can of coke contains 139 cals, compared to diet coke which only contains 1 calorie.

Thanks for reading,

Nick 🙂