Good health-tips after 4 of years of chips-eating?

[Anonymous]

So I want to become healthier after 4 years of eating chips and drinking coke on my couch. So I'd really appreciate health-tips, like how I'm going to quit coca-cola (replace it with something, I don't know..) And also how to tone the area right under my butt, there's a little ''bump'' under the butt which annoys me, haha.

[Darkfairie17]

I say you should probably just switch things over slowly. Don't dramatically go from drinking pop and eating chips to only drinking water and eating healthy. I know that would be ideal, but you will have cravings, and your habits don't change over night. Start by introducing healthier things into your diet. Condition your body to start wanting the good healthy foods.

Have some chips? Cut your chip serving in half, and have some fruit with it. Or even some apple chips. Mix in some plain nuts and dried fruit too. This is similar in texture without being unhealthy. Even popcorn without salty seasoning, just add a little spice to it. Like some dill or even some paprika for a spicier taste.

Instead of pop, try natural juices. Look for ones low in sugar, or no sugar added. Or even try water with some lemon in it to give it some taste. Even learn to make home-made fruit smoothies, still have a sweet taste, but are uber healthy.

Start working out slowly. Find an activity that you can stand doing and start doing that more regularly. You don't have to start working out an hour a day, maybe start at 20 mins, then add more time as you get better. Even start by doing exercises during commercial breaks on the tv. Do some stretching, yoga, or squats.

I find with a lot of people that with trying to go directly from one way of life to another just doesn't work. Think people who smoke, they have a heck of a time stopping cold turkey. It's way better to try intervals, slowly introduce the healthy habits, and phase out the bad ones. It's the best way to keep progress going.

[somnambulated]

I quit drinking soda awhile ago and instead I replaced it with sparkling water, but never the kind flavored with juice (which is basically just as bad). I drink brands like La Croix (lime and orange are really good!) which are no sodium and no calories. Try buying sparkling water and squeezing in a bit of lemon or muddling it with some mint. Lots of natural flavor without the sugar overload. Honestly, even after a couple weeks without drinking soda, when I would take a sip again it was disgusting to me and I couldn't believe I used to drink it a lot. It takes only a couple weeks to rewire your taste buds like that and if you quit the soda you will probably be amazed if you try it again later on!

Also, pretzels are a very good chip replacement. They are salty but very low fat and low calories without all that oil chips are fried in. Baked potato chips are a very good alternative if you must have chips (find sweet potato chips if you can, which are a bit more nutrient dense than regular potatoes). I buy a really yummy lentil chips from Trader Joe's which is very low calorie and fat but high in protein. It also sounds weird but seaweed snack (Trader Joe's, Whole Foods, maybe other places) is quite good as well and super healthy!

As for your butt, you cannot target fat loss. When you lose fat, you lose it proportionately throughout your whole body. You can, however, build up certain areas with strength exercises.

Hope that helped!

[spik317]

Being healthy is the toughest part in life. I workout at the gym for a long time. Being healthy can be unhealthy as well. My definition of being healthy is to excerise and limits your portion of sugar substances. I drink soda once a week and eat chips twice a week but still I lift weights and burn off what I intake. You can subsititue coke with water flavor drinks like dasani lemon or vit. water or juices. If you want to keep your body weight as it is, eat fiber bars it helps control your appetite plus good source of fiber than chips if you want to control weigh issues. Chips are good but you also have to have other nutrients like veggies, fruits, breads etc. But ideally to be healthy is to excerise. Do not drink diet coke thinking it better than regular coke, in all honesty, diet coke are bad.

[Anonymous]

Stop drinking soda. You can't switch over to plain water. (It's too difficult) So try flavoured carbonated water instead. And start diluting it after a few weeks.

Do not buy chips. Ever. If you don't have them in the house, you can't eat them.

Start exercising.

[Brando]

Agreed with this, except it being too hard to switch to water. It's only as hard as you make it. I quit cold turkey by just plain not drinking any Cokes.

[Anonymous]

Try Crystal Light (drink mix) and instead of chips, eat nuts.

[WeaponZero]

Replace coca-cola with water.