8 Twin Cities Healthy Trends To Try This Spring
Spring can be a great time to focus on living a healthier lifestyle. As the weather warms up, it’s a bit easier to awaken our adventurous sides and get in shape. Establishing healthier habits and staying fit is actually becoming pretty popular and there are tons of different trends you can try this spring in the Twin Cities.
If you are new to Minnesota or plan on moving soon, here are a few to get you started. But remember, there are dozens, so stay inspired and explore for more.
Cycling: North Star Bicycle Festival
TheNorth Star Bicycle Festival, formerly known as the Great River Energy Bicycle Festival among other names over the years, is an annual festival in June that has both pros and amateurs racing on lengthy bicycle tracks. While anybody can participate, it is recommended that you improve your skills over time before you enter so that you will be more practiced and have a more enjoyable experience.
This year’s race is from June 13 to June 17, which gives you plenty of time to train up and get cycling!
Long Distance Running: Twin Cities Marathon in the Fall
Registration just opened for the 2018 “Twin Cities In Motion” Marathon set to occur on October 7 2018. There are also 5k, 10k, and 10-mile races available, but now is the perfect time to start training and go the distance.
Running has always been a popular way to get fit. You can do it anywhere, and all you really need is good shoes. Plus, you can cover a lot of ground — if you’re not on a treadmill, that is. Sadly, long-distance runners sometimes suffer from knee or ankle injuries and weakness later in life. It’s important to practice other forms of fitness to mitigate these side effects, but the Twin Cities Marathon is a great event to train for once a year with the family.
Do Some Yoga
Committing to a steady, indoor workout routine can be really hard. Yoga is growing in popularity all over the world, but humans have done it for over 5,000 years. For many, the start to finish experience (flow) not only strengthens the body, but also the mind and breath. The full mind and body workout satisfies your whole being, making it a little easier to commit to doing it every week, or for some, every day.
It can still be difficult to find that workout motivation but if yoga is a rewarding workout for you, here are a few tips to get you on your mat. First, get some new outfits you’ll want to show off. Somebasic black yoga pants and a few different trendy tops. This is especially crucial if you decide to partake in hot yoga, because nobody wants to show off an old sports bra. Another way to spark your motivation can be finding a yoga buddy. Someone who expects to see you in class and will hold you accountable for your missed days.
Veganism
Veganism is another up and coming trend that has really boomed these last few years. Back in the day it was mostly a commitment made by animal lovers who protested cruel meat processing. Now there are a lot people jumping on the wagon who care more about their personal health than saving the animals.
Followers of this animal product-less lifestyle, in addition to cutting out dairy and meats, learn to better check their ingredients when buying and are generally more aware of what they choose to eat. This lifestyle may be hard to adapt to at first, but the growing prominence of vegan food stores and vegan products make the change easier with every year. In Minneapolis and St. Paul, there have been a number of vegan restaurants that have opened up recently. These include The Herbivorous Butcher, Crepe and Spoon, Eureka Compass, and J. Selby’s.
Cottage Food Loosened Restrictions on Food Startups
The Twin Cities haveloosened laws regarding small food startups. This means that many small businesses that provide low-demand foods can still survive, and oftentimes this includes many health stores.
Trying out the variety of new foods available in small business form is great for your diet. A steady intake of an assortment of foods is essential to maintaining a balanced lifestyle, and the Twin Cities makes this a much easier trend to try.
Farm-To-Table Boom
The farm-to-table movement, while it professes to be quiet and rustic, has seen restaurants following its ideology spreading full force across the country in the past few years — Minneapolis and Saint Paul are no exception.
The social movement was designed to shorten the distance food travels before it reaches our tables. Meaning restaurants, grocery stores, and families commit to eating locally sourced food and ingredients. Many restaurants maintain their own farms or partner with local farms and community agriculture in order to locally produce the food they need.
Bug-Based Foods
It is a very new and very western idea that our meat should come from mostly cows and chickens, and that we should be eating as much of it as we are in this country. In fact, emissions from farming cows and other popular meats are far more dangerous to the environment than cars and heavy industry. Bug-based foods, while it sounds a bit strange, are much more sustainable and not as bad as you think.
Next time you are in a specialty food store or at some grocery stores, see if you can try out some locusts or crickets. You might find them to be a tasty and unique new healthy snack.
Drink Less Sugary Drinks
While this one seems obvious, it is harder than some of us like to think. It’s too easy to partake in the simple act of getting a soda or sweet tea at work, while eating out, or when at the grocery store, but sugary drinks are the leading cause of the food obesity crisis in America.
Cutting out sugar entirely would be an even greater but is obviously much more challenging. If you can go for a few months without soda or sugary drinks, start paying attention to the ingredient list in the food you’re eating too. You might be surprised how much sugar you are eating and not realizing, and how easy it is to cut some of those items out.
Eating Out Less, Cooking Home More
Most people enjoy eating out. Millennials are the first generation tospend more money eating out than on groceries. But it’s nearly always cheaper to cook at home than it is to buy a healthy meal at a restaurant. Especially if you cook with a partner, or for family and friends.
Try cooking more often if you don’t already, because after a few weeks the routine isn’t all that hard to get used to. And after a few months. dishes are the hardest part. Not only will you save cash, but you’ll know exactly what goes into each meal. It may take you a little longer to prepare, but the satisfaction of knowing the items on your plate are a creation of your own is worth it.
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No matter what health trend you decide to try, Minnesota is a great state to begin your health journey. In fact, it’s known for being one of the top 10 most healthiest states in the U.S. If you want to jump on the bandwagon, find a home that fits your lifestyle.
Article written by Haley Kieser
