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Pack Your Plate With Nutrient-Rich Foods

Eat the rainbow! If your food looks colorless and flat, there probably aren’t that many nutrients on your plate� People often ask, “How do we know if we’re getting enough of what we need?” The honest answer is that you’re not always going to know�

Eating the rainbow, as they say, is one way to make sure that you’re getting the daily recommended amount of fruit and vegetables� If you add a fruit or vegetable to every meal and snack, you’ll find that hitting the 5-a-day rule is effortless�

Make a Place for Balance

Cheat on your diet, not on your spouse� If you haven’t seen that meme circulating on social media, trust us, it will circle its way around to you eventually� Cheat days are always a good idea because it allows you to indulge yourself� Having a treat once in a while is never a bad thing, especially when you’ve been so focused and disciplined� It’s like a little reward that you get to look forward to� The great thing about cheat days is that they provide you with the motivation that you need to make it through the week�

Just try not to eat everything that you’ve been avoiding all week� Always keep in mind that it’s a treat, not an eating competition�

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Stress

For the past couple of years, stress has been the name of the game� We’re all stressed� If you’re not stressed right now, you must be a monk� How could we not be stressed right now?

Whether we’d like to believe it or not, stress can actually be a good thing if it’s managed properly� Your stress response is a perfectly natural part of your human nature� It’s what keeps you out of danger and alive� When it goes unchecked – and when you don’t have an outlet – it becomes dangerous�

Now, equally important is understanding the difference between acute stress and chronic stress� Acute stress is triggered when you see something scary or when you’re under pressure to meet a deadline� It comes on quickly, but it gradually eases off as the “threat” disappears� So, when that scary thing is no longer in view, or when the deadline is met, your stress levels reduce�

Chronic stress, on the other hand, lingers� Stress often becomes chronic when there are constant deadlines, constant fears, and continual pressure� One of two things happens in those cases: you explode or implode� Exploding is easier to deal with because it’s like someone letting the steam out of a pressure cooker and you can visibly see that something is wrong� However, when you implode, you