NederlandsFor many people, the summer holidays are the time to reflect on it; are we still happy with our job? What are we going to do completely different after the holidays? Eat healthier, exercise more, go to bed early, for example? Perhaps these resolutions look familiar to you?
A healthy lifestyle is super important. When you feel good about yourself, when you feel fit, life is just more fun. You have more energy in your work and in your free time, who wouldn't want that? However, it is not easy to put your unhealthy lifestyle habits overboard and to adopt and – above all – maintain a healthy lifestyle. Try combining it with a busy job! Before you know it you fall back into your old habits and in the evening you're back on Netflix with a bag of chips.
We are happy to help you live a healthier life. We know that the internet is full of hypes, tips and conflicting gurus. We don't go into that area, we like to keep it simple. That is why we have listed 10 basic tips that everyone can apply.
1. Start with a small step
If you try to completely change your lifestyle in one fell swoop, the chances are slim that you will succeed. You don't have to follow trendy, difficult diets or live according to a strict regime. Make clear choices; will you stop with your dessert? Do you exchange your bag of chips for raw vegetables, or your white sandwich for a whole-wheat variant? If you start small and then scale up, you'll be better off sticking with it.
2. Get creative with vegetables
Everyone knows that vegetables are healthy. They help you to feel fit and lose weight. By eating vegetables at more times of the day, you can easily get more of them. Get used to supplementing your sandwiches with raw vegetables, for example. Or grab fruits or vegetables as a snack. Or make a smoothie with fruits and vegetables. Make sure it stays tasty, then you keep it full and it becomes part of your new diet.
3. Seasonal vegetables
In addition to tip 2. During the period that vegetables traditionally grow in our country, they are often the tastiest, most nutritious and cheapest. Do you have any idea what the vegetables of the season are? In August you have plenty of cucumber, zucchini, lettuce, green beans, spinach and cauliflower. Benefit your health and your wallet.
4. Een healthy lunch to work 
When choosing your evening meal, ask yourself whether you can extend something to your lunch the next day. What's left of your evening meal is often good to in a salad for the next day. Supplement with lettuce, fruit, nuts and fresh herbs, you can make the party as big or small as you want.
5. 80 -20 rule
Forcing yourself to eat 100% healthy may not be very realistic. But if you try to eat 80% healthy, and allow yourself to deviate 20% from that, you will achieve a lot. And to be clear, that 20% does not consist of fast food, sugar and pastries. See also tip 6.
6. Choose the healthiest alternative
A tip that often works well, look for the healthiest alternative for everything you like to eat but which is not so healthy. This way you don't have to completely delete something from your menu, but it still gives you a profit at the bottom of the line. Replace white bread with brown bread, white pasta with whole-wheat pasta, full-fat yogurt with low-fat cottage cheese, chips with popcorn, pastry with an egg cake, crispy muesli with homemade granola, coffee with milk and sugar with tea, chips with homemade popcorn, and so on. keep going for a while. You get the idea.
7. Take it easy with alcohol
Do you like a beer or a good glass of wine? Denying yourself everything may be too much. But start by not drinking alcohol during the week. With this tip you immediately kill 2 birds with one stone. You skip a lot of calories with your alcoholic drink, and you prevent you from snacking on other unhealthy things under the influence of your drink.
8. Drink water
Everyone knows that drinking water is healthy. It also makes you feel fuller, you get hungry less quickly. Replace your soda or fruit juice with water. Do you find water boring? Then throw in fruit, cucumber, mint or ginger.
9. Choose food that fills
Don't focus on calories. If you force yourself to live on lean and light foods, you will be hungry all day long. Choose products that provide a lot of nutrients and that make you satiated, then you can keep it full more easily and avoid that infamous snack attack. Remember
10. Regularity
If you get used to eating at set times, your body will get used to it. You prevent that you suddenly get a huge appetite and the 'devourables' that can result.
Do you miss a tip in this list? Then be sure to let us know!
Actief Werkt! has about 6,000 flex colleagues working daily at companies throughout Nederland . As a good employer, we think it is important that they work safely and healthily. We therefore pay a lot of attention to that.
Do you have your diet in order? Read our tips on how to keep moving next to your job.