How To Develop New Healthy Habits

Building New Healthy Habits

You know you need to create a new healthy habit, but you aren’t sure it can happen. It’s hard to change, right? It gets harder the older we get too, right? Maybe you’ve already tried to eat better, get more exercise or sleep, quit smoking, or reduce stress. It’s not easy. But what if we told you it doesn’t have to be as hard as you think? Instead of changing overnight, you can learn to break it up into chunks and take baby steps toward your new goal. Well, today is all about encouraging you to look at creating a new healthy habit differently. Our mission is to make it easier for you to develop a new healthy habit ASAP. Let’s get started!

What is a habit?

It’s something you repeat, often without even knowing it. Some habits are good, some are bad. Most people want to learn at least one good habit or give up a bad one.

Some Examples of Good Habits

Eating Healthy: This includes fruits and snacks that add nutrients to your body and boosts your health or immune system. A common opposite of this is to eat junk or processed foods just because they are appealing.

Exercising: Flexing the muscles once in a while is fantastic for our body and makes our mind active to take on challenges for the day. This doesn’t even need you to go to the gym, because just taking a walk instead of driving from a nearby shop to another can be enough exercise already!

Sleeping/resting Enough: Ahh! If it’s Lagos and enjoying the recommended 8 hours of sleep, that’s almost impossible. But sometimes, we too can be hard on ourselves even without knowing. Especially when we intentionally avoid sleeping to continue late-night work or projects.

Maintaining relationships: Social connections help our brains stay healthy and happy! We can’t deny the fact we sometimes need people to share time with. Strengthen the relationship you already have and be open to making new friends. It’s healthy fun, anyway!

Learning New Skills: New skills help our brain stay healthy and sharp. Have you been interested in any course or handwork but feel lazy to start, remember the golden rule: give to your brain, what you want your brain to produce for you (hope you know the original golden rule ooh. Lol)

De-stress: When you’re stressing about things you can’t control or maybe someone wants to frustrate you in any way possible, just make a de-stress call right away!

Relaxation and mindfulness: To be anxious can be very toxic, especially when it becomes part of you. Relax! Just calm down and be in the moment. Your mental health will appreciate you later for this, so much.

How To Avoid Bad Habits

List out what triggers your bad habit. If your goal is to eat less junk food, think about when and where you eat it. Is it when driving? Or you get it at the store nearby work? Probably just after dinner? Write them out and watch them closely to avoid the triggers as much as you can.

So if you buy chocolate from the store nearby at work, see if you can avoid driving past that route. If you smoke when you’re home alone, see if you can hang out more with friends or stroll to a nearby field to enjoy the feel of nature and open space. But don’t stop at that. Bad habits have a powerful pull once you decide to stop them. What should you do?

Replace the bad habit with a good one. So if you can’t avoid the chocolate store at work, order delicious healthy snacks instead from Green Baskit and place them at your desk. Whenever the cravings come for choco, switch to healthy snacking that’s even better delicious. If that’s not comfortable for you, chew sugarless gum instead.

Developing Good Habits

It’s difficult to change everything at once, but it’s easier to set small goals and achieve them stage by stage. This will help you develop new good habits easier. For instance, it will be easier to do 7-10 pushups a day than to just run a marathon. It might take you several months to create a new habit. Events trigger many habits. For example, washing your hands is triggered by going to the toilet. It will really help if you set triggers for your new habit as part of your existing routine. Setting reminders can help you maintain good habits. Set automatic reminders on your computer and your phone. There are also apps available that help with goal setting and new habits. Try them. If you slip back into your old habits, don’t give up – this is common. Just remember why you wanted to make the change. This will help you pick up where you left off.

STEPS TO CREATING A NEW HEALTHY HABIT

1. KNOW WHAT YOU WANT

The first step to building healthy habits is understanding what habits you want to learn. To do that, you need to define your goals for the new habit. Spend some time exploring what you want and need in your life at this very moment. Knowing this will allow you to move on to the next step — which is creating a plan.

2. MAKE A PLAN

Once you’ve understood what you want to achieve with this new habit, you’ll need to create a specific plan backed up by realistic actions. Think about the small steps you can take to build a healthy habit and repeat them consistently to achieve your goals.

