If you’re even a little bit sensible, you would know that the best way to a healthy and disease-free life is to eat right, get enough exercise into your routine, be more active, and try and remain free from stress. The trouble is, we are so used to eating what we like and when we like that it becomes really hard when we’re forced to switch to healthier food habits because of illness or poor health. Change, even when it is for the better, is extremely difficult. So it makes more sense to introduce it gradually into your life, little by little so that you hardly realize you are making the change. Switching over to a healthy diet is easy if you just follow the below advice:

• Reduce your sugar intake: Sugar is responsible for a host of ills, including diabetes and obesity. You don’t have to cut it out of your life altogether; it’s enough if you reduce the amount you eat. Use one spoon where you used to use two, and if you must have your coffee or juice with two or more spoons, try and reduce the number of coffees or juices you drink.
• Cut back on the oil: Oil, especially the unsaturated kind, is responsible for increasing your bad cholesterol and giving you heartburn. Eat grilled instead of fried foods (they taste just as good), and use a spray can rather than a spoon when you’re sautéing food.
• Eat a fruit a day: Fruits are full of vitamins and other nutrients, and the more brightly colored they are, the better they are for your health. Make it a point to eat at least one fruit a day, in some form. Buy fruits that are in season to minimize your expenses and also increase your variety. If you don’t like to eat fruit, at least drink it up as juice.
• Switch to low-fat options: Most of your favorite food comes in low fat varieties that are both tasty and low on calories. Make the switch before you are beset by obesity and other diet and lifestyle related diseases.
• Share temptation: You will be tempted to eat ice cream, pastries and other food items that are definitely not good for your health, and although it makes sense to tell yourself to stay true to your diet, restricting yourself too much only makes you binge when you lose control. It’s better to limit yourself to eating your favorite food once in a while, and it’s best if you share it with a friend so that your portion is limited.

We eat to live, not live to eat. Keeping that in mind every time we’re tempted to have our way with food will keep you on the right track to a healthy diet and a disease-free life.

This article is written by Kat Sanders, who regularly blogs on the topic of x ray technician salary at her blog The X-Ray Vision-aries Blog. She welcomes your comments and questions at her email address: katsanders25@gmail.com.

I’ve just been on holiday (that’s “vacation” to US readers) for the last week … enjoying long walks, castles, and various bumpy bus rides in Northumberland (north-east of England). Oh, and enjoying rather a lot of cake and ice-cream…

It’s back into sensible eating this week, and sometimes a dose of encouragement and inspiration can help me get over that end-of-holiday feeling. So I was delighted to find out that The Office Diet has been included on a list of “Top 50 Incredibly Inspiring Weight-Loss Blogs“.

If your motivation’s at a bit of a low ebb, why not check out some of the other great blogs on that list?

Is the credit crunch eating into your gym budget? Subway are running a competition to win a year’s free gym membership - you don’t need to buy a sub to enter, just take a look at this video and read the competition rules.

The competition is being promoted by Jared Fogle on his blog Jared245 - the chap who famously lost 245lbs on a diet of Subways.

When I was working in an office full time, with a Subway just round the corner, an occasional sub made a nice healthy treat (I like the veggie sub on wheat bread with as much salad as they can cram in!) Sadly, this competition is only open to US residents, so I can’t enter myself, but hopefully some of The Office Diet’s readers might be able to…

Fitness for those of us chained to our desks seems to be a big topic at the moment. Hot on the heels of the Desk Exercises For Office Workers from Adam Steer, another blog has published a wonderful compilation of sites that offer various tips aimed at keeping office workers healthy:

50 Simple Techniques for Staying Fit Whilst Stuck At Your Desk

(I was very flattered to see that The Office Diet comes in at number 3 on the list!)

This is a guest post from Katie Wilson, reminding us why getting to, and maintaining, a healthy weight is important for so much more than just how we look.

We all know that maintain a sensible weight is good for your overall health and well-being. Often, however, people put sensibility aside when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. What follows is a brief list of reasons why it’s crucial for good health to maintain a sensible weight.

Cardiovascular Complications

Extra weight puts extra strain on your heart, which can lead to all sorts of cardiovascular complications. Obesity can lead to heart disease and related problems like heart attacks. Taking care of your heart for the long run requires that you maintain a sensible weight and adopt a healthy lifestyle in order to prevent dire complications down the road. Rather than waiting for problems to arise, be proactive and take charge of your weight.

Diabetes and Related Complications

Obesity can contribute to the development of diabetes, which can ultimately be a debilitating disease if not properly managed. Managing diabetes, however, may not be in your future if you begin to take care of yourself and make the proper changes in diet and lifestyle now. Complications from diabetes can be very serious, including coma, loss of sight, amputation of limbs, and early death. Manage your lifestyle now so that these complications won’t be something for you to worry about down the road.

High Blood Pressure

Carrying around more weight puts more stress on your circulatory system and can ultimately lead to high blood pressure. Complications related to high blood pressure can be quite serious, but getting rid of extra weight will help ensure that your system isn’t trying to deal with the excess amounts of fluid required for a larger and heavier body. Reducing weight will ultimately help put you on the right track for a healthier body overall, along with lower blood pressure.

Stroke

Obesity can lead to higher fatty deposits in the arteries, including the arteries in the brain. This environment makes strokes something that is far more likely than if you were at your ideal body weight. Working on adopting a sensible diet, healthier activities, and decreasing weight will help safeguard you against complications like strokes.

This post was contributed by Katie Wilson, who writes about the top nursing programs. She welcomes your feedback at KatieWilson06 at gmail.com

Just a quick post today. Adam Steer from the Better is Better blog has a  list of mobility exercises for office workers. If you spend most of your day at your desk, in front of the computer, these are some good ways to limber up.

You might also enjoy an article from About.com - Best Stretches For Office Workers.

Why not take a quick break from your desk right now?