Being healthy doesn’t have to be stressful!  Read more in this post sponsored by Niagara Water and Millennial Blogs.

Before I moved to Northern California, I thought being healthy had to be a complicated, stressful, time consuming ordeal. I’d have to eat special food, find the time (and money) to join a gym, and completely overhaul my entire life.

Man, was I ever wrong!

Living in a place where you can find a farmer’s market going on every single day, where the weather is just about always perfect for outdoor activities, and being healthy is part of the normal culture of the city, I realized I was overthinking what health and wellness meant big time!

Now, I can admit that we have a bit of an advantage living in such a gorgeous utopia of a city as Oakland, California, but it can be as easy for you to be healthy as it is for us if you just take the no-nonsense approach to it. Niagara Water has given me the title of Mrs. No-Nonsense, and I take that very seriously.

Instead of overthinking ways to help your family stay healthy, just refine the things you’re already doing.

Here are a few examples:

• At family game nights, incorporate physical games like Twister or Just Dance.
• Add a side salad to your Friday night pizza.
• Park at the far end of the parking lot when you go to the grocery store and race your kids to the front.
• Buy a boxed cake mix and substitute applesauce for oil or butter.
• Head to the park to play games instead of going to the movies.
• Switch out your soda for water. Play around with different fruit to infuse flavor. Peach water is AMAZING!
• Keep healthy snacks in your house. Instead of candy, we have sweet nectarines. Instead of chips, we like seaweed with salt.

The most important thing to remember is that the less fun you make the idea of being healthy (i.e. “Put that down! Candy is bad for you! Roar!”), the more your family is likely to push back. Trust me, I learned this the hard way!