Here are some examples of specific small actions you can add to your daily routine and eventually they will become habits:

Meditate in the morning’s rush – starting your day feeling rushed will throw off your mood and may shift your routine. Save some time in the morning for reflection, gratitude, prayer or meditation. This will help to set the tone for a successful day.
Enjoy a healthy breakfast – Because not everyone has the same appetite in the morning, so you can base your breakfast choices on your body’s needs and a breakfast rich in protein and healthy fats will provide energy and nourishment.
Drink a full glass of water before leaving the house.
Get some exercise during your lunch break.
Have a healthy snack in the afternoon–this is usually the time of day when many people at work begin to “crash,” so being prepared with a healthy snack to boost energy levels will help to reduce cravings.
Prepare your own dinner – cooking meals at home more often will help to reduce calorie intake and give you control of how to fuel your body.
Choose a time for exercise and be ready – exercising at the same time every day will help make the action automatic.
Read before bed–this also can help your body unwind in the evening and support restful sleep at night.

3. BE CONSISTENT

When you repeat the same healthy habits over time, your brain will naturally accept the behaviour and it becomes a habit you form in your subconscious. For example, if you drink a glass of water before eating breakfast every day, you’re likely going to be repeating this behaviour even without knowing. What this means is when you do this pre-breakfast activity consistently, your brain automatically prepares for it rather than relying on a decision to do it.

4. FIGHT THOSE SETBACKS

We can expect setbacks any time we are trying to achieve a goal. There will be days when you don’t follow your plan perfectly or don’t just feel like it and then skip a process or two or maybe even give in to the junk food cravings, and so on. But of course, the longer you stay away without performing the healthy habits, the harder it will be to come out of the setback. So, it’s okay to have days here and there that aren’t as planned but get back on track ASAP to keep the habit going.

5. REST ABEG

All work and no play makes healthy habits hard to keep. You want to work hard to stay healthy, no doubt. But you equally need some resting period too. Devote some time every week to relax and reflect. This could involve taking a yoga class, reading a book on the couch, or simply resting. Use it as a time to restore your body and mind for another week of wellness.

Remember Your Tools

While you’re about to get started already on this journey, remember to use the tools we’ve shared to help yourself create a healthy habit:

Decide on a goal.
Plan when and where you will start
Choose a simple action you can take every day.
Congratulate yourself when you actually take the steps
It gets easier with time, and within 10 weeks you should “be doing well” at it without even thinking.

IN SUMMARY

Minor changes we make to our daily routine can make a big difference in how we feel about ourselves. Try the 5 steps above to integrate some healthy habits. You may notice that you’re not just developing good habits, but you’re also deleting bad ones. Stay consistent and before you know it, your days will be brighter and you will achieve your goals. Good luck with the work!

DID WE HELP?

Please let us know if this article helps you achieve your new habit goals. If you have any other helpful tips or tricks that have worked for you before, kindly share them with us in the comments. We would love to hear from you. Thank you!

April 7, 2021 0

Blog, Healthy Lifestyle, Life Style

Healthy Breakfast Ideas For Kids

Top 5 Healthy Breakfast Ideas For Your Kids

Sometimes, trying to get your kids out of bed every morning can be a challenge, especially when they love sleeping a lot. But trying to get them to eat breakfast and prepare for school or the day is another work routine parents have to deal with. And almost whenever you try to get them to eat something before school, it becomes another challenge because you have to prepare something quickly that will still taste good. Well, we’ve got you covered on this Mom. Ensure your kids enjoy their most important meal of the day with these easy and delicious breakfast ideas that will save your time and workload during those rush-hour mornings.

1. Yam and Egg Sauce

Egg sauce and boiled yam is one of the major breakfast in Nigeria or better still, weekend breakfast. This energetic meal can be eaten not only as breakfast – but can also be eaten at any time of the day. Egg sauce is a very simple sauce that can be prepared within 20 minutes and all you just need is egg and tomatoes to make this delicious breakfast meal happen.

