Times have changed. Especially once you have kids, it is difficult to find an hour to get to the gym or take a yoga class. Plus considering the drive time, prep time, etc – this gets to be a big chunk of your day. AND, it’s difficult to find time to sit down and eat a healthy meal! Often we’re grabbing fast-food and eating from the kid’s french fries in the car. So, what do you do to get a better body? Here are some of my tips:

-Exercise in intervals. Do butt crunches while you’re driving. Turn on the radio and do a celebration dance with the kids when they get home. Do leg lifts while you’re cooking dinner, work in some squats when you feed the dog. Take the stairs instead of the elevator when going to an appointment. Park in the furthest spot away at the grocery store.

-Make healthy meals, double the recipe, and freeze half. When you’re tempted to call for pizza there’s a healthy meal just waiting to be nuked instead.

-Keep healthy snacks HANDY. Instead of just buying carrots – buy the little bag of cut-up carrots, or cut them up yourself, and keep them in your line of sight in the refrigerator. Have a little jar of trail mix or some nuts and dried fruit in your car at all times, so when you get the munchies you can have that instead of hitting the drive-through.

-Go vegetarian! This is pretty simple to do these days. Plus, when you replace animal products with soy the biggest benefit is a better body because it’s a HEALTHIER body.

-Spend time with nature. Mind and body are intricately linked. When you feel better mentally, you feel better physically, too. Get out in the fresh air, feel the grass between your toes, recognize your connection with mother earth. A few minutes of quiet time every day will do you a world of good.

-Don’t keep eating until you are 100% full. This is too much food – it slows down your digestion and makes you feel sluggish. Eat until you are about 70% full. This is plenty of food to nourish your body and keep you going until your next meal.

-Take your time eating. Look at what you are eating and experience the colors, tastes and smells. You will enjoy your meal much more this way, and you will be better able to keep tabs on the signals that your body is giving you as to what, and how much, it needs.