The secret to good health, including your perfect weight is to get the right balance of food, liquids and movement.

** An adult human body needs anything from 1400 calories a day upwards to function properly.
**It also needs a fair amount of vitamins, minerals, sugars and fat

**Our skeleton has joints, indicating we were built to move
**And every one of a trillion or more cells in our bodies is surrounded with water. We need to keep those cells fresh and alert!

Before processed foods were introduced, it was much simpler to work out the right balance. Now we are bombarded with ‘healthy eating’ packaged foods containing ingredients that are a complete mystery to the everyday shopper.

But what’s the alternative if you have a hungry family to feed, little time to spare and are just getting exhausted with the whole food issue thing?

“Baby steps”

There are hundreds of little things we can do every day that will improve our own lifestyles, as well as helping the planet out a little. Sticking to food issues though, here are a few ideas to steer you on the path of healthiness ……

– Herbs: This is a personal passion of mine and a soap box special! Herbs are magical plants and can save you money, time and trips to the doctor…..

Grow an aloe vera plant: it doesn’t need much looking after and will soothe and heal minor burns. Ointments and creams contain various chemicals that you wouldn’t necessarily want to rub into your skin if you knew what they were.

Aloe vera contains 20 of the 22 human required amino acids, and is a perfect treatment for healing skin lesions and burns.

In fact, there are so many claims around the qualities of this plant, that it’s almost impossible to list them all…. some are still just claims, others have been proved. ( Find out more about aloe vera here.)

Replace pasta sauces with a few herbs and tomatoes (home-grown if you can). A bunch of fresh chopped coriander will spice up a tomato base and will hardly take any longer than opening a jar of processed sauce… oh, and it won’t cost you much either!

– Fruit & Veg: You don’t have to have a garden, or an army of willing workers, to grow a few fruits and vegetables.

There are large containers, specially designed strawberry planters, potato barrels and many small hybrid plants you can grow to boost the family’s immune systems and encourage them to enjoy the true taste of ‘real’ food. These containers take up very little space and there’s no digging involved!

Custom made containers could cost a little more initially, although once set up, you’re probably good to go for a few years. There are cheaper ways of doing it. Look out for large pots and containers at markets or thrift shops. Make sure they are well-drained before you start growing. Drill a few holes in the bottom if necessary. Remember to use a drip tray indoors or raise them slightly off the ground if you’re planting outside.

– Water: Lots of controversy about tap water, flouride content etc; Unless you have a good bottled water supply, most of us are kind of stuck with it. Drinking water isn’t that exciting unfortunately, and the taste of chemicals coming through is very off-putting.

If you have the time, boil it first… but otherwise a small squeeze of fruit juice will encourage you to drink more. I’m still not quite sure about the wisdom of drinking 2 litres of water a day when it’s been recycled so many times and contaminated with chemicals…but we’ll go with it for now.

Within these ideas there are hundreds of options, and whatever you decide to do, the healthier option will help you:

*improve your diet and health
*maintain your ideal weight
*and enjoy that magic spark you deserve 🙂

To your good health!
Linda x

P.S. If you’re thinking about growing some veggies this handy download will be invaluable. Hardly more than the price of a packet of seeds and you can refer to it on the go!

Growing Everyday Vegetables

Growing Everyday Vegetables takes you step-by-step through the process of growing, harvesting and storing ten everyday vegetables:

Beans, Broccoli, Carrots, Garlic, Lettuce, Onions, Peppers, Potatoes, Tomatoes and Zucchini.

And, as an added bonus, there are recipe ideas for every vegetable, so if you have a glut, you can serve deliciously different recipes that the whole family will enjoy, without getting bored!

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