Is breakfast really the most important meal of the day? There’s actually some truth to this popular saying. This often skipped meal in the day gives you energy and can set the mood for the rest of the day. Here are 3 truths linked to eating breakfast:
Skipping your morning meal disrupts the body’s rhythm leaving it disoriented. This affects your concentration, alertness and energy level. In the long run, your risk of chronic diseases such as diabetes and high blood pressure runs higher.
Without breakfast, your brain’s performance is lowered. This includes your attention-span,
When your body does not get the required fuel from your breakfast, your craving for junk food kicks in and you would more likely overeat later in the day. Breakfast also helps to prevent large fluctuations in your blood glucose levels, helping you to control your appetite better.
Eating mindfully is a positive habit that increases your awareness of the emotions, flavours and textures of food that you are taking in and thus enabling you to enjoy the process better while slowing down the pace at which you are eating at.
You can start by listening to your body, chewing well and slowly, enjoying the flavours of the food. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to send out signals that you are full, so stop when you are feeling full.
Looking to eat healthier? An easy way to start is with small dietary shifts per day, such as identifying food that are high in calories, sugar, fats and salt and switch them for something healthier like fruits and vegetables. It is also good to swap dangerous trans-fat such as fried chicken to healthy fat like grilled salmon.
Clock your steps with the GETGREAT app and aim towards achieving 10,000 steps daily. This would also boost your energy level and reduce lethargy especially if you are working remotely.
It’s important to do activities that you enjoy and or even find exercise buddies to keep yourself accountable! This would help keep you staying motivated for the long haul. Remember, sustainability is key!
Our body is very adaptable, doing the same workout with the same level of intensity will cause a limitation to your improvements. Not sure where to start? Consider the 7-day programme on the GETGREAT app!
We would like to tweak the popular expression “an apple a day keeps the doc away” to “a good night’s sleep a day keeps the doctor away”.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, achieving 7- 9 hours of sleep daily would be ideal to obtain optimal mental and physical health. Try to maintain a sleep schedule by ensuring that you go to bed and wake up at the same time daily, even on weekends and holidays as well! Having this regularity allows the circadian rhythm function in your body to be on a loop of aligning itself with sunrise and sunset and allows the body to release melatonin (chemical that makes you sleepy) to signal your brain to sleep at the appropriate times.
Whenever you are feeling stressed or feel overwhelmed, turn to people around you whom you trust and have confidence in. Being listened to can help unburden the emotional load that you may have. Alternatively, you can utilise hotlines such as the National Care Hotline at 1800-202-6868 to speak to someone who can help.
Practicing gratitude allows you to focus on the positive things that are happening to you throughout the day. When you are stressed, you tend to adopt a more negative outlook in life and gratitude can change that! Start a gratitude journal where write down what you are thankful for everyday. When you reflect back on those pages, you will realise how lucky you really are!
Change is easy but sustaining the change requires hard work. Consider these tips to keep yourself motivated!
Whether it’s healthy eating, exercising or achieving better self-care, activities that you commit to should be of interest to you. If not, doing activities which you have little or no interest in will become a chore and there will be higher probability of dropout.
Plan a SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, timebound) goal and review every 1-3 months to keep yourself focused and on track!
Share your health goals and plans with your family and/or friends. Schedule activities to do together and commit to it instead of trying to work on something alone.
Getting fitter or slimmer? Reward yourself with a new set of clothes to flaunt your achievement(s)!
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