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6 Healthy Ways to Celebrate Spring6 Healthy Ways to Celebrate Spring

Source: MyFoodDiary.com

Healthy Ways to Celebrate Spring

Get to work in the yard

Landscaping, gardening, and lawn mowing are big calorie burners. A day of sprucing up the exterior of your home can easily blast the same calories you’d burn during your workout at the gym. Yard work also meets the criteria to count towards the 30 minutes of daily exercise recommended for health. (See The Best Home and Garden Chores for Burning Calories for exercise ideas.)

Sign up for a fitness event

Training to compete in a fitness event encourages you to create an exercise plan that has purpose and a specific goal. A 5K race or triathlon are good choices, but consider thinking beyond a road race. Golf scrambles, sand volleyball leagues, disc golf, hikes, and dog walks all provide opportunities for fitness and they can challenge your training in new ways.

Try a new recipe

Incorporating new recipes into your daily menus is necessary to avoid falling into a rut with healthy eating. The more exciting and flavorful your meals, the less likely you will be to stray from your healthy habits.

Buy new athletic shoes

Quality athletic shoes are important for exercise safety and trying a new pair can motivate you to hit the gym. Old, worn out shoes stress the joints, which can lead to injury. A new pair with a good fit designed for your choice of activity can help keep you safe and healthy. (See Athletic Shoes: A Buyers Guide.)

Join a weekend clean-up committee

Help keep your community clean by volunteering with a local committee to remove trash near the creek or refurbish an empty urban lot into a park or garden. These events get you moving, and research also shows that there is a significant relationship between volunteering and good health. It can lead to greater overall satisfaction with life and reduced rates of depression.

Clean out the kitchen

An organized kitchen that is filled with nutritious foods makes healthy eating easy. Toss out any unhealthy snacks that have been tempting you. Organize whole grains and dry beans in clear containers so that you can find them quickly. Keep storage containers in one place to fill with single servings of leftovers for a grab-and-go lunch. If you need some help with organizing and stocking your healthy kitchen, see The Healthy Kitchen Test and How to Select and Store Fruits and Vegetables.

Lori Rice, M.S., is a nutritional scientist and author with a passion for healthy cooking, exercise physiology, and food photography.
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