Enhance Your Health

How to Enhance Your Health For 2022

Whether you’ve fallen into old habits, struggled with feeling groggy and sluggish, or just want to take proactive steps for the future, everyone has a different reason to get healthy. If you want to start feeling like your best self, try out our tips to ease your way into a more active lifestyle. Support a Strong Mind

Mental health is just as important as physical health, and there is no denying they are both interconnected. Reducing stress, regulating your sleep schedule, and practicing introspection are just a few ways to bolster your mindset.

At the end of the day, these are just a few examples of the changes you can make for a fresh start this year. Finding a progress partner to take this journey with you is a great way to keep you both on track. Don’t be afraid to take baby steps, even small changes can create a wave of difference.

Visit Your Doctor

Step one to improving your health is through regular maintenance. See your doctor for regular checkups to discuss what you can do to treat current issues and prevent future health concerns for yourself and your family.

Get Moving

We’ve all heard it before but getting active is one surefire way to start feeling better in the long run. Start moving more; try out new active hobbies. No need to go crazy! The best motivation is when you enjoy what you’re doing.

Fix Up Your Diet

Don’t fall victim to crazy crash diets. Talk to your doctor about a meal plan that can last you a lifetime. Mindful eating, staying hydrated, and food education can be an excellent transition into healthy living.

START OFF THE NEW YEAR RIGHT

The New Year is a time where often we make resolutions. For many of us, we recognize the new year as the start of a fresh chapter. We’ve gathered some helpful tips on how to ensure you start your year off right!

MAKING GOALS

If you are one that chooses to make goals, make sure they are attainable, and framed around a mindset rather than a specific goal. This helps take off the pressure of meeting certain goals, as well as feeling unsatisfied when those static goals are met. One of the most important aspects of making goals is putting habits behind them that allow you to reach them.

For example, if you have one overarching goal, set up daily, weekly and monthly habits that you need to adopt in order to accomplish that goal. Goals without habits are simply unattainable. HEALTH-RELATED GOALS

Perhaps focusing on your physical health is at the top of the list. Instead of setting a goal such as “lose 15 pounds” try a goal that sounds more like “I want to move my body every day, in a way that feels good to me” this will allow you to feel a sense of accomplishment each day as you move towards changing your life to adapt to that. Looking for tips on how to get moving more? Click here. 8 EATING IN

This pandemic has made it easy, and convenient to eat out. If your goal is to focus on saving money by staying in and eating healthy–try focusing on making meals with whole foods, and dedicating one day a month to eating out! Looking for healthy ideas to get started? Click here. ORGANIZE YOUR HOME

Organizing your home can help you feel more at peace in your environment. Not sure where to start? Check out this article for a step-by-step guide. Are you looking to start off the new year with a clean space? Check our cleaning checklist for a great place to start.

WORKSPACE REVAMP

If you, like many of us, have been working remotely since the beginning of the pandemic, 660 days to be exact, it may be time to refresh your space. Use this article for tips on rearranging your home office. BE MORE GREEN

Implementing ways to reduce our carbon footprint is of the utmost importance in this day and age, taking into consideration the current status of our climate. If you are looking for more ways to be green around your home, read more here. GET YOUR FINANCES ON TRACK

This is a broad statement and can be further defined depending on your situation. Maybe you want to work on increasing your credit score, perhaps you want to work on building your savings or pay off credit card debt. If the latter is your goal, a refinance might be a good strategy for you, to learn more about refinancing benefits, click here. READ MORE

Reading is a great way to further your knowledge and decrease stress. Instead of aiming to “read more” set a more measurable goal such as reading ten pages each night. Also, make sure you have a few books picked out to start, and an area to read them in. To create your own reading nook, follow these instructions. BE A GOOD HUMAN

This is a motto that we at Geneva Financial live by. Each of our dedicated employees strives each day to exhibit compassion, goodwill, empathy, and so much more. Decide what being a good human looks like to you, and see how you can incorporate it into your life. Maybe you want to volunteer more? Maybe you want to be more available to your friends and family. Whatever this may look like, map it out and keep it front of mind year-round.

INGREDIENTS:

4 large zucchini 2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 2 c. cherry tomatoes, halved 1 c. mozzarella balls, quartered if large 1/4 c. fresh basil leaves 2 tbsp. balsamic vinegar

www.delish.com | ETHAN CALABRESE

DIRECTIONS:

Using a spiralizer, create zoodles out of zucchini. Add zoodles to a large bowl, toss with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Let marinate 15 minutes.

