How To Stay Healthy When You Have No Time

This blog post (stay healthy and exercise when you have no time) is sponsored by iHerb, thoughts and opinions are my own.

Sometimes I think the definition of being a parent is that you no longer have any time to do the things that you want to do, let alone the things that you should be doing.

For many parents, the thing you don’t do enough of is to take care of yourself. Making sure to get some exercise every day and eating right often fall low on the priority list when we think about our never-ending to-do list. 

How do you exercise when you have no time? How do you ensure your body is getting all the nutrients it needs? 

These are questions I used to ask myself and use as excuses over and over again. Then I realized that instead of focusing on what I couldn’t do, I would need to change my way of thinking about exercise and nutrition and focus on how I could fit it into my day.

This ‘epiphany’ really allowed me to not only accept what I couldn’t change about the time I’m allotted each day, but also really enjoy the time I do get. I’m more active with my kids, I’m taking better care of myself, and overall I have more energy and feel better!

Keep Your Family Healthy With These Simple Tips

Utilize Supplements To Fill In Gaps

Overall health and wellness starts with making sure your body has what it needs. Since we don’t always get all the vitamins and minerals we need solely from food, supplements have been a big part of keeping our family’s health up.

I used to be the type of person who would forgo vitamins and/or supplements because I just didn’t have the time, or didn’t think I needed them. However, since I’ve started using them consistently I have noticed my energy is higher and I overall just feel better. The key is to create a routine that you can stick to.

My supplement routine looks like this:

• Morning Vitamins/Supplements:
  • Nature’s Way MCT Oil from iHerb added to my morning cup of coffee. This simple change is easy to implement because you just squirt a little in the coffee that you were going to have anyway and be on your way. I’ve found that the oil does not change the flavor of my coffee at all and it has been a great boost of energy for my morning. 

• • Nature’s Way Alive! Calcium Bone Formula Tablets from iHerb. Since the directions for these state to take two tablets twice a day, I build this into my morning coffee routine. I have my coffee with my MCT Oil, take the calcium tablets, and have breakfast. My morning routine is my time to relax before the hustle and bustle of the day starts.

• • Nature’s Way Alive! Women’s Energy Multi-Vitamin from iHerb. Again, I build this into my morning routine and get all my vitamins done and out of the way as my day starts so I don’t have to worry about forgetting to take them later. I really love this multi-vitamin because not only does it help me keep my energy up, but it is really great for hair, skin, and nails as well — something I need extra help with!

• Evening Vitamins/Supplements:
  • Nature’s Way Alive! Calcium Tablets from iHerb. I do my second dose of the calcium tablets in the evening with my dinner. Since osteoporosis has been in my family history, I’m doing what I can to try to prevent it for myself and these calcium tablets are an easy way to do that!
  • Nature’s Way Reuteri Probiotic from iHerb. This once-daily probiotic helps support digestive and immune health. I’ve been known to have digestive issues and taking a probiotic has really seemed to calm some of my issues down. It is super easy to take if I mix it in with a bit of yogurt as my evening dessert. 

• Extra Immune Support:
  • Nature’s Way Echinacea Goldenseal supplement is something I keep on hand to help enhance the immune system as needed. It has been known to relieve pain, reduce inflammation, and offers hormonal, antiviral, and antioxidant effects. It has also been used in the treatment of urinary tract infections, vaginal candida yeast infections, ear infections, athlete’s foot, hay fever, and sinusitis. (Livestrong, 2017)
    Keeping a bit on hand to use at the start of a cold has been a great way to reduce the life of the cold and get us back to fighting condition a bit quicker. I highly recommend keeping some stocked!
    **note that you should not use continuously and some drug interactions could occur so be sure to check with your doctor.

My husband’s routine:

My husband’s routine is very similar to mine except that he doesn’t drink coffee. He will usually put the MCT Oil in a bit of juice or in with his protein powder mix. Instead of the calcium and women’s multi-vitamin, he uses the Nature’s Way Alive! Max3 Daily Men’s Multi-Vitamin. 

