Savvy Spotlight: Healthy Tipping Point

While I’m on my honeymoon in Italy, I have lined up some great guest posts for you. For the next week and a half, I will be posting 1 or 2 “Savvy Spotlights” a day, highlighting some of my readers and blog friends. You may see another fun post or two mixed in there as well.

I’ll start recapping our Italy trip when I return. Have a great week!

Q. Introduce yourself!

Hi! My name is Caitlin and I blog at HealthyTippingPoint.com and OperationBeautiful.com. I’m 26 and live in Charlotte with my husband, who is an acupuncturist, and our two dogs.

Q. Savvy Eats approaches the concept of healthy living from the standpoint of “Smart Food, Smart Fitness, & Smart Life.” What does ‘savvy living’ mean to you?

I think savvy living is about making smart, educated choices. I really believe it’s so important to be aware of our impact on our health, our mental wellness, and the environment.

Smart Food Q. What is the most creative dish you’ve made to date?

My favorite creative (but healthy!) meal is definitely French Toast Sundae: http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/french-toast-sundae or Biscuit Casserole: http://www.healthytippingpoint.com/biscuit-casserole

Smart Fitness Q. There are a lot of ways to stay fit: running, cycling, yoga, Zumba, strength training, and more. Which is your favorite, and what tip would you give a beginner?

The biggest piece of advice I could give anyone is start slow. The worst thing you can do is try to overhaul your fitness and eating habits overnight. It took years to develop your “bad” habits; it will take more than a few days to break them.

Let’s say you’re starting from healthy eating ground zero — fast food, frozen dinners, no vegetables. Trying to figure out how to cook all your meals, eat more produce, and manage your own snacks could be overwhelming! Instead of a complete diet overhaul, just focus on improving one meal (like breakfast) for two weeks. Or try replacing one of your snacks with a piece of fruit.

Same thing goes for exercise — instead of attempting to go from couch potato to marathon runner in three months, just commit to doing 30 minutes of exercise three times a week.

In summary, choose goals that are quantifiable and attainable, and then work your way up from there!

The other piece of advice I would give to healthy living “newbies” is to take what you see on blogs and read in magazines with a grain of salt. What works for one person might not work for you. It’s important to listen to your own body and figure out what YOU need. Also, do not demand perfection from yourself. Part of healthy living is eating chocolate cake, having a few glasses of wine, and watching TV instead of going for a run — balance is very important, and it helps prevent you from getting burnt out.