It’s easy to let go of our healthy ways once summer hits and especially around the Christmas holidays. These are a few tips to help you get through the summer feeling amazing and relaxed.
The first tip is to start your day with a healthy blend of fruit and vegetables, with ice and yogurt, this will cool you down and increase your intake of vitamins and minerals. Summer is also a time to try new foods, especially the healthy range you have been avoiding. Try that dark mint chocolate with a cup of tea instead of that bowl of ice-cream, try more fruit and nuts you haven’t given a go before. There will be those hot summer nights where you just don’t feel like cooking, but don’t turn to your phone for uber eats or takeaway, opt for home-made salad or spelt pasta with fresh sauce. Having large portions of takeaway involve the body to use a lot more energy to digest hence why you wake up feeling sluggish with a poor night’s sleep.
A healthy summer is not just about the food its also about creating a happy mental state. This can begin with switching off from technology. It is a lot easier to stop worrying about what’s going on when you don’t know. Start being spontaneous and jump in the car for a trip and see where the day takes you, sometimes planning can become stressful, you never know where you can end up. If you drive past a bushwalk, stop and go for that walk. Scientists have proved that walking in nature controls depressions, boosts mood, improved immunity and is great exercise.
Summer is the perfect time for “natural” fitness, there is no need to go into that gym and walk on that treadmill for 30 mins whilst staring out to summer sky. Go outside, go for a swim, bushwalk, rock climbing, horse riding, you will see how fit you will become without even realising, because you enjoyed every moment of it.
Getting together with friends and family is also important to a healthy summer and life. Organise afternoon drinks with friends and a special high tea for the grandparents. These visits won’t only increase your happiness but theirs. With your partner or best friend create a bucket list for the summer. “New experiences are great for bonding and important for the long-term health and happiness of relationships,” says clinical psychologist Dr Lissa Johnson.
Spending more time doing new things with your children is very import too. Sometimes you must think like a kid to immerse yourself in the day, so run with them through the sprinklers and swim with them at the beach and you will find yourself having fun too.
Summer sounds like a busy time of year and it is, but we must remember to have some “me” time as well. Most of us feel guilty for this, but it is needed and should be understood by others. So, take some time to get a massage, read a book and relax. It will help you think clearer and recharge.
