When it comes to looking after yourself, you need to be careful. Often, people tend to hyperfocus on one thing and then forget about everything else. It’s easy to do and it happens to the best of us, but it’s something that you need to try and avoid where possible. Down below, we’re going to be giving you a few ideas as to some of the areas that you should focus on, so keep reading if you would like to find out more about them.

What You Eat

The first thing that you need to do is make sure you are eating what is good for your body. Of course, an indulgence every now and then is not going to be a problem, but you should not be eating takeout for every meal, every day of the week. It’s an easy and convenient solution, we will give you that, but it is no good for your body. Instead, you should be making home cooked meals that are full of the things that you need, and cooking them in a way that doesn’t fill them with fat or oil. For example, you can check out a post on how to make burgers on the ninja foodi which will be one excellent meal idea. You can find plenty more online and in cookbooks, so don’t be afraid to go and look for them.

The People You Interact With

The next thing that we’re going to mention is the people that you interact with. The people that you have around you will shape your life in one way or another. They will either make you feel good about yourself, encouraging you to do the things that you want to do and building you up. Or, they will take the opposite route and be extremely critical of everything that you do, make you feel bad for doing things that don’t benefit them and so on. When you come across the latter, or when you realize that this is what they are doing, you need to talk to them about it. If they don’t change, then it’s time to cut them out of your life because you don’t need that. It doesn’t matter who they are, nobody gets to make you feel bad about yourself.

Your Exercise Routine

The final thing that we are going to talk about is your exercise routine. How many times do you exercise per week? Think about your health and fitness goals, and then work out if you are doing enough of the right exercises to meet them. If you’re not an exercise person, then make sure you are at least doing something simple like going for a walk everyday. This is enough to get your muscles warm and doesn’t mean that you have to feel as though you are giving yourself a heart attack.

We hope that you have found this article helpful, and now see some of the areas that you have got to look after if you’re going to be taking care of yourself. You do need to look after all areas of your life, but these are just a few that we thought we would mention. Good luck, and we hope that your health stays in the best possible condition.

*collaborative post

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What is “sustainability”? Essentially, it’s a producer and consumer’s version of a physician’s Hippocratic Oath: First, do no harm — in this case, to the environment.

Way more than a buzzword, it’s an ethos you can actively apply to your everyday life via:

• the groceries you buy
• the restaurants you patronize
• the businesses you support
• the products you use

Here’s a glossary of some of the most important sustainability terms, starting with the concept itself.

What Is Sustainability?

“Sustainable agriculture practices have the ability to increase food production without increasing environmental degradation,” explains Dana Ellis Hunnes, Ph.D., M.P.H., R.D., a senior dietitian at RR-UCLA Medical Center and author of the upcoming book Recipe for Survival: What You Can Do to Live a Healthier and More Environmentally Friendly Life (Cambridge University Press).

Among other things, sustainable farmers work to improve the soil — reducing erosion and improving its ability to store water and nutrients — by using organic and regenerative farming techniques, such as composting.

“Foods are considered to be sustainable when growing them can be done without compromising economic, ecological, or socio-political needs,” says Hunnes.

That ethos applies to the producers and manufacturers of other products as well.

Pro tip: Read more about Beachbody’s commitment to sustainability, fair-trade practices, and quality in the production of Shakeology.

1. Carbon footprint

According to the Center for Sustainable Systems at the University of Michigan, a carbon footprint is the total greenhouse gas emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event, or product.

Food accounts for 10% to 30% of a household’s total carbon footprint, 68% of that from food production and 5% from transportation.

Meat has a much higher carbon footprint than plant products.

2. Composting

“Composting is a natural process of rotting or decomposition of organic matter,” says Hunnes.

Crop residues, animal waste, food discards, and other fibrous materials (such as paper) are gathered and allowed to decompose, then used as fertilizer for new crops.

“This increases the uptake of healthy nutrients — such as vitamins, minerals, and other bioactive compounds — into crops themselves, and decreases or eliminates the need for inorganic fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides,” she explains.

3. Fair-Trade

This is both a social and environmental aspect of sustainability, aimed at helping farmers and manufacturers in developing countries.

“The basic tenet of fair-trade is that it supports responsible companies, empowers farmers, workers, and fishermen, and protects the environment by paying workers a fair price for the product and the work they do, regardless of the volatility in market prices,” says Hunnes. “Fair-trade producers tend to engage in environmental stewardship, prohibiting the use of harmful chemicals and taking measures to protect and regenerate natural resources.”

4. Green products

The definition of a green product is sort of diffuse and murky. (This enables greenwashing; see below.)

After studying a range of interpretations of the term, researchers writing in a 2019 issue of Journal of Economic Surveys proposed this overarching definition: “A product (tangible or intangible) that minimizes its environmental impact (direct and indirect) during its whole life cycle, subject to the present technological and scientific status.”

5. Greenwashing

When a manufacturer takes advantage of the ambiguous definition of “green products” to pass their product off as environmentally responsible when it really isn’t.

6. Locally grown

“Local food markets typically involve smaller farms that grow or raise a variety of products and have short supply chains,” says Hunnes. “Farmers often perform all of their own marketing functions including the storage, packaging, transportation, distribution, and advertising of their products.”

The benefits of local food systems include enhancing employment and income within their communities and reducing the amount of energy required and greenhouse gases emitted to transport products from farm to market.

7. Locavore, or Localvore

Someone who eats only locally grown foods.

8. Organic

“Organic farming prohibits the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, requires certification bodies to certify producers based on a set of production standards,” says Hunnes. “(It) tends to rely more on healthy living systems, taking advantage of biological diversity and the recycling of nutrients.”

9. Regenerative Farming

A step beyond sustainable farming, regenerative farming aims to produce food with the least amount of harm to ecosystems, animals, or humans. It is often organic or nearly organic.

“Regenerative farming is proposed as a solution to the environmental ills of conventional farming by reducing, if not eliminating entirely,” says Hunnes. “The use of phosphorous- and nitrogen-rich fertilizers and other toxic chemicals, which are harmful to the environment and health.”

10. Renewable Energy

According to the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC), renewable energy, often referred to as clean energy, “comes from natural sources or processes that are constantly replenished.” For example, the sun and the wind.

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