Let's Start Today!!!

Hear nah......... one of the biggest challenges that we as working women face is eating healthy. I am sure many of you can attest to this.

Some of us have to wake up early in order to avoid that highway traffic. If you have children you have to get them ready for day care or school, ensure that they had breakfast and lunch is packed and that they are fully dressed by the time you are ready to leave home. If you have not made or taken breakfast at home then you usually opt to visit a lil food stall or a doubles vendor. 

In addition to not preparing breakfast there are also days where we do not have time to prepare lunch or too darn lazy to do it. Once again visiting those food stalls which are usually selected based on convenience and cost that most times equate to unhealthy choices like Chinese food or KFC.

 

The after work routine somewhat mirrors the morning with the same traffic woes and other responsibilities; significant other, studies and everything else that life throws at us. So dinner also turns out to be a quick fix - bread and something, wings & fries or crix and tuna (the ready to eat ones).

There's no denying that the working woman has evolved and our jobs are just as demanding as men's. We attempt to balance our lives but at times we may fall short, compromising our health.

In my Sunday Prep article I mentioned the fact that we often make these special promises to ourselves and one of them was to make healthier food choices. We start off hot and sweaty making declarations like “Ah givin the doubles man ah rest this week” or “I am going on a no flour diet” or “Is serious oats this week” or “I will be having smoothies for breakfast from now on”.

For more disciplined ladies this might last for about 2 weeks. If you not very strong willed then the doubles man will see you by the end of the first week and if you have no kinda self-restraint like yours truly it will last ah whollllleeee 2 days.

But on an already serious note. Isn’t it funny or sad (depending on how you view it) that we decide to become health conscious when we hear of sudden deaths relating to heart failure, like Devon’s over the weekend (May His Soul Rest In Peace). Or when we hear of persons dying due to lifestyle diseases such as diabetes and hypertension. Then after a couple weeks of mourning we revert to the same unhealthy practices.

Ladies let’s make an effort starting today to take care of our bodies.

I am going to share with you a couple snacks than can be prepared within 30 mins. No fancy ting eh. But it’s simple and quick.

With some research and office inspiration, I present to you some great healthy snack substitutes:

1.   Yogurt!!!: it's the automatic healthy snack that we gravitate towards to prove we are healthy eaters right? Well this is what we must pay attention to - the sugar factor. Consuming all the fancy yogurt may be defeating the purpose with the added sugar that some popular brands carry. To get your fill of protein, probiotics, vitamin D, and calcium—without the additives and sugar, unflavoured yogurt is the better bet. Just add your own fruit or granola.

2.    Peanut Butter and Apple Slices: Apples are healthy and convenient, but eating it alone can become kinda boring. Coupling them with peanut butter is surprisingly a very good combo. Now, there's always been the debate as to whether peanut butter is healthy or not. Yes, peanut butter contains fat but it is the unsaturated type, which is considered healthy as it can improve blood cholesterol numbers. It’s important to note that I'm talking about natural peanut butter that’s low in sugar and high in fibre. To change things up, you could use banana slices instead of apples. Or instead of peanut butter use another nut butter, such as almond butter and my manager’s favourite Cashew Butter (It can be found in Massy Stores but it's a bit pricey). 

3.   Raw pumpkin cubes: Doh knock it till yuh try it! Uncooked pumpkin tastes like a mix of cantaloupe and carrot. Eating pumpkin raw is a good source of Vitamin A, which keeps your skin healthy and free from dryness. Furthermore, vitamin A can naturally boost your immune system, making it key in year-round cold and flu protection. Raw pumpkin has a hearty, rich flavour that makes it a good stand-alone snack or side dish. A handful of raw cubed pumpkin is a great mid-morning snack. 

4.   Lettuce wraps. This is a great idea for lunch or dinner. Substitute the flour wrap for lettuce and add your meat (chicken, tuna, turkey, etc.) and veggies as normal - cucumbers, tomatoes, cabbage, mushrooms, corn, peppers, onions, etc. There are endless possibilities. The key is getting lettuce solid enough to hold the ingredients. Iceberg and romaine lettuce are best suited for this low carb meal. 

5.   Smoothie: Who doesn’t love a good smoothie? The magic bullet is one of the best appliances everrrrr created. My go to recipe is:

1 apple

1 banana

4 strawberries

Julie Mango and/or Paw Paw slices

1 tablespoon of cranberry

1 teaspoon of flaxseed and or chia seeds

Eating right is just one aspect of a healthy lifestyle we also need to exercise regularly, avoid stress and keep only positive energy in our space.

Hope this article was insightful. Do you have and healthy snacks? Kindly share J

For my next post I would like to discuss women who wear uniform and how they find ways to make it fashionable.

Inspired by C. Fermine

Squats in the office.

This post is a continuation from Sunday's regarding the care of bodies.

Recently I saw a video on how dangerous the chair can be to our health. The narrator spoke on how much sitting we do throughout the day. It went like this:

We wake up ---> Sit on the toilet---> Sit to have breakfast----> Sit in a vehicle to get to work---> Sit at our desks when we arrive at work (for hours) ---> Sit for lunch---->Return to our desks to Sit---> Sit in a vehicle to go home---->Sit in class (if we attend school)----> Sit in front of the TV when we get home....then head to bed. The video can be viewed in the Tips and Tricks and Tab. Please you all, take some time to view it.