2. Oatmeal and Raisins

Oatmeal is another food you should consider when thinking of healthy and easy breakfast ideas for kids. This convenient dish is super-fast to make and contains just enough protein to help your child grow well. Besides that, you can also add butter, milk and other mixes to make it creamy delicious. For growing kids, raisins are the perfect additives because of their chewy nature. A combination of Oatmeal and Raisins takes less than 7 minutes and is very easy to prepare.

3. Spaghetti and Bacon

If there’s any food that kids never get tired of eating is pasta. Whether it is spaghetti, noodles or macaroni, children love it. No surprise it is on the list of our easy breakfast ideas for kids. You can make this quick breakfast with bacon within minutes and have your kids thanking you for a breakfast well-done! You can try our Coconut bacon variations here

4. Cookies and Bars

Cookies have automatic kid appeal, but they’re also super-nutritious, easy to take along, and just takes a breeze to prepare for your kid’s breakfast. Mix with tea or low-fat yoghurts or smoothies and your kiddos are ready to go. You can enjoy the fullness of flavour that our healthy coconut cookies offer for your kids as they eat breakfast.

5. Nuts and Seeds

Swap crunchy junk snacks (you know the ones that are practically air) for nuts and seeds to deliver a healthful combo of fibre, protein and healthy fats. Nuts and Seeds are a safe choice and a good way to get important nutrition for your little ones, even in the rush of breakfast. You can choose to offer nuts alone or with dried fruit or a mix of other fruits.

Toasted Sesame Seeds and Nut Mx ( Sesame Granola)

Some Questions You Might Be Asking:

Is breakfast really that important?

You might have heard the old saying that, “breakfast is the most important meal of the day.” Although our busy minds may gloss over that fact, but doctors and educators still show that a nutritious breakfast is important, especially for your kids.

Breakfasts supplies the energy they need for a busy school day. A healthy breakfast provides your kids with crucial nutrients for proper physical and mental development.

It can also be essential for maintaining a healthy body weight, which may protect children against future risks of obesity, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes. Get it now? Don’t skip breakfast, Mom!

How do we get our kids to eat a healthy breakfast?

Now that we know a healthy breakfast really is important, here are 6 suggestions to help us make it happen for our kids:

Include these 3 major components: grains, fruit, and dairy. Focus on whole grains and low- or non-fat milk or yoghurt for the dairy.
Prepare breakfast early: Saving time always helps us in serving a nutritious meal (or any meal!). One of the best techniques is preparing breakfast food early.
Involve your children: Let your kids help plan the meals–getting them involved should increase their interest in eating healthy. If your kids are old enough to help with breakfast itself, put items on the lower shelves in the refrigerator or cupboard so that they can get things without your help.
Focus on your kids’ preferences: While we may want to expand their options, busy mornings are typically not the best time for these battles! Work within healthy options. For example, if they don’t like cashew nuts, just allow them to choose their favourite type of nuts and make a smoothie the night before with fruits that they like.

It will end in happy healthy eating at last. 5. Experiment: Figure out what works best for each member of your family. But as we mentioned in Tip #4 – you probably have to wait to do this on weekends or holidays, when you have more time to work through any resistance. 6. Check the availability of school breakfasts: More and more schools are now offering a healthy breakfast program. Check if your children’s schools are one of them. And if you sign your kids up for their school’s breakfast, make sure they’re not suddenly eating two breakfasts! LOL.

Can we really make a difference getting our kids to eat healthy food?

Although healthy living starts with parents and teachers, the kids’ excitement quickly starts when we make healthy eating fun for them. And this what we care about at Green Baskit. We’re supporting you to make sure your kids also care about nutrition and a healthy lifestyle. Changing the routine of our kids’ diet can initially feel overwhelming, especially with our already overpacked schedules, you’ll be surprised how quickly using these tips will make a real difference in kick-starting your kids’ day for the better. Try it, Mom! Are there any other healthy breakfast tips you use with your kids? Share with us!

March 26, 2021 2

Blog, Healthy Lifestyle, Life Style

Healthy Snacks Your Kids Will Love

Healthy (Naija) Snacks Your Kids Will Enjoy

It can be hard sometimes convincing our kids that healthy snacking is good for them compared to the sugary junks they love all the time. From chocolate cakes to packet Sweets, changing their minds to something less ’delicious’ in the name of healthy eating seems not to really work for them (especially when your healthy option tastes like raw pills) Yuck! But healthy snacking shouldn’t taste boring.

