Smart Living Tip #1

Smart Living Tip #1: Learning to make small exchanges

We all struggle with going cold turkey on the things we enjoy in life. Forcing yourself to give things up completely generally tends to end in destruction, as we all know. Rather than depriving yourself of the things you like, learn to take small steps such as substituting one-for-one or halving your portions and substituting other things in for the rest.

For example: If your vice is soda, start doing a one-for-one exchange with your drinks--for every one glass of Coke that you drink, have one glass of water. If you really like chips, cut your serving down by 1/2 and grab one handful of almonds or a slice of low-moisture, part-skim string cheese to add to it. You'll find that you still get to enjoy the things you like, but you end up wanting less of the thing that's bad for you, because you're filling yourself with other, healthier products.

Happy living!