You Can Write And Still Be Healthy

This week I accepted a challenge by writing coach, Suzanne Lieurance. Suzanne threw out a challenge to members of the Working Writer’s Club to join her in adopting some healthy habits over the next four weeks. If you are a writer, you know how difficult it can be to find time for exercise. Even our nutrition suffers as we tend to snack while writing, or drink cups of coffee while we struggle to meet deadlines.

If you fall into any of these patterns, the following tips will help you observe healthy habits while you write .

1. Shop right. If you want to be a healthy writer, the first thing you need to do is go out and shop for some real food. Bypass the junk food and stock up on some fruits, veggies, eggs, meat, fish and whole grain breads.

2. Prepare meals beforehand and store in the freezer so you won’t be tempted to snack. Make a few sandwiches – chicken, turkey, tuna – whatever you like, wrap and store in the fridge. That way you don’t have to worry about what you’re going to eat and you won’t be reaching for the potato chips or something like that. For your afternoon snack, you can make a smoothie and store it in the fridge, or try some strawberries with low-fat whipped cream.

3. Exercise. I know this sometimes sounds like a bad word, but you can find time to exercise. It doesn’t have to be for long blocks of time. In fact, if you find it difficult to tear yourself away from the computer, why not do it first thing in the morning? I went walking this morning and it always boosts my energy for the day and helps me think clearly. If you can’t do that, there are exercises you can do while sitting at your desk. I wrote a post on that sometime ago. You can read about it here: http://angelasfreelancewriting.com/fitness-tips-for-writers/.

So accept the challenge and come back and leave a comment on what you are doing and how it’s benefiting you. Happy writing!