This multivitamin from iHerb is a great blend for energy, cardio health, immunity, and so much more.

My kids’ routine:

The kids take a multivitamin in the evening with their dinner, about the same time I take my calcium tablets. We stick to this routine because it is easy to remember to grab their vitamins and dole them out while they are all sitting at the table eating. We use the Nature’s Way Alive! Gummies. 

The kids really like the flavor and love picking out the fruit shapes they’ve gotten each time. I like that it gives them plenty of what they need to support a healthy diet.

Why shop Nature’s Way at iHerb?

The Nature’s Way line of vitamins and supplements has been a great choice for us because they provide a variety of products that suite the needs we have. Everything is really high quality, Non-GMO, and are TRU-ID certified.

We shop online at iHerb.com because they give the world’s best overall value for natural products. Who doesn’t like saving money while getting amazing products?!! With over 400 Nature’s Way products that can be shipped to over 160 countries, there is something for everyone!

Some of the benefits of shopping at iHerb are free or discounted shipping, assurance of freshness, share your own rewards links to save even more, and great customer support (in 10 languages!)! When I shop at iHerb, checkout is a breeze and shipping is super fast as well!

Don’t Skip Meals

Even though vitamins and supplements are a great addition to a healthy lifestyle, don’t let them replace eating completely. I get that your busy schedule can leave you with little to no time to eat, but skipping meals really can do more harm than good.

You can end up overeating later in the day if you’ve skipped eating until evening, your metabolism can slow down which in turn may encourage your body to gain weight instead of lose it, your blood sugar will drop which means less energy, and most importantly, you simply aren’t getting the nutrition your body needs.

Keep Healthy Snacks Handy

If you are really crunched for time and you know making a full meal will be difficult, simply plan ahead and keep some healthy snacks stocked in the house or somewhere where you can easily grab and go.

Some great options include hard boiled eggs, air-popped popcorn, hummus and pita, raw vegetables, tangerines, pistachios, and fig bars. If you want a little variety, you can find more great snack options here.

Exercise – Even When You Have No Time

The thing I hear the most from friends and family is that they just don’t have time to exercise. This may be true if you are trying to get to the gym every day, but there are some really simple and easy things you can do to build exercise into almost everything you already do!

• Play with your kids! One of the easiest ways I get in a little cardio workout is by simply playing chase with my kids. I tell them I’m going to chase them up and down the stairs and around and around in the living room. It really gives me quite a work out as I’m often out of breath by the end, and it has the added benefit of tiring my young kids out. 🙂
• Do your chores. This may sound silly, but instead of just doing your chores like you normally would, take it a step further and build a workout into it. 
  For example, when I fold laundry I make sure to set the basket of clean clothes on the floor and do a squat every time I go down to grab another item of clothing to fold. By the time I’m done folding the whole basket I’ve got a whole lot of squats in!
  You can apply this technique to many different chores around the house. Dance when you vacuum or sweep, do a lunge from the dishwasher to the cabinets, and so much more…be creative!
• Build in time. I know we just talked about not having any time, but often that is because we simply haven’t built it into our daily routine. If you make it a priority to utilize a certain amount of time to get on that gym equipment that has been collecting dust, you will probably do it instead of making excuses for why you haven’t. 
  If you usually watch a television show in the evening, do it while you are using your elliptical or treadmill. If you don’t have any equipment, something as simple as utilizing some kettlebells in front of the T.V. can be a great way to get started!

Get Started Today!

Are you ready to reclaim the health for you and your family? Keep it simple and get the extra nutrients you need by shopping at iHerb for vitamins and supplements, get some exercise when you have no time by using the tricks mentioned above, and most importantly, have fun with it all!

This post (exercise when you have no time) contains affiliate links. 

These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.