The New Year is the best time to make permanent, positive changes to your routines. We thought the best place to start making changes is in the home. We’ve come up with some simple, yet very crucial adjustments that can be made at home that will ensure a cleaner and healthier life for your body and piece of mind.
Working Out At Home:
Did you know that you may be one of your gym’s best customers? We assume this because over two-thirds of gym members never actually go to the gym that they sign up for.
Personal trainers are high up on the list of work out options for the new year. In addition, many of the work out routines that made the top of the list this year include weight training and exercises that require little to no equipment. This shows that there really is no excuse to not exercising. Put your unused cycling equipment or treadmill into storage and clear out a space in the house that is dedicated to your physical health. Whether it be meditation, weight training, stretching or personal training, make a point to be in that reserved space in your home at least twice per week.
Clean Out The Kitchen:
Making sure your body is clean goes hand in hand with keeping your home clean. Start with clearing out the bad habits from your kitchen. Start by switching to organic meats and dairy products. The Mayo Clinic recommends grass fed beef due to its lower fat content, higher concentration of Omega-3 fatty acids, and abn abundance of antioxidants as compared to the alternative. Also, try to buy all organic produce, or at least avoid the conventional versions such as apples, potatoes and strawberries. A realistic goal is to try to eat GMO free foods 75% of the time.
With clean eating, be sure to also add fiber rich plants. The body needs fiber for heart health and to keep the digestive track clean. All the fiber needed can be obtained from fruits, vegetables, legumes and flax rather than with grains, so if you’re trying to cut out the carbs in the New Year this is a plan that will help keep your goals on track.
One final note: invest in a good water purification system. Drinking lots of water is one of the best ways to feed your body, but make sure that your water source is safe. Water from the tap can sometimes contain arsenic, pesticides, fluoride and fracking chemicals. Invest in a well-designed water filtration system.
Purify The Air Throughout Your House:
You and your family breathe air in your home on a daily basis and for hours on end while you sleep. Do you feel like you’ve taken enough steps to ensure clean air quality at your home? Even if you live in a smoke-free, ultra clean home, your home may still have hidden issues with air quality that you haven’t discovered yet. Indoor air toxins like carbon monoxide and radon can commonly be found in many homes.
Allergens such as mold, pollen, and pet dander can also pollute your air, aggravate breathing conditions for members of the family who suffer from asthma, hay fever, and other respiratory issues. If you live in a new or recently remodeled home, you might even find materials such as formaldehyde, lead, asbestos, or toxic dust lurking in your air. Even household products including air fresheners and cleaning chemicals can jeopardize your air quality.
Our suggestion for next year is to make a point to open windows more regularly, spread more plants throughout the home (they are a natural air cleaner) and make a point to clean in those hard to reach areas like behind the washing machine, dryer, oven and refrigerator. Cleaning in hard to reach areas will reduce the chance of mold or pollen in the home. We also suggest replacing your air filters regularly, at least every two to three months, and installing a carbon monoxide detector in the home.
What resolution from this list do you think will be the easiest to stick with for your new year?