Three Tips To Better Health During American Diabetes Month
Stur is generously offering the opportunity for five lucky readers to win one bottle of the healthier water enhancer. I received no compensation in providing this post or giveaway. All opinions are my own.
November is American Diabetes Month, which means it’s important to reflect on the stats – that the disease affects nearly 25 million Americans and puts another 79 million at risk. This may sound scary, but the good news is eating healthy, getting more active, and watching your weight – can lower your risk. Sound like an arduous task? See me for Medical Nutrition Therapy coaching, or start with these three tips (and save the ideas to your pinterest board for later use by hovering over the photos!):
Task: Eat healthy
Goal: Include a rainbow of fruits and vegetables on your plate every day.
- Add red, blue, or purple foods – like pomegranate seeds, strawberries, or blueberries – to your morning oatmeal or yogurt.
- Enjoy a yellow or orange addition to a salad at lunch – yellow peppers, peaches, and roasted pumpkin all fit the bill.
- Go green at dinner: enjoy leafy greens like spinach, kale, or broccoleaf steamed and tossed with hemp hearts, or try avocado on top of your bowl of soup.
Task: Get more active
Goal: Try fun fitness apps on your smartphone.
- Make running a suspenseful adventure by outrunning zombies in the app Zombies, Run! Cost: $3.99.
- Work it with Sworkit Lite – choose your type of activity (do you want strength, cardio, or stretching?), number of minutes, and work through a workout customized just for you. Cost: free.
- Track your steps with Fitbit to see if you can rack up at least 10,000 steps per day. Cost of tracker: from $99.95, fitbit.com. App cost: free.
Task: Watch your weight
Goal: Enjoy better beverages.
- Sip on water throughout the day by storing it in a cool container like Lifefactory’s BPA-free glass water bottle.
- Enjoy water infused (i.e. soaked and strained) with fruits and herbs. Some favorites here at YES! include water infused with lemon, blueberries, and mint or water infused with oranges and cinnamon sticks.
- Stur things up with a better-for-you water enhancer. Water enhancers like Crystal Light and Mio drops include artificial sweeteners (like sucralose, acesulfame potassium) and artificial colors, too (like red #40, blue #1). Unfortunately, artificial sweeteners alter the gut microbiome and could actually be deleterious in attempts to ward off blood sugar problems (1, 2). Yuck. Luckily, Stur Drinks offers a more natural alternative...it is made with better ingredients like stevia (a sweetener from a plant and cleanly processed) and natural flavors (from fruit and vegetable extracts). Each bottle is 1.4 ounces, which means it’s tiny enough for in your purse or desk drawer, and gives you enough to flavor up to twenty 8 ounce glasses of water. Stur is giving away one bottle to 5 lucky readers! Use the rafflecopter below to enter the giveaway by commenting your favorite tip for drinking more water, liking YES! Nutrition on Facebook, or following me over on Twitter! Happy sipping :)