Physical fitness is not only one of the most important
keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative
intellectual activity.
Almost everyone will say that they want to live longer, do more things, and spend more time with their families. But even if most people think or say this, their lifestyle reflects otherwise. Living longer and continuing to love your life usually means living healthy.
There is a lot of press and advertising dollars that talk about living a healthy lifestyle, but how do you actually get it done? A healthy person is generally, someone who doesn’t’t smoke, works to maintain a healthy weight, eats healthy and puts some effort into exercise. Sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? But, it is no so easy to implement. In trying to live a healthier lifestyle, it is important to take simple steps or make small changes until you have totally incorporated or integrated healthy living into your lifestyle. Trying to make drastic changes all at once, will be uniformly disastrous.
Exercise
It is not secret that most people lack adequate activity these days. Movement, even in moderate activities like doing chores, gardening and walking , makes a huge difference. Just adding movement to your daily routine can reduce your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis and fractures, stress and some of symptoms of anxiety and depression.
Here are a few simple ways of moving our body without spending a lot of cash for gym membership. You can do the following:
- Spend one day of the week doing something physical with the family, like playing in the park.
- Walk more! Walking 20 every minutes everyday can bring about great results. Not only in how you feel physically, but also to your weight management.
- Do some physical chores like gardening, raking leaves, sweeping the floor.
- Monitor your physical activities every day. If you notice that most of your time is spent on a chair, perhaps chained to your computer, then you need to make a conscious effort to incorporate more movement into you daily routine.
Eat better
Eating well is another practice of living healthy. A clean and healthy diet can improve your health as well as help you stick to your your weight goals. Again, the key is sneak smaller changes into the mix until you find that you are eating healthier on a consistent basis. You can add a few other moves that will be helpful, like:
- Eat more fruit with your cereals and salads.
- Eat more vegetables. Add vegetables to your sandwiches. Try putting a few more veggies in your pasta sauce. Instead of digging into chips for quick snacks, keep some fruits and vegetables on hand. And, this should go without saying but, if the chips are one of your issues, stop buying them, stay out of the chip aisle while you are shopping.
- Read labels more carefully. Look at the number of servings in the container. Look at the number of calories per serving. From there you can move on to carbohydrates and fat content, depending on your goals.
- Eat low-fat or fat free dairy. You can change your usual milk into skim milk, fat free yogurt or almond milk.
- Look through your cabinets or refrigerator and pick three food that you eat every day. The next time you go shopping, look for low-calorie version of those three items.
Not only is it important to pay attention to your calorie intake, you should also look at when to eat. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the one meal that should be missed. Lunch should be healthy but less than what you ate for breakfast. Avoid eating too much late the day. Dinner should be healthy and light. It is a good idea to avoid dinner snacks or eating right before going to bed.
Stress
Another part of healthy lifestyle is avoiding stress, or at least working to reduce it. There are many, many studies linking stress to poor health. It may contribute to high-blood pressure, headaches, upset stomach, and much more. Working to keep your stress in check will help you feel a lot better.
Sleep
Sleeping and resting give your body the time it requires to recover from all muscle and mental work.
Laugh more
Laughing is also a proven beneficial factor moving toward good health. Laughing enables muscle to relax. It can lead to a reduction in stress hormone production. And, the body’s immune system is improved. High-blood pressure is lowered, your heart and lungs are strengthened and you feel better overall.
Monumental or drastic changes are not really necessary when you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle. There are many ways that you can go about incorporating healthy living choices into your life. Living healthy means you are loving life.
What would you add to this list to make simple changes in your life?
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