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Avoid This 7 Common Unhealthy Habits
You just finished a killer early morning workout and leave the gym to start your day strong. You go to your favorite coffee spot and grab a coffee (with cream and sugar) with an egg-white sandwich on whole-wheat bread (with a packet of salt and pepper). After your healthy morning start, you head to work and enjoy sitting in your chair after your sweat session this morning. When noon hits, you head to the local diner to order a healthy salad with crispy chicken and sautéed vegetables. You feel great about your choices and head back to the office. By mid afternoon, you head to the vending machine for a snack and drink. Since you already worked out this morning, you’re exhausted after work and head straight home to veg out on the couch. At the end of the day, you feel great about your day of healthy choices.
Think again. This seemingly “healthy” routine includes a range of unhealthy habits that can lead to added pounds and increased health risks. From thinking your tough workout gives you an excuse to be lazy to habitually add cream and sugar to your morning coffee, here are 5 things that you’re probably doing that is bad for you.
7 Common Unhealthy Habits
1. Using your workout as an excuse to move less.
Just because you exercised does give you an excuse to be lazy the rest of the day! Even if you
exercised, make sure that you still get in enough steps (10,000 per day is the recommended
amount) and be active throughout the day.
2. Adding sugar and cream into your coffee every morning.
An 8-oz cup of coffee contains 1 calorie and no fat. However, if you add sugar, cream, and other flavorings, you can add on an astonishing amount of calories. See the number of calories of 1 tablespoon of these following extras will add to coffee
(Coffee Maker Picks):
Whipping cream: 52 calories
Cream (½ & ½): 20 calories
Sugar: 49 calories
Skim milk: 5 calories
Honey: 63 calories
This can lead to the following additional calories:
Coffee: 16-oz = 2 calories
Coffee with sugar: 16-oz + 2 tbsp. sugar = 100 calories
Coffee with cream & sugar: 16-oz + 2 tbsp. sugar + 2 tbsp. cream = 204 calories
Which can add to:100-204 extra calories a day, 700-1,428 extra calories a week, 2,800- 5,712 extra calories a month, 33,600-68,544 extra calories a year
Which can lead to: 11-23 pound of weight gain a year!!!
3. Adding salt before you try your food.
Never add salt to your food before you try it! This habit leads to the potential of over-salting food and adding salt to food that is already heavily salted. Always try your food before salting it because 1 tsp. of table salt has 2,300 mg of sodium, which is the upper limit of sodium for healthy Americans set by The American Heart Association.
4. Not bringing snacks with you.
Fail to plan, plan to fail! If you don’t bring snacks with you, you are more likely to choose food options that are fast and convenient (i.e.: processed and packaged food) than fresh food choices (i.e.: fruits, vegetables, low/non-fat dairy, whole grains, lean proteins). Bring your own snacks, such as a bag of nuts, granola bars, fresh fruit, or individual yogurts, to save money and your health!
5. Ordering food that is described as: “crispy, crunchy, battered, browned”.
Restaurant menu verbiage has tricked us with these elegant sounding words… which all translate to fried!!! Fried foods are high in fat, which ranges from the long-term side effects of increased risk for heart diseases and short-term side effects of bloatedness, indigestion, and tiredness. Instead of these words, go for items described as: “baked, grilled, or roasted.”
6. Ordering food that is described as: “sautéed, smothered, scalloped, loaded, covered, creamed, buttered”.
This is another set of restaurant menu words to avoid. All these words translate to cooked with butter, oil, or cream sauce, which packs on a lot of unnecessary calories, fat, and sodium. Instead of these words, go for items described as “steamed, seasoned, boiled, or poached.”
7. Not carrying a water bottle with you.
Not carrying a water bottle with you during the day may lead to dehydration, feelings of hunger(when you’re really just thirsty), and consumption of other dehydrating beverages instead of water. Make sure to carry a water bottle with you, so you stay hydrated throughout the day.
Are you guilty of any of the follow things? Or are any of these consistent habits? If so, identify your weaknesses and make improvements. An improvement can be simply reducing the amount of cream and sugar in your coffee, only treating yourself certain days of the week, or going completely cold turkey and dropping this habit.
Don’t let your morning workout go to waste by sitting on the couch the rest of the day or choosing fancy words that sound health when dining out. After you finish a long day of working hard in the gym, office, and kitchen, make sure your hard work actually pays off and doesn’t go to waste. Whether you did or did not know that these 7 things you are probably doing that is actually bad for you, make the following healthy habitual changes and take control of your routines today.