Making healthy snacks that excites and delights the kids is an art. And we know how to perform our best in sneaking some vital nutrients into your child’s diet while mesmerizing their tastebuds and fantasies.

Because growing kids often feel hungry in-between meals, snacks can often be a big part of a child’s diet. So, most of the snacks you give him or her must be ones you feel good about. Here is our list of kid-friendly snacks that are both healthy and delicious.

1. Dried Apple Chips

Apple chips are a convenient and healthy snack for kids. It contains fibre and important nutrients like vitamins A and C. These delicious apple chips can be used for grab-and-go snacks and stored in small containers for convenient snacking as they go to school or play with their peers. Our apple Chips also goes well with peanut butter for a delicious combo!

2. Donkwa Energy Balls

Now, this is a healthier alternative to sugary doughnuts and buns, which are usually high in sugar, sometimes unrefined oils, and artificial sweeteners. Donkwa balls are made with nutritious whole ingredients and sweetened with dates extract to satisfy your child’s snack cravings!

Donkwa- Healthhy Nigerian Donkwa (Everything about Donkwa)

3. Dried Grapes (Raisins)

Our delicious Dried Grapes have almost all the nutrients found in fresh grapes but a smaller package. These Raisins for kids may help protect your child’s teeth from cavities by preventing bacteria from sticking to their gums. Raisins also contain iron, a nutrient that many children don’t get enough of (which is needed to transport oxygen throughout their body). It’s a great, easy grab-and-go snack pack for kids, which are much healthier than most junk snacks.

4. Nut Mix (Cashew Nuts, Tigernuts, Peanuts and others)

Nuts are natural loads of nutrients like vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, healthy fats, protein and fibre, which help children grow, develop and learn. From our Marinated Cashew Nuts, Groundnut Mix, Bambara Nuts, we’ve made eating our nuts even more delicious and attractive for your kids to grab and munch for healthy eating.

5. Dried Banana Chips

Need a delicious way to make your kids love eating bananas? If you’re wondering what to do to keep them crunching delicious healthy bananas, then you’ve found our Dried Banana chips to keep their mouth in healthy company! This tasty, sweet snack is perfect for replacing regular fried chips and much healthier since they’re dried and still has the same nutrients as fresh bananas! They can make a terrific lunchbox or after-school snack.

6. Lemon, Cashew and Coconut Cookies

Well, children love cookies just as much as they love watching cartoons or playing with their peers. But some of these cookies aren’t always healthy for them and making sure your kids snack healthy cookies can be really challenging sometimes. Don’t worry anymore. Try our yummylicious Coconut, Lemon and Cashew cookies! Your kids will love it. Give them the boost. Take a bite yourself and show by example as you crunch this delicious snack. You’ll be surprised they may not wait for you to ask them to have some.

7. Sesame Brittle

This crunchy, nutritious sesame brittle will fill their mouth with the aroma of toast bread and light cheese, with a brief splash of caramel. It’s a great snack for your kids and it’s also super high in calcium needed for strong bones and energy for your kiddos. Switch them over to healthy snacking without troubles using our Sesame Brittle Mix!

Helpful Tips To Help Your Kids Switch To Healthy Eating

Keep off the junk snacks

Your kids won’t crave as much chocolate, candy bars or sweets if they don’t see them around anymore. Well, you can switch things a little like serving them desserts for special occasions rather than daily treats.

Set a good example by eating healthy snacks yourself — your kids might copy that!

Revisit breakfast

Serve your kids their breakfast foods as afternoon snacks. For instance, try offering them cornflakes mixed with fruit and nuts. Or better still, microwave oatmeal with low-fat milk and mix it with unsweetened yoghurt. This helps them switch faster to a healthier eating lifestyle. And they will thank you later, mom!

Assign a snacking zone

Only allow snacking in certain areas in the house, such as the kitchen for example. Avoid serving snacks when they’re watching cartoons, playing games with gadgets or minding something else. You’ll save your child countless calories from mindless munching. For snacks on the go, offer them dried banana or apple chips less messy snacks.