Sitting for long periods can increase the risk for diabetes, high cholesterol, cardiovascular diseases and can make your derriere sag!

In addition to being sitting machines many of us have such hectic lives that we are unable to find time to exercise. It is recommended that we get 30 mins of physical activity for 5 days per week. Most of us don't even get 30 mins in a month.

The purpose of this post is to suggest exercises that we can do during work hours to keep our bodies busy and muscles active.

Give the Elevator a Rest 

The easiest form of exercise you can do at work is to take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you work on the 25th floor like I do, then this may be impractical, but if your building has about 3 or 4 floors you can use this as an opportunity to burn some calories even if it's 2. If you want to build your endurance try taking a lil jog when you walk up and down those stairs.

Face to Face communication aka Gossip Stroll

Instead of calling on the phone, take a walk to your co-workers office or cubicle. I know some of you all verse in this area particularly when it comes to discussing office bachannal. lol

Squats

If you are going to be by the copier for quite sometime and no one is close by, spread your feet hip with apart and drop those bums. Be sure that your knees do not cross your toes. If you have the benefit of your own space then even better.

 Wall Sits

Definitely to be done behind closed doors. Stand and place your back against the wall, bend your knees and slide your back down the wall. Your legs should be parallel to the floor. Hold for about 30 seconds and gradually increase the duration each time you do it.

Squeeze those bums

This deskercise entails squeezing the buttocks, holding each squeeze for about 5-10 seconds then releasing. Ah know yuh squeezing as yuh are reading this. lol

Calves

Once again, make that time you spend at the copier count. Just do a couple calf raises while you are waiting for that batch of documents to finish print.

Arm curls

Get a stapler or 2, place into your palms (must face upward). Start at the thighs, bend your elbows and curl your arms towards you chest. You can do this standing or sitting.

Shrug those shoulders

All you have to do here is raise both shoulder towards the ears, hold for a couple seconds then relax.

I can go on and on discussing the various exercises you can do. If you like these suggestions and think it can be adopted in your daily routine.....You are very welcome :)

Remember your health is your wealth. As much as we want to meet deadlines and targets we must still allocate some time for ourselves.

Sunday Prep

It's Sunday evening, the tail end of the weekend. During this time many of us are mentally preparing ourselves for work tomorrow.

Ladies, is it only me or have you ever noticed that have you the best intentions for your life on a Sunday? You either aim to be more productive at work than you were the previous week or you plan on leaving home earlier so that you can arrive to work on time. You may even decide that yuh cooking food for the week cause yuh realize that El Pecos taking plenty of your money or you may promise yourself that you going to make healthy food choices and ease up on the snacks.

In addition to those aspirations, which almost never comes to fruition 😃, we use Sunday to relax and rejuvenate. It's on this day we pay a little extra care and attention to our bodies.

Everyone has a routine..... I believe..... of the TLC they give to themselves in preparation for the work week.

This is what my routine looks like:

• On Sundays I usually get this drive to be healthy so I start off my morning with something "good" for the body, I either have a yogurt mixed with oats or I drink some kind of herbal tea, like soursop, moringa or ginger. Shamefully, by Tuesday I'm back to eating those chocolate chip cookies in the purple pack or Linda's butter cookies 🙈. I am a work in progress.

• I wash my foundation and powder brushes with whatever facial cleanser I am using at the time. This removes all of the old gunk and any bacteria from last week's products.

• My face routine entails getting rid of any dead skin cells to reveal fresh ones and trying to reduce break outs. I use a face mask which is preceded by facial scrub. These are my current products.

• Body scrubs are also in my prep; not every Sunday though.  I am using a scrub from Tree Hut at  the moment. Not my favourite body scrub, as the grains are really small but this container will have to finish before I try another.

   This is followed up with an oil moisturizer or just plain ole cocoa butter.

• In addition to exfoliating my face and body I also do my lips....using...well....a lip scrub of course. Been using this from Lush for quite sometime. It does a pretty good job however the same results can be achieved with brown sugar and coconut oil (the healing of the nation)

•  I don't have time or money to visit a spa regularly so I do my own pedicure. I think I do a good  job if you ask me. I soak my feet in some warm water with some kinda moisturizing body wash and remove those dry and dead skin with those foot tools thingies.  If I don't have the time for this I use a scrubbing brush. Not a foot brush, a scrubbing brush, like the ones you use to scrub your jeans. You may laugh....but trust me you will be amazed of how clean and soft this leaves your feet. I then follow up with a foot scrub which is kinda unnecessary but some of them have peppermint as an ingredient which gives your feet a cool sensation.

• My favourite part, which is applying nail polish to my toes.

For some reason I usually go with pink or purple. As you can see....the majority of the colours I have are within that family. As we on this point....ladies.....one of the best yet cheapest investments you will ever make is having a nail polish organiser. You get to see all the colours you have and will certainly prevent you from buying 4 and 5 different shades of pink.

That's pretty much it for me.

I just now wait for night time to take in the Joel Osteen episode I missed earlier in the day and watch Keeping Up With The Kardashians (don't judge me)

Ladies, do you have anything special you do for yourself on a Sunday. Would love to hear them.