Organization: How it Can Improve Your Health!

Life is busy!  I once sat down and named all the "job descriptions" that I filled on a daily basis.  Included on the list were:  nurse, chef, teacher, personal trainer, grocery shopper, laundress, taxi driver, psychiatrist, cheerleader, maid- to name a few.  Without organization, my health would be on the decline.  I know this may not be making sense, but stay with me on this and keep reading.  I schedule my exercise each day to make sure it happens.  I discovered a time that works best for me and that's when I do it.  It is a priority enough to me that it makes it on my daily schedule.  On previous blog posts I have listed all the benefits of exercising and there are a lot of them!  In order for me to be able to do all my "jobs" on a daily basis, I have to set a little time aside for myself  to exercise, if not, I may not have the energy to get done everything I need to get done.  And, I know that if I didn't schedule my exercise, the day would get away from me and before I knew it, it would be time to go to bed.

 I apply those same organizational skills to my eating. Obviously, we are all busy and we have those days where we are running out the door going from place to place and forgetting to eat.  Then, we realize how hungry we are and what usually happens is we stop somewhere for fast food or an unhealthy snack.  I have everything I need to do on a schedule so that I can see if we have to be out of the house during mealtimes or if I can avoid it.  I do a meal plan each week, so that when it hits 5pm, I know what I am going to make for dinner so I don't end up ordering pizza.  My meal plan also helps me save money at the grocery store because I know exactly what I need to buy instead of just throwing things in my shopping cart.  Eating healthy can be a little bit more costly, so every penny saved helps.  I try to have healthy snacks made up ahead of time, so we aren't reaching for something that's not unhealthy (I try not to keep that in the house anyway, so the temptation is not there).  I can look at my schedule and see which day I can set aside to do my bread baking and snack making.  Now, I am all about special occasions and not denying yourself treats- but until you learn how to do that in moderation, just stay away from it!  I can look back at my week and see how my schedule has kept my family on a healthy track with exercise and meals.  We live in such a fast paced society, where we are constantly on the go that without a schedule of some sorts, we start living an unhealthy lifestyle and start making bad food choices because we are so hungry we just have to have something to eat.

So, I would encourage you to set up some type of schedule for yourself and start meal planning to help you meet your health and fitness goals.  Happy planning!!!