5 Habits to Kick in 2015

Skipping breakfast

No matter how late you struggle to get out of bed (guilty), don’t compromise on your breakfast when beginning the day. Your mother was right! Skipping breakfast does make your face lose its freshness. Have a hearty meal in the morning and you’ll stay on your toes throughout the day. Your productivity will rise, you’ll be less crankier and your metabolism will rev up. If you’re watching your weight, breakfast should be the most important meal for you- whether its eggs, cereals or meat, stock up on what makes you feel good so you’ll automatically feel less hungrier in the day. Here’s what I have for breakfast everyday without fail (fingers crossed I keep it up): half a grapefruit, one boiled egg white, boiled chicken sausage, 200ml Nesvita, one apple and baked beans- trust me, I love every second of it. Next time you’re running late for work, grab an apple or two to have in the car- it’s better than leaving empty stomach! Remember: ‘Breakfast like a King, Lunch like a Prince, Dine like a Pauper’.

Phones, backup phones, laptops, Ipods, Ipads etc- we’ve become dependent on too many gadgets in a day. These appliances do not need all night (ie. 8 hours) to charge. We all know that. Yet we leave them charging before sleeping. It takes maximum 2-3 hours for all said appliances to charge completely. So plugging them in all night is the worst thing you could do- for your gadget and for your electricity bill. By overcharging our appliances, especially laptops, we are just setting them up to fail on us earlier than their said life. I remember I used to charge my Dell laptop all night, and it gave up on me earlier than I expected. Let’s extend the lives of our precious toys. Give them the time on charge they deserve so that their batteries last longer. Disable the cable from the mains once the batteries have reached a 100% and save on your electricity bill.

Girls, let’s admit it, too many of us are guilty of coming back home late, lazily crashing into bed and waking up the next day thinking how beautiful we look in the morning… but ofcourse, because we still have so much makeup on! After being out in the sun, pollution and stress of our daily routines our skin needs time to relax and recover. Night time beauty sleep only applies if we don’t sleep with our faces caked! And those black eyeliner smears on our pillow aren’t appealing either. If your skin is prone to acne, all the more reason for you to kick this habit. Make sure to remove all your make up using a make up remover and a cotton ball. Wash your face thoroughly and use a toner to hydrate your skin again before applying moisturiser. One of the products I swear by is Sudocrem (yes, it is primarily known as a nappy rash cream). Its healing effect keeps my sensitive skin moisturised and soothed throughout the night. It also helped with my year old acne marks, so give it a try, it’s easily available at supermarkets.

One of my (ambitious) New Year Resolutions was to cut the soda out of my life. I clearly remember living, eating, breathing Coca-cola during my college days. Only now, that I’ve gotten into somewhat of a healthy routine, have I realised the negative side of that. Water is as essential as it gets. We should aim to drink at least 2 to 3 litres a day to keep our digestive system smooth and running. I know cold drinks taste really good, complete a nice meal out and our fundamental with fast food so don’t cut them out completely. Up your water intake instead. Its the best thing you can do for your skin, your health, your weight and your stress. Keep a large mineral water bottle by your side at all times. Slowly you’ll get into the routine of preferring water over most other drinks (hopefully). Trips to the bathroom will increase, but that’s a reminder of how body cleansing works!