Many people don’t realize the consequences little things have on their health. But when you do these little things every day, it starts to add up and can compromise your health and weight loss efforts. Check out these 6 every-day habits that may be acting to your detriment.

1. Your coffee

Coffee is one of the crops most highly sprayed with pesticides. This means that your coffee beans, although seemingly innocent, may be leeching chemicals into your body.

How do you avoid this? Buy organic! Find a local coffee shop that has an organic blend. If you buy instant coffee, also switch this for an organic one. I use ‘Republica’ organic coffee (available from Coles), which tastes better than most instant coffees I’ve tried and it’s better for you.

How you drink your coffee could also be taking its toll. Do you enjoy a latte or a cappuccino? Everyone is mildly sensitive to lactose, and drinking a full cup of dairy won’t do you any favours. Dairy also causes inflammation within the body, so it can stop you getting that lean and ripped effect. Drink your coffee black. You get used to it.

2. Your ‘healthy’ breakfast

Do you sit down over morning with your bowl of natural muesli, banana, yoghurt and honey and applaud yourself for being so healthy? Unfortunately there is more than one reason why this isn’t a good way to start your day. Here they are:

• If you buy your muesli, it is probably full of preservatives, sugar, sulphites in the dried fruit, and other nasties.
• Even if you make your own muesli or have found a packet one which you believe to be free of artificial additives, starting your day with a big bowl of carbs is only going to cause a big spike in your blood sugar levels, which when they plummet, will lead to sugar cravings later in the day and potentially an afternoon crash.
• Banana, honey and yogurt may sound healthy but they too are full of sugar and will cause the same spike in blood sugar/ sugar cravings/ afternoon slump.
• There is little protein in the meal. Even if you are using a high protein Greek Yoghurt, it’s not the same as eating meat or eggs for breakfast.

The best way to start your day is with a high protein, low carb meal instead – like a vegetable omelette. A savoury meal as opposed to a sweet meal will stop you craving sugars later in the day by avoiding that initial spike of your blood sugar. Meat and veg is a great breakfast too, if you can stomach it at that time of day. I know I can’t, but if you can I would definitely recommend eating meat for breakfast.

3. Your job/ Your study

Do you have a high-pressure job or study load? Stress is a huge factor in body fat, due to the hormone cortisol. Cortisol is released when you stress, and leads to the storage of body fat. Unfortunately we all have stress in our lives, but the way you cope with it will play a role in your body fat storage. This is particularly the case with fat around the stomach. I am a massive stresshead, and tend to fill my days to the absolute brim, causing myself more stress. I’ve managed to decrease this slightly by supplementing with Magnesium, practicing meditation, and just generally taking ‘me’ time. Your body will benefit from cutting the stresses out of your life, or at least learning to manage them.

4. Your vegetables

Vegetables are healthy, right? Well unfortunately in this day and age where farmers are more concerned with the yield of their crop than the quality of it, we are being sold vegetables laden with chemical pesticides. The best way to avoid this is to buy organic vegetables. There are some vegetables where this is more important than others – you can find lists online of the vegetables that are most highly treated with pesticides and thus should always be bought organic.

5. Your beauty routine

Toxins make their way into your body not only through your food but through your skin. I tend to harp on about this a lot, so if you follow my blog you probably already know that! Toxins cause the storage of body fat because they slow the detoxification process of the liver (basically because it has more work to do), so it can’t adequately remove all the toxins from the body. This causes the toxins to be stored in the body (in the form of fat and/or inflammation). The best way to limit this is either trying to wear less make up, or wear it less often, and switch to certified organic products. One of my favourite beauty products is coconut oil. You can use it as a moisturizer, and even as an eye make-up remover!

6. Your cooking methods

Many people still cook with olive oil or vegetable oil. Cooking with olive oil is a bad idea because when you heat it beyond a certain point, it loses all its nutritional value. Even worse – heating it actually releases harmful, carcinogenic compounds. Vegetable oils shouldn’t be used as an alternative because they are full of trans fat. Instead, it is best to cook with extra virgin coconut oil – it’s good fat, it tastes delicious, and it doesn’t become carcinogenic once heated.

Changing these few things can make a big difference to your health. I hope you learnt something by reading this 🙂

With love,
B. xx