Your 28-Day Total Health Plan - Day 18

Day 18: Make Smart Swaps

For long-term healthy changes, deprivation will not work. The smarter option is to make smart swaps. That applies to all areas of lifestyle change, be it exercise or eating or handling stress.

So, for example, instead of depriving yourself of all sweet desserts, learn to make desserts and snacks with healthier options like using coco sugar and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg powder. If you dread going to the gym or it’s simply too much hassle, try getting a Resistance Band which you can use anytime anywhere for some really effective strength training exercises. The key is to do something you enjoy and can easily find time for.

Same goes for your eating habits: Swap white rice for brown or red or black rice, your roti prata for a multi-grain chia seed wrap, semolina pasta for whole-grain, and white sugar for coco sugar, or stevia.

Munch on baked almonds or walnuts instead of packaged salty snacks, make your own baked sweet potato fries instead of potato chips. And try baked fruit (like apples or pears sprinkled with cinnamon) in place of baked goods.

Today’s Recipe

For today, try this easy-to-prepare Salmon & Egg Wrap. It’s also great as a party food – just lay all the ingredients on a platter so your guests can prepare their own wrap.

INGREDIENTS
12 slices smoked salmon
3 hard-coiled eggs, shelled and sliced
100g baby spinach
6 multigrain wraps
For the mustard mayo:
100g light mayonnaise
3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
1/2 small red onion, very finely sliced

DIRECTIONS
1. Mix the mayonnaise and mustard, divide into 2 bowls, then stir the onion into one bowl.
2. Spread a layer of onion mayonnaise over each wrap, add 2 slices of smoked salmon, some sliced hard-boiled egg and a generous helping of spinach to each. Roll up tightly and cut each wrap diagonally into 2 pieces before serving with extra mustard mayo for drizzling.

Today’s Exercise
Mix up the Upper Body and Lower Body moves you have learnt over the past 2 days. Then walk for 5 minutes and run for 10 minutes. Repeat for a total of 2 run/walk intervals.