September: good intentions to get back in shape: expert advice

September has always been the month of good intentions to get back in shape , sometimes more than New Year’s. After the summer addictions, you always want to get back in line and improve. In a certain sense, the desire to see ourselves better and the stimulus that allows us to start the year of work again without missing too much vacation.

The good resolutions par excellence
The good resolutions par excellence are usually two:

• “From September I enroll in the gym / I start a sport / I go running every day / etc.”
• “From September I start eating well and healthy!”

Let’s see together how to put them into practice in an effective and lasting way and that they do not prove to be only September enthusiasms that vanish into thin air with the beginning of October.

Good resolution number 1: doing sport
Sporting is essential to feel good because in addition to improving our physical shape and reducing fat mass in favor of lean mass, it is a very precious relief valve for work stress, especially when returning.
But be careful not to overdo it and not to overdo the workouts after a period in which you have been stationary because it could be counterproductive both physically (you could risk hurting yourself!) And mentally because you would add stress to what you already live by returning to Work.
My tips for getting sport into your new routine are first of all to choose a sporting activity that you really like: it doesn’t make sense that you join the gym if you hate being indoors as well as choose to go running if you have always hated it. . There are so many options now that you are spoiled for choice: from calistenics to crossfit, from boxing to yoga (choose vinyasa, ashtanga or power yoga if you are looking for a more intense activity or hatha yoga if you want a slower activity. but still invigorating), from dance classes to HIIT (high intensity interval training) workouts.
Give it a try and choose the activity that’s right for you and set yourself some real goals. It is useless to force yourself to play sports five times a week if you do not actually have the time: you then risk feeling frustrated for not being able to meet the set goal and throw everything upside down.
Good habits are built slowly and consistently. Never forget that.

Good resolution number 2: eat healthy
Eating healthy is of fundamental importance for our health and for having more energy. However, it is very important that “eating healthy” is not confused with “eating sadly”: in doing so, our good intentions fail within two days!
Eating healthy means eating nutritious and natural foods without sacrificing taste.
Instead of upsetting our diet from one day to the next, it is much better to follow these small steps with the aim of making them become good habits:
Replace the classic white pasta with wholemeal pasta or even better than spelled or timilia, an ancient grain. Choose it of organic origin if you can since wheat is unfortunately often genetically modified and too rich in gluten, an inflammatory protein.

Foods to be preferred

• Replace white rice with brown rice , black rice and red rice ;
• Replace the classic white bread with wholemeal bread if possible with natural leavening. There are now bakeries that bake excellent bread made with ancient grain flours and mother yeast;
• Replace the white sugar with whole cane sugar (the dark brown one) or with honey or maple syrup. But don’t fall into the trap of artificial sweeteners based on aspartame which are worse than sugar!
• Avoid prepackaged products such as biscuits, crackers, snacks, breadsticks, cereals, etc. rich in refined flours, sugar and refined vegetable oils that are definitely unhealthy.
• Prefer the consumption of goat and sheep dairy products (if possible of biological origin) to those vaccines because they are more digestible;
• Choose organic eggs so that you can fully enjoy all the nutrients of the eggs without worrying about antibiotics and hormones which unfortunately are given to intensively reared hens;
• Prefer white meat (chicken and turkey above all) of organic origin or purchased from the trusted farmer without antibiotics and hormones;
• Choose grass-fed red meat that contains anti-inflammatory omega-3 fat such as those contained in fish;
• Reduce the consumption of cold cuts too rich in salt and carcinogenic substances (nitrites and nitrates);
• Include in your diet legumes, nuts (walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, pistachios, pine nuts, etc.) and seeds (sunflower seeds, pumpkin, hemp, chia, flax and sesame);
• Use extra virgin olive oil, abandoning vegetable oils. The only one to use is coconut oil for the preparation of desserts and raw flaxseed oil or hemp seeds to dress salads and vegetables.

It is not necessary to upset one’s diet overnight, and much better to implement every small change while respecting the right times for each of us. Only in this way will these changes become habits that we will always carry with us.

The good intentions we forget about
There are, then, two good intentions that should actually be two priorities, but that we often don’t consider:

• Learn not to live to work, but to work to live!
• Taking care of ourselves even with a correct integration to have all the energy to better face the new year of work and everyday life.

Good resolutions forgotten: number 1 reducing work stress
Let’s remember for a moment how good we are on vacation, how we feel light and carefree. You would not want to stay like this all year
. Unfortunately it is impossible, but we can do a lot to avoid being engulfed by work more than necessary.
After all, we must never forget that we should work to live and not live to work!
Let us remember to take our spaces whether they are for sport, for an evening with friends, to go to the cinema or to an exhibition or to do what we love most. Even organizing a few weekends out of town to disconnect a little is very important: there is nothing like a weekend out of town that allows us to recharge our batteries. Why not plan them now
Additional help can come from meditation and yoga. If you have never tried them, take them into consideration and you will see how they will turn your life around.

Good resolutions forgotten: number 2 supporting our body
It is really important to support our body not only through nutrition, sport and stress reduction, but also with proper integration.
There are two natural supplements that should never be given up:

• A multivitamin to make sure you have the correct daily intake of vitamins and minerals, essential for the proper functioning of our body.
  The ESI Multicomplex line is perfect because it allows you to find the most suitable multivitamin based on age and lifestyle.
• Omega 3 , essential to guarantee our body the correct production of anti-inflammatory substances (prostaglandins) that protect not only our heart, but the whole body. Furthermore, omega 3s are essential for the composition of cell membranes and for hydrating and lubricating tissues. They are often lacking in our diet, which is why it is very important to integrate them daily.
  A great example is ESI’s Omega3 which contains only pure oily fish oil. If you follow a vegan diet, ESI has created a completely vegetable formulation, Omegactive, based on vegetable oil seed oil.

With all these tips you have no more excuses! May this September not only be the month of good intentions, but also the month in which to create the foundations for new and good habits.