5 Ways to Stay Healthy this Summer

Summer is here in full swing and for me, there is something theraputic about summer. People like to make goals to be healthy with the New Year in January, but for me, I like to reevaluate my life, and do all that jazz in the summer. So this year I'm doing some things to stay healthy. This is not a diet, weight loss regimen, etc... These are just simple things I'm doing in an effort for overall health. Because I like my life and want to keep on living it. 

1. Drink More Water: I mentioned a couple weeks ago how I try to drink 60oz of water per day. This summer though, with the heat and everything else, I'm feeling even more dehydrated, and want to shoot for a solid 100 ounces per day. I'm also hoping that this improves the terrible skin breakout I've been experiencing lately. 

2. Get Plenty of Exercise: I've realized that I have more energy, am in a better mood, and more pleasant to be around when I exercise regularly. I don't have a gym membership but there are three things I like to do that don't involve leaving your house and driving somewhere. 

Go on Walks: Lucky for us we have the worlds worst double stroller. It weighs 30 pounds by itself, and then my babies add another 50 pounds to that, so when we go on walks its me, plus the pushing of an extra 80 pounds. It's painful, but I'm burning extra calories... no pain no gain right? 

Go on a Run: I've recently fallen in love with running again and it feels great! If it's not too hot where you live (people tell me here that it's too hot and that I should stop, but I feel like I work out better in the heat... this is coming from a hot yoga addict though), go on a run through your neighborhood to get your heart rate up and help tone up those leg muscles!

Fitnessblender.com:  I discovered fitness blender when I lived in NC and was too afraid to run outside in our slightly sketchy neighborhood. They have all different types of workout videos for free on there! You can do anything from yoga, to more intense p90x type stuff. The best part is that most of the videos don't require additional equipment. 

3. Get Enough Sleep: As I'm sure you all can tell, I've had a lot more posts going up over here lately which has typically meant a lot of late nights for me. I kept telling myself that it's okay to stay up late because tonight will be the night Em will finally sleep through the night. I've smartened up though and realized that it's probably not going to happen ever, so I made a new rule that the computer and phone get turned off at 9 and I'm in bed. I couldn't tell you how much better my quality of life has gotten since I started going to bed earlier. 

4. More Meaningful Family Time: While we have family time everyday, I've been really striving to make it more meaningful lately. We've been putting our phones away everyday from the time Derek gets home from work, until the kids go to bed, and I couldn't tell you how much more we all connect as a family when we disconnect from the world. It's the best. And this totally counts as mental health which is an aspect of health. 

5. Eat a Good Breakfast: I have to admit, I hate breakfast. Unless it's pancakes, waffles, or French Toast. Which I know is not good. I also know that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, and that I should be eating it more than just on Saturday morning. I've also realized that as a Flammily (see what I did there?), we've kind of become accidental vegetarians. We don't really eat meat ever... not on purpose, just most of the things we like to eat for dinner don't have meat. 

I realized that  I don't eat nearly as much protein as I should. Out of the 40 grams I should be eating in a day, I probably only get about 25-30 so I've decided to start my mornings off with Yoplait's new Plenti Greek Yogurt. It's 150 calories with 12 grams of much needed protein. It's also blended with flax and pumpkin seeds, and whole grain oats. You're basically getting all the nutrients you could need for breakfast in one 5 1/2 ounce container of yogurt. If you need a flavor recommendation, I'm all about the peach one right now. I'm pretty sure I've had it every morning for the last week. 

Also, because I love you guys, and because I want you to have an awesome summer, I'm hosting a $20 Paypal cash giveaway. Giveaway will run from 6/30/15-8/21/15. Use the rafflecopter below to enter. Also, the winner of the $50 Visa giftcard was Colette M. You have 24 hours to respond to my email before a new winner is chosen!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Those are my tips for staying healthy this summer! What are you doing to stay healthy this summer? Let me know in the comments below!