9 Ridiculously Easy Ways to Stay Happy and Healthy

After being a personal trainer for close to a decade, I’ve found that the one common excuse my gym members give for not turning up is they were busy. I always wonder what’s the point in getting a gym membership and not turning up? In that case, setting up your own garage gym would be a better choice because you can work out at your convenient time no matter how busy you are.

For everyone who finds less time for gym exercise, my only advice is this: no matter how busy you are, it’s easy to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Here are nine ridiculously easy ways how to be healthy and happy.

1. Plan meals for the entire week

Use your free time on the weekend to sit down and prepare a list of items that you would love to eat over the next five days. Once the list is ready, purchase the required items from the grocery store. This will save a lot of shop-hopping time on your busy weekdays.  Also, keeping your refrigerator full will ensure that you have a constant supply of food to eat on days when you are burning the midnight oil to complete your freelance work.

If you don’t plan ahead, you will have to end up ordering unhealthy food from outside, which can lead to abnormal weight gain.

2. Cook in bulk

This might sound a bit weird, but try it a couple of times and you’ll be glad you did. Instead of cooking separately each time, cook in batches for breakfast, lunch, and possibly dinner as well. To make sure your food lasts through the day and you get your daily quota of nutrients, include a lot of proteins, iron, and vitamins in your meals. If you are a veggie lover, chop some vegetables and refrigerate them so you can have them with meals or in between meals as you wish. That’s pretty quick and easy. Isn’t it?

3. Plan ahead

Some people are just as busy during the weekend as they are on weekdays. Understandable. If you are living a busy life, then a better way to save time would be to order your weekly groceries at the local store and request a home delivery.

4. Pack a lunch

If you’re regularly having lunch at your office canteen just because you’re feeling lazy to cook or you seem to enjoy the taste of the food there, then you have a super cool option to cut down your expenses and improve your health by packing your own lunch from home. Start a new routine of eating homemade lunch at the office, and later on you’ll be happy that you did. All it takes is just 10 minutes to prepare a healthy lunch.

5. Have a smoothie for breakfast

If you are running low on ‘getting ready’ time, then a smoothie could be your perfect choice. Putting a mix of veggies, fruits, and some greens into the blender shouldn’t take too long, right? It should be a lot easier if you have the required ingredients washed and chopped in a small jar in your refrigerator.  All it takes is just a few seconds to wash and toss them into a blender.  So, this is another easy way to squeeze in more time on busy days.  

6. Move at work

Shifting our focus from diet to exercise, one important thing you need to do at your desk is practice stretching exercises.  Sitting for hours without much movement puts a lot of strain on your back, neck, and lower body. In turn, that causes muscle and joint pain. Stretching exercises can help relieve stiffness and soreness and make you more active and energetic at work.

7. Do HIIT

High intensity interval training is my favorite technique to burn more calories in less time. All it takes is just 20 minutes of HIIT a day to keep obesity and a range of deadly diseases away. There are a number of exercises under HIIT. Whether you’re going with burpees, push-ups, high knees, lunges, or mountain climbers, make sure you choose the ones that you are comfortable with and do them regularly.

8. Catch some Z’s

We all know that getting the minimum amount of sleep (eight hours a day) is essential for a healthy living, but we still fail to get enough zzzz. Did you know that in Japan, workers are offered napping cafes to get a quick nap after lunch? The fact is, napping doesn’t make you lazy but it improves your mental alertness, speed, and performance at work. Researchers suggest that the best time to take a short nap is between 1pm and 3pm after lunch. However, be warned that napping longer can make you groggy.

9. Adopt a pet

It is for the same reason that Google and Ben & Jerry’s allow workers to bring pets to workplace that you should adopt a pet (if you do not own one at present). Studies have proved that pets help reduce work related stress and boost the happiness and morale of their owners during stressful times. They also provide social support in addition to improving their owner’s physical and mental well being in a lot of other ways.

No matter how busy you are, you can be happy and healthy by following these simple ideas. Be happy. Cheers!

Evelyn is a fitness freak and blogger. According to her, natural diet and regular exercise are the biggest secrets of her good health, fitness, and beauty.