Add tomatoes, mozzarella and basil to zoodles and toss until combined. Drizzle with balsamic and serve. INGREDIENTS:

4 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil Juice of 1 lemon, divided Kosher salt Freshly ground black pepper 1 tsp. Italian seasoning or dried oregano 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, pounded to even thickness 3 slicing tomatoes, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tbsp. freshly chopped basil 4 slices mozzarella Freshly grated Parmesan, for serving

www.delish.com | TIFFANY AZURE

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, combine oil, half the lemon juice, 1 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and Italian seasoning (or oregano) and whisk to combine. Transfer to a large re-sealable bag along with chicken; seal and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Heat grill over medium-high then add chicken, discarding excess marinade. Grill until charred and cooked to an internal temperature of 165°, about 5 to 7 minutes per side. Meanwhile, combine tomatoes, garlic, basil, and remaining lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. While chicken is still on grill, top each breast with 1 slice mozzarella and cover until cheese is melted, 2 to 3 minutes. Top chicken with tomato mixture. Garnish with Parmesan and serve.

HealthySubstitutes

There are plenty of whole-grain products that can serve as healthier substitutes for white bread, flour, pasta and rice. These products contain the entire grain and deliver a variety of important nutrients.

WHOLE-GRAIN PRODUCTS VANILLA, NUTMEG & CINNAMON UNSWEETENED APPLESAUCE, PUMPKIN PUREE & MASHED These ingredients are full of sweetness. Use them in combination with less than the amount of sugar that you would normally use in a recipe; this way you can intensify the sweet flavour without using too much sugar. These options can replace butter in many recipes and meals to help reduce the amount of saturated fat you consume. AVOCADO

GROUND TURKEY GREEK YOGURT

Can be used an alternative for red meat. Turkey bacon also be used to replace pork bacon in many recipes, as it contains less fat and sodium than pork bacon. Use Greek yogurt instead of sour cream. Greek yogurt is naturally sour and low-fat. SPINACH, ARUGULA, KALE & WATERCRESS AVOCADO

These dark leafy greens contain important nutrients that aren’t present in watery greens like iceberg lettuce or romaine. Avocado is a hearty alternative that provides creamy goodness and healthy fats for your heart. It can be used as a substitute for mayonnaise and butter.

Source: Based on information from Mayo Clinic and Go Red for Women.

For Recipes For Snacks

You can make many of your favorite recipes healthier by using lower-fat or nofat ingredients. These healthy substitutions can help you cut down on saturated or trans fats, while noticing little, if any, difference in taste.

Instead of whole milk (1 cup) use 1 cup fatfree or low-fat milk, plus one tablespoon of liquid vegetable oil.

Instead of heavy cream (1 cup), use 1 cup evaporated skim milk or 1/2 cup low-fat yogurt and 1/2 cup plain low-fat unsalted cottage cheese.

Instead of sour cream, use low-fat unsalted cottage cheese plus low-fat or fat-free yogurt; or just use fat-free sour cream.

Instead of cream cheese, use 4 tbsp. soft margarine (low in saturated fat and 0 grams trans fat) blended with 1 cup dry, unsalted low-fat cottage cheese; add a small amount of fat-free milk if needed.

Instead of butter (1 tbsp.), use 1 tbsp. soft margarine (low in saturated fat and 0 grams trans fat) or 3/4 tbsp. liquid vegetable oil.

Instead of unsweetened baking chocolate (1 ounce), use 3 tbsp. unsweetened cocoa powder or carob powder plus 1 tbsp. vegetable oil or soft margarine; since carob is sweeter than cocoa, reduce the sugar in the recipe by 25%. You can snack healthier by substituting snacks that are high in saturated fats and/ or trans fats with these sensible snacks:

Instead of fried tortilla chips, enjoy baked tortilla chips.

Instead of regular potato or corn chips, enjoy pretzels or low-fat potato chips.

Instead of high-fat cookies and crackers, enjoy fat-free or low-fat cookies, crackers (such as graham crackers, rice cakes, fig and other fruit bars, ginger snaps and molasses cookies).

Instead of regular baked goods, enjoy baked goods, such as cookies, cakes and pies, and pie crusts made with unsaturated oil or soft margarines, egg whites or egg substitutes, and fat-free milk.

Instead of devil’s food cake, enjoy angel food cake.

Instead of ice cream bars, enjoy frozen fruit bars.

Instead of pudding made with whole milk, enjoy pudding made with fat-free or lowfat milk.

Instead of ice cream, enjoy sherbet, ice milk or frozen, fat-free or low-fat yogurt.

Instead of a doughnut, enjoy a bagel or slice of toast.