Guest Post: My Vision of Healthy Living

I'm at it again- blog swapping, that is! Today, you can find me over at My Unentitled Life, and Dina is here sharing her thoughts on what living a healthy life means to her. Join me in welcoming Dina. Leave lots of comments on her thoughts, then head over and read my guest blog post on cooking healthy while sticking to your budget. Without further adieu, I present to you Dina from My Unentitled Life!

My Vision of Healthy Living

What is healthy living? I know what it’s not. It’s not a spotless house that you could eat off the floor. More than likely that house has been cleaned with lots of chemicals. To me healthy living is how I go about participating in activities in my daily life and trying to make the smallest impact on the Earth. It’s having a healthy home, healthy hips and healthy you.

As I clean my home I try to be health conscience as well as earth conscience. I want to use cleaners that are environmentally friendly. The cleaners I use most are baking soda and vinegar. Baking soda is a great scrubbing tool. It cleans sinks and bathrooms well. Vinegar I use on my floors and my windows. Some people might not be fond of the smell. But to he honest I’d rather smell the natural items then the fragranced cleaners. It’s better for your lungs. Taking care of your body is part of healthy living.

The way I look at taking care of my body is by paying attention to what I eat. By eating lots of fruits and veggies it keeps my weight down. It needs to go down more but that’s a whole nother article! The fruits and vegetables are fibrous and make us feel fuller quicker. In summer I plant a garden and enjoy lots of fresh veggies. We add zucchini, squash, onion, cabbage, etc to almost any meal. My kids eat them and love it. I know that’s unusual but it’s great for them to eat lots of different colored veggies.

Drinking lots of water is another way to keep healthy. Water is the absolute best drink we can put in our bodies. As I’m drinking my water, I often walk to the store to get some steps in for the day. It saves gas and saves my hips. The store is about a mile away and a very nice walk. Many times I’ll take my children with me and we’ll just use a backpack to bring all the goodies home. Working out is a must in this day and age. We work out to use those muscles and keep the weight off. Something else I take every day for a healthy body is a multi vitamin and calcium. The vitamin helps give me any missing minerals that I might have missed in my diet.

And last, being healthy to me means having a positive attitude. This does not mean be a doormat. Saying no to friends and family can be healthier for you than saying yes. Back to that positive attitude. A simple thing you can do to keep your attitude positive throughout the day is to focus on breathing if something upsets you. Focus on being thankful for the blessings in your life and writing them down is a great activity to do for yourself and for your children. As women we tend to put ourselves last. We need to decide that we are important enough to put ourselves first. Give yourself time to take a nice long shower, read a bit in a favorite book, go to your room and have a quiet moment. These are all good ways to take some time for you. It’s healthy for your children to see you making yourself a priority. If you value you then they will value you. I’ve often said, “Mommy needs a time out. I’ll be back in 15 minutes when I can be more positive.” I think even a child understands that reasoning. Let’s go out there and be healthy!

Dina is a sahm who lives in Tn. She has 3 amazing children, an awesome husband of 18 years and an ok dog. She enjoys reading, surfing, walking, biking and hanging out with her family.