Schedule snacking time

This will help you make sure that their snacking doesn’t interfere with a healthy meal. Keep away the snacks within two hours after the meal, so that your child is hungry enough to eat with a balanced, nutritious snack planning.

Teaching your kids how to make healthy snack choices now will help them set the stage for a lifetime of healthy eating. Start today, mom!

Summary

Healthy snacks are nutrient-filled. When life allows for a little planning, grab the chance to teach your children a healthy eating lifestyle. They can have healthful snacks even at parties, on trips, and at the movies.

March 20, 2021 0

Blog, Nigerian Snacks

Kuli Kuli: Health Benefits, Nutrition & All You Need To Know

The Legendary Kuli- Kuli Snack

If you adopt healthy eating habits, one of your goals is probably to remove sugary snacks from your diet. And if our guess is right, most people think Kuli Kuli is all sugar and therefore not healthy. Kulii kuli may be considered a poor man’s food because of how cheap they are, but it has many health benefits anyone should not ignore. It’s a healthy snack that contains so many essential vitamins, minerals, and nutrients. Well, you’re about to discover amazing stuff about the legendary Crunchy Kuli Kuli snack. In this journey, we will explore the facts and play a little bit around the most interesting things we didn’t know about our favourite Naija snack. Welcome on board!

What Does Kuli Kuli Mean?

Simply, it just means Groundnut or Peanut Cake in English. The word “Kuli Kuli” has a Hausa meaning which is where this delicious snack first originated from. Although there may be divergent views on the exact meaning of Kuli Kuli, the most common way to explain Kuli Kuli is probably just to Cool-ly call it “groundnut/peanut cakes or cookies”.

Origin and History of Kuli Kuli

Once again, there is always this tussle on where our favourite local snacks come from. Just like Donkwa balls, Kuli Kuli also has different home origins and delicacy, especially in neighbouring West African countries. For example, apart from Nigeria, Kuli Kuli is a very popular snack in Benin Republic, Ghana, and northern Cameroon. These countries claim ownership of origin on this snack. But we can’t always drag matters with our African brothers on who first made Kuli Kuli. Even the most factual fingers point at the Nupe people (an ethnic native group to the Middle Belt of Nigeria -more specifically Niger State) to be the first makers of KuliKuli. No wahala sha. Kuli Kuli for Africa!

What Does Kuli Kuli Taste Like?

Crunchy! Spicy! Yummy Delicious! Sweet taste of pure nutty treat! If you missed eating this snack at childhood, you really missed. Ever eaten chocolate cakes without those colorings? That’s the nearest taste we can describe for you. If you haven’t eaten Kuli Kuli before, you should try one now to sparkle your tastebuds!

What is Kuli Kuli made of?

It is absolutely made with peanut, but preparing it requires some special tricks though. Kuli Kuli is made from dry roasted peanuts/groundnuts, which is then ground into semi-paste, mixed with selected spices and deep-fried until it hardens.

Is Kuli Kuli Healthy For You?

When moderately eaten, Kuli Kuli is healthy for you. Naturally, it is highly proteinous and contains essential nutrients that make your body function well. Apart from the fact it is made with groundnut oil and deep-fried, you shouldn’t have to worry about heavy health implications Kuli Kuli may have on you.

Amazing Health Facts of Kuli Kuli

Rich source of protein

Proteins are important for the good functioning of our body. The main functions of protein found in Kuli Kuli are to strengthen, repair, or replace worn-out tissue. Kuli kuli are good sources of protein and, when consumed, it generally promotes good health.

Good sources of vitamins

Kuli kuli contains vitamins like vitamin A, E, C, B6, B12, and others. Vitamins help your body in fighting against diseases and boosts immunity. For example, Kuli Kuli also contains an antioxidant called resveratrol which fights cancer.

Rich in calcium and magnesium

Kuli kuli contains calcium, which strengthens bones and teeth. This healthy Nigerian snack is also rich in magnesium. Magnesium is an essential mineral with various important functions, and interestingly too, enough magnesium intake protects against heart diseases.

