What Is #Lazyhealthy?
Not every day can be loaded with victories! Sometimes you just have to be lazy. Good news is, with the right tips and ingredients, you can still get healthy while being lazy. Read on for 11 no-excuse lifestyle tips for the ones who feel they don’t have the time.
RELATED: Balancing A Healthy Life While Living A Tight Schedule
For a lot of people, life is overwhelming and hard work. That can include reaching health goals.
Good intentions only get you so far, but we get it!
Motivation is hard, so here’s how to be lazy and healthy!
#lazyhealthy is the ultimate mood when stress, work, and life all hit at once. Times at which focusing on your health may seem difficult. Eating may become a challenge. You may feel your appetite disappear or not want to get up to eat. The problem is we still need to eat. Sometimes, the solution can simply be finding quick, easy life and meal hacks. This is where #lazyhealthy comes in.
#Lazyhealthy has been popping up all over social media, a slogan describing where the struggle between relaxing and planning meets.
Here is a guide to staying healthy while having your lazy days, too!
1. Take Kitchen Shortcuts with Batch Cooking
You can take shortcuts while cooking and still have nutritious, tasty meals. One way is through batch cooking. By cooking a large amount at once, you save yourself time during the week and have healthy prepared food. By taking a few extra minutes one day and preparing more food, you’ll thank yourself the next day. Basically, a few extra minutes one day can save you an hour later.
2. Meal Plan Your Lazy Healthy Meals
Meal planning is similar to batch cooking, but you plan your entire week in advance. This helps eliminate decision fatigue and helps you stay on track with your diet. With meal planning, you make all your meals and portion them ahead of time, so when the busy week hits you have no excuses --everything you need is available to you in the refrigerator, pre-made. All you have to do is heat it up, or add whatever sauces you may have set aside.
Tip: When you meal plan, think about how you can use your leftovers in a creative way.
One idea is to prepare a large quantity of one versatile vegetable, like sweet potatoes, and use them in several different recipes throughout the week. Some of our favorite recipes are: Vegan Quesadilla with Sweet Potatoes, a savory Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie, some fun Sweet Potato Guacamole Sliders, and these Plant-Based Soups that are easy to make in advance and freeze for later — Easy, healthy meal planning at its finest!
3. Eat Healthy Store-Bought Food
Store-bought prepared foods can be quick, healthy additions to your meal plan. Do your research ahead of time, so you know the products and brands you can trust. For example, Siete grain-free tortilla wraps are a great option.
Other suggestions from the store include:
- Hummus
- Nut butter
- Guacamole
- Crackers
- Clean protein bars
- Kombucha
- Green juices (use Ormus SuperGreens)
- Hemp hearts
- Seaweed snacks
- Fermented foods
- Frozen fruits and vegetables
For snacks, keep pre-cut vegetables such as carrot sticks, celery, and cucumber on hand. Additional fresh, easy, healthy snacks include avocado, greens, and nuts. Keep a few of these portable snacks in your bag, so you’re prepared when you need an energy boost.
- Make extra smoothies throughout the week and then freeze them. Place a frozen smoothie in the fridge at night, and then it is ready to drink in the morning when you don’t have time to make breakfast. Or throw a frozen smoothie in your bag and enjoy it a few hours later.
- Keep beans on hand. These proteins are perfect for adding to soups, salads, wraps, and stews.
- For sweet treats, keep some unsweetened dried fruit, fresh fruit, or dark chocolate nearby for those mid-afternoon cravings and as a pick-me-up.
4. Prep and Plant to Be Healthy on the Go
Want to be lazy and healthy while you travel? If you find yourself not prepared or in a rush, throw some vegetables in a bag with a mini cutting board.
The following vegetables are easy hand foods that do not require cutting:
- mini peppers
- mini cucumbers
- baby carrots
- celery
However, if you want to make a more elaborate meal on the go or at work, keep a pocket knife and cutting board with you. Some stores even sell combination utensils where a fork, spoon, and knife are combined in one compact device. These tools are great to have for travel meals. This is key to being able to cut fresh ingredients and be prepared.
5. Take Care of Your Body While Watching TV
Are you a couch potato? Living a sedentary lifestyle is putting your health at risk. A 2019 study associated prolonged sitting with premature death and increased risk of cardiovascular disease among the least active adults. Fortunately, there are ways to nurture your body while watching your favorite Netflix show. One, you can do some workouts for and lose weight.
