7 Healthy Swaps that Add Up

By , SparkPeople Blogger
At SparkPeople, we strongly believe that the small, everyday choices you make can add up to something amazing. Healthy living isn't about making drastic changes all at once; it's about adding small pieces to the puzzle to end up with fantastic and sustainable results over time. No healthy choice is too small, either: See how these seemingly tiny changes can add up to better your health BIG time in the long run! Try adding some of them to your routine and see where they take you.    
  1. Need to eat more fruit? Add some sliced bananas to your cereal in the morning and fresh berries to your yogurt for a snack or as part of your lunch. If you eat two servings of fruit a day for a year, you will have enjoyed 730 servings of fruit!

  2. For a healthier meat choice, select a skinless chicken breast instead of one with skin. This will cut a quick 50 calories!  If you enjoy chicken three times a week, that’s a yearly savings of 7,300 calories.

  3. Wine is one of the lowest-calorie alcohol selections you can make. Save additional calories by diluting your wine with soda water to make a wine spritzer. A wine spritzer made with three ounces of wine only has 60 calories. One wine spritzer treat a week for a year only provides 3,120 calories, which can easily fit into a healthy and active lifestyle.

  4. Take back some of the household chores and claim the calorie boost that goes with them. Mowing your yard, raking leaves or washing the car for 20 minutes will burn about 100 calories. Say goodbye to your yard help, or cut out visits to the automatic car wash and do one of these activities yourself a dozen times this year. You will burn 1,200 calories and save at least $180 at the same time!

  5. Saving money can be easier than you think. Opt for free tap water at restaurants instead of a diet soda and save $2 on your tab (plus, you'll be foregoing artificial sweeteners). If you dine out twice a week, you’ll pocket more than $208 this year.

  6. Do you enjoy sandwiches? By swapping out the mayonnaise for mustard when ordering a hamburger or deli sandwich, you can save 54 calories. If you order one sandwich a week, this small change will save you 2,808 calories a year.

  7. A 150-pound person burns about five calories per flight of stairs. If you walk the three flights up to your office in the morning and after lunch instead of taking the elevator, you will burn an additional 30 calories each day. Do that every day you work all year and you will burn over 7,200 additional calories. That means you can lose two pounds a year just by skipping the elevator!

The next time you think about forgoing that ''insignificant'' healthy choice, remember that your desired results are a sum of hundreds (even thousands!) of small decisions that add up in a major way. Keep making those little tweaks and you WILL start reaping the benefits of a healthier life!
 
What small changes will you be making to reach your goals?