You don't need to change your life to get healthy. Just start with these 4 simple things.

By NAT HAWK

It’s the same story we’ve heard a million times before. Woman goes on holiday. Woman eats everything in sight. Woman gets home and realises that she doesn’t fit into her jeans anymore.

For the last three weeks, that woman has been me. I have been eating my way through Europe without a care in the world as to how healthy I’m being, or how many daily calories I’m consuming. Wheels of Camembert, French wine and fresh fudge all found their way into my everyday diet. The only fruit consumed was in the form of fruity cocktails.

And now I’m home and I feel disgusting. My entire body is mad at me for neglecting to feed it anything with any real nutritional value. I feel lethargic, unfit and about five kilos heavier than I should be.

So this week, I’m entirely dedicated to the task of treating my body like a temple. I’m throwing myself into the healthy side of things in the hope that it’ll get me back on track and feeling a little better about myself.

Here’s the plan for this week. Feel free to leave your own suggestions for me in the comments.

Just as an FYI, you should know that this series of posts is sponsored by Almond Breeze. But all opinions expressed by the author are 100% authentic and written in their own words.

1. Get back into the lemon waters.

I used to start every single day by drinking a glass of warm water with half a lemon squeezed into it. It sounds a little ridiculous, but I found that it really helped with my immunity, digestion and hydration levels. It kind of kick-starts your body and gears it into action in a really good way.

Sadly, I fell off the lemon water bandwagon and I’m feeling the consequences. So this week, I’m back into it with a vengeance.

The only thing – if you’re keen on taking it up as well, is to make sure you’re drinking through a straw, as the acidity from the lemons can quickly erode the enamel from your teeth.

2. Eat well.

I don’t believe in diets – they just make me completely obsessed with whatever I’ve banned myself from eating. So I won’t be cutting anything out of my everyday eating – I’ll just be focusing on food as fuel, and aiming to get as much of the good stuff in as possible.

This means more of the natural and less of the artificial. More veggies, more fruit, more delicious but healthy things like wholegrain bread and brown rice sushi. And treats, of course, but everything in moderation.

3. Exercise everyday.

I need to get back into training for a 9km run that I’m doing in September, so I’ve put together a workout plan that involves some kind of workout every day. Not every day is intense – it’s just a way of getting my body moving each day, in a different way, to work out different muscle groups and mix it up a bit.

So three days a week, I’ll be running – two days will involve shorter runs (20 – 30 minutes) and one day will be a long run (45 – 60 minutes). On the other four days, I’ll be doing two days of yoga/core training, one day of strength training and one day of swimming.

4. Embrace smoothies.

After my lemon water, I’ll put together a breakfast smoothie that’s tasty and filling enough to get me through the first part of my day. The best thing about smoothies is that they’re convenient – you can blend them together in minutes and take them anywhere with you, and they’re a brilliant way of getting a whole lot of good stuff into your system.

Depending on what I have in the kitchen, I’ll throw anything in the smoothie – a good base is water or almond milk, and then I top up with some leafy greens, a few different fruits and some superfood extras, such as goji berries or chia seeds.

Here’s some other ways that you can make healthy changes to your lifestyle… 

How do you treat your body like a temple?

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