A simple “lazy” exercise is to run on a treadmill. Running (or even speed-walking) throughout the length of a show should increase your metabolic rate or the rate at which you burn calories. If you don’t like to work out, then you can practice deep breathing exercises. It helps bring your stress levels down and reduces your risk for hypertension and heart disease.
An easy way to do it is to breathe between your nostrils, alternating sides. Here’s how:
- Close your right nostril with your finger and breathe in with your left nostril.
- Allow the air to occupy your lungs and contract your abdomen. When you exhale, close your left nostril and give out air on the right.
- Repeat the process for at least five minutes in the morning and another five minutes in the evening.
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6. Sit and Relax
Did you know being lazy once in a while is one of the most underrated health tips? Sometimes, when you’re too busy, your brain goes into information overload. It may seem as if there’s too much noise in your head. It can potentially increase the chances of feeling anxious or stressed. Take a break and sit back and relax. Also consider taking a lavender bath, reading a book, or writing in a journal.
7. Get Some Sleep
It’s still possible to not see the fruits of your exercise even if you do everything right. It usually happens when you lack sleep.
You need sleep to maintain a variety of body functions. These include:
- Better cognitive performance
- Muscle or tissue recovery
- Immune system function
- Regulation of body temperature
- Energy conservation
- Prevention of high blood pressure
How much sleep should people get? It depends on many factors, such as age and lifestyle. On average, adults need between seven and nine hours, and younger people require even more.
8. Bring The Gym Home or To The Office
A lot of people may sign up for gym memberships at the beginning of the year and lose the ambition to exercise in a few weeks. You’re only wasting money. What you can do instead is to spend it on at-home equipment, making it even easier to find time to exercise. One of the easiest ways to workout at home is with a stability ball. Stability balls are big and bouncy, and can be used in exchange for a conventional office chair. They can help burn calories as they force you to stay engaged and move to keep yourself balanced.
They can even strengthen your core or your abs as you work on your balance. A lot of people now search online videos of yoga with stability balls as well. You can do the same during your lunch break. Another option is to do it 30 minutes before you go home. You don’t even need to do these exercises daily. But to see results, though, do them as often as you can.
9. Walk In Nature
If running or cycling doesn’t fit your lifestyle, then perhaps walking will. To be specific, consider walking outside in nature. Find the easiest and the shortest trail nearby, and go out to appreciate all that nature has to offer. Nature has a way of improving the way our brains work. For example, it enhances concentration.
In an Australian study, students who spent micro-breaks viewing a city scene with a flowering meadow green roof for as short as 40 seconds would boost their sustained attention and made fewer errors. They also showed greater consistency in responding to tasks than those who viewed concrete roofs.
10. Curb Junk Food to Maintain a Healthy Diet
One of the best ways to curb your junk food cravings is to skip the junk food aisle all together. That way you aren’t tempted to pick-up the processed foods that may not be as healthy for you. Even though some packages say vegan, gluten-free or organic, it doesn’t always mean they are healthy. They may still contain a high sugar content, unhealthy fats, or preservatives that are not beneficial to our bodies. Another way to stay #lazyhealthy is to cook your food in a slow cooker. Just dump all your ingredients inside, set the ideal cooking time, and voila! Now you have more time to do other things. You may even prep your meals for the next day at night, sleep, and then have some good food ready to go as soon as you wake up.
11. Work on Changing Your Lazy Habits
The key to overcoming your lazy habits is not to work harder but to work smarter. Here are three tips for those who want to overhaul their unhealthy lifestyle:
- Understand what triggers your unhealthy decision making. For instance, you may eat more at lunch and dinner when you skip breakfast.
- Change your triggers to promote a healthier habit. Using the example above, you may prep your breakfast meals on weekends, so you can grab and go.
- Swap your unhealthy habits with good ones. For example, exchange those game tickets and find a sport you like to play instead, such as golf, or pickleball. Enroll in a dance class or try archery!
Together with Dr. Weston, learn why self-discipline is important in this video from Sunwarrior:
Next time you’re having a lazy day, don’t feel bad - just be prepared! You can still take care of yourself and even break bad habits during lazy periods. How are you productive and healthy even when you’re having a lazy day? Share your tips in the comments section below.
Up Next:
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on May 14, 2019, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