Great for weight loss

Kuli kuli also helps in weight loss as It is also a healthy Nigerian snack for weight loss because it can keep you full and reduce appetite. The high content of protein and monounsaturated fat in kuli kuli can equally increase calorie burning, thereby helping in weight management.

Good for pregnant women

Another health benefit of kuli kuli is that it is good for pregnancy. This Northern Nigerian Peanut Cake snack has vitamin B9 or folic acid, which has many important functions and is especially useful during pregnancy; such as preventing neural tube defects in babies.

What Can I Eat With Kuli Kuli?

You can eat Kuli Kuli just like that or serve with a mixture of garri flakes (or gari), sugar and water. Better still, you can snack delicious Kuli-kuli with koko or fura. Sometimes, kuli-kuli is crushed just before added to a salad. It can add a lot of taste and crunch in your seasoning too. But most importantly, if you’re looking for the perfect drink combo that goes with Kuli Kuli, then Smoothies are our most recommended drink! Or maybe yoghurts too (what a Healthy match!)

Where can you buy Kuli Kuli in Lagos/Nigeria?

Buy healthy Kuli Kuli (Peanut Bars) from Green Baskit. We are Nigeria’s No.1 Most Healthy Snack store online and your go-to brand if you really want to eat clean, healthy and delicious Kuli Kuli in Lagos and Nigeria generally. We sell Kuli Kuli in wholesales too. We recommend our wholesale prices for individuals hosting or organizing events and ceremonies, for offices, and finally to the real wholesalers who buy and sell Kuli Kuli in bulk.

How can you prepare Kuli Kuli?

Here are the steps on how to prepare kuli kuli:

Ingredients:

· 1 cup of peeled, salted and roasted groundnuts · 1 spoon of ground pepper · 1 spoon of ginger powder · Groundnut oil.

Steps

1. Roast the groundnut and ground to make a paste. 2. Add spices like salt and pepper to the paste and mix properly. 3. Remove excess oil from the paste by squeezing. 4. Mold paste into desired your shapes and fry in groundnut oil 5. Allow to cool before serving. For more tips and tutorials on how to make Kuli Kuli, watch here>> https://youtu.be/2SbVei0PZqM

General Questions about Kuli Kuli

How Many Kuli Kuli Are In A Pack?

There are about 35 Kuli Kuli rolls per pack, depending on the size of Kuli Kuli we made. A healthy recommended serving is 1 and half pack of Kuli Kuli, depending on the size.

How Do You Store Kuli Kuli?

To maintain the fresh taste of our Kuli Kuli rolls, make sure you store them in an airtight container and keep them in a cool, dry place. If they’re already shelled, keep them in the refrigerator or freezer.

Can I Eat Kuli Kuli Every Day?

As long as you’re not allergic to peanuts, groundnuts and anything nuts generally, you can absolutely eat Kuli Kuli every day, and at any mealtime. These Peanut Bars have dietary fat and cholesterol levels which provide profound health benefits such as the reduced risk of heart disease. Kuli Kuli gives your body ample amounts of protein as well, especially for those who love consuming light snacks.

What Is the Right Time to Eat Kuli Kuli?

You can eat it any time of the day, but some health experts recommend the best time to eat Kuli Kuli is in the morning. Adding Kuli Kuli (or Peanut cakes) to your breakfast may help you regulate blood sugar better, which will help you maintain energy levels throughout the day. Kuli Kuli makes a great afternoon snack as well.

For reading up to this point, you deserve to treat yourself good with our crunchy, delicious and healthy Kuli Kuli rolls. Don’t just snack on whatever thing called Kuli Kuli. Sometimes, any type of Kuli Kuli isn’t always healthy for you. We have carefully processed ours to make sure it’s fresh, clean and even more delicious to help you achieve your healthy lifestyle goals.

Place an order now to sparkle your tastebuds!

March 13, 2021 4

Blog, Tips & Tricks

5 Amazing Facts About Kuli-Kuli (Groundnut Cake)

Kuli-kuli is a well-known snack native to the Nigerian Hausa tribe. It is made from the by products of processing groundnuts into groundnut oils, and has over the years gained a reputation of being a great combo with the very famous cassava flakes, commonly known as garri.

February 1, 2020 0

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