There is nothing more important than your health. You have control over most of the aspects of your life that affect your health and well-being.
We often hear others comment, “It’s too late to make a change now.” Worse yet, so many people believe that, but I don’t! I believe that it is never too late to change. You are never too old or out of shape to make improvements and renew your life. Being healthy well is not a single choice to be made once and then never re-visited. It is a series of constant choices that add up to a way of living and constant renewal.
Healthy eating Lifestyle
Healthy eating includes consuming high-quality proteins, carbohydrates, heart-healthy fats, vitamins, minerals and water in the foods you take in while minimizing processed foods, saturated fats and alcohol. Eating in this manner helps you maintain your body’s everyday functions, promotes optimal body weight and can assist in disease prevention.
Research suggests that “healthy” food choices such as eating fruits and vegetables have not only physical but also mental health benefits and might be a long-term investment in future well-being. This view contrasts with the belief that high-caloric foods taste better, make us happy, and alleviate a negative mood.
My best advice is for parents to be good role models by eating healthy and being physically active with their children. Keep healthy foods around the house for meals and snacks. If you save desserts and treats for special occasions, it will be more special. Involve children in meal planning and cooking, and they will be more likely to eat the meals.
Why Should Everyone Make Healthy Food Choices?
- A Healthy Diet Can Help Prevent Disease
- Food Choices Affect Your Mental and Heart Health
- Eat a Healthy Diet, and You May Lose Weight
- Better mood and energy levels
How to Improve and Change Your Eating Habits
- Make a Choose whole-grain bread instead of refined
- Plan for Your New Healthy Diet
- Save Your Lunch Money bringing your lunch to school or work has more than one perk. It’s a good way to save money and use up what you have in the house, and it will likely be more nutritious
- Keep Unhealthy Foods Out of Sight
- Increase your protein intake
- Drink enough water. Drinking enough water is important for your health.
If you are not used to eating a healthy diet that promotes your well-being, making gradual changes can help you improve the way you eat in the long run. You can substitute water for high-calorie, sugary drinks, for example, and switch from full-fat to low-fat dairy products. Selecting lean meats instead of fatty cuts and whole-wheat grains instead of refined grains can lower your intake of unhealthy fats and increase your dietary fibre intake. Fresh fruits and vegetables contain less sodium than canned, and snacking on fresh, crunchy produce like carrots, apples and cucumber slices is healthier than the fats and salt in chips.
Get Enough Sleep
Sleep was long considered just a block of time when your brain and body shut down. It is now known, that your brain and body functions stay active throughout sleep, and they form or strengthen the pathways of brain cells needed to perform tasks related to our daily routines of life. Your ability to function and feel well while you’re awake depends on whether you’re getting enough sleep. Getting enough sleep is essential for helping a person maintain optimal health and well-being.
Why Is Sleep Important?
- Sleep helps your mind and body relax and recover from your day. When you’re sleep-deprived, your body releases stress hormones.
- Sleep helps regulate your metabolism. That’s the way your body converts food to energy.
- During sleep, your body releases hormones. Some of them keep your heart and blood vessels healthy.
- A good night’s sleep makes you feel energized and alert. This helps you focus and get things done.
- While you sleep, your body works hard to repair the damage. The damage can be from stress, ultraviolet rays, and other harmful things you’re exposed to.
Getting enough sleep is important, but good sleep quality is also essential. Signs of poor sleep quality include feeling sleepy or tired even after getting enough sleep, repeatedly waking up during the night, and having symptoms of a sleep disorder (such as snoring or gasping for air).
Tips for Getting a Good Sleep
1. Stick to a sleep schedule
2. Avoid large meals, caffeine, and alcohol before bedtime.
3. Remove electronic devices such as TVs, computers, and phones from the bedroom.
4. Have a good sleeping environment.
5. Take a hot bath before bed
Regular Exercise
Face it, fitness is important. Staying physically active keeps stress at bay, promotes cardiovascular health, and helps you feel energized. Of course, fitness has another important benefit—it can help us maintain our optimal weight. The good news is that it’s never too late to start. You can start slowly, and find ways to fit more physical activity into your life. To get the most benefit, you should try to get the recommended amount of exercise for your age. If you can do it, the payoff is that you will feel better, help prevent or control many diseases, and likely even live longer.
What are the health benefits of exercise?
- Along with diet, exercise plays an important role in controlling your weight and preventing obesity
- Exercise strengthens your heart and improves your circulation. The increased blood flow raises the oxygen levels in your body.
- Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier, more relaxed and less anxious.
- Regular physical activity can help you fall asleep faster, get better sleep and deepen your sleep.
- Exercise delivers oxygen and nutrients to your tissues and helps your cardiovascular system work more efficiently.
Physical activity and relaxation techniques can be valuable tools to help you remain calm and continue to protect your health during the pandemic time. WHO recommends 150 minutes of moderate-intensity or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity physical activity per week, or a combination of both.
How can anyone make exercise a part of my regular routine?
- When you part with your hard-earned cash and sign up for a series of classes or a gym membership, you’ll be wasting your money if you don’t go regularly to make the most of what you’ve paid for.
- Making exercise part of your daily life takes work and, therefore, you should find workouts you actually enjoy in order to stick to it.
- Start by making it a goal to move your body for only 30 minutes per day, and work your way up from there. You don’t want to dive in and burn out, you want to make it sustainable and enjoyable. So take baby steps.
Laughter is the Best Medicine
It’s true: laughter is strong medicine. It draws people together in ways that trigger healthy physical and emotional changes in the body. Laughter strengthens your immune system, boosts mood, diminishes pain, and protects you from the damaging effects of stress. Nothing works faster or more dependably to bring your mind and body back into balance than a good laugh. Humour lightens your burdens, inspires hope, connects you to others, and keeps you grounded, focused, and alert. It also helps you release anger and forgive sooner.
How laugh is good for healthy living?
- It helps manage blood sugar levels, reduces inflammation, manages metabolism, and triggers the fight or flight response in your body at critical times.
- Laughing can help relieve stress because it relaxes your muscles.
- It can lessen chronic depression and anxiety as well as make it easier to cope with challenging situations.
- Laughing releases more anti-infection antibodies to help protect your body from infection.
Most of us take ourselves too seriously, which limits our ability to find humour in difficult situations. In addition, it can make us uptight and overly sensitive to what other people may be thinking of us.
Learning to laugh at yourself takes some of the pressure off, and it will allow you to be more authentic and vulnerable (both of which are desirable character traits).
How to bring more laughter into your life
- Spend time with pets
- Remove negativity in your environment
- Read a Funny Book
- Find a Little Kid You Can Hang Out With
- Play Fun Games With Friends
Ditch Both that Cigarette and Drink
Maybe you exercise regularly and eat healthily. Did you know that you can undo these good habits with bad ones like smoking and drinking?
Regular smoking and drinking increase your risk of cancers of the lung and liver. The damage to your body starts from smoking just one cigarette. Some people think alcohol is good for the heart but it’s not true. Even though red wine does contain natural antioxidants, this is in small amounts and the risks of alcohol outweigh the benefits. Excessive alcohol consumption can lead to a loss of productivity, risky behaviour such as drunk driving, and even violent behaviour.
It is important to realise that quitting smoking can improve your quality of life – physically, emotionally and financially. It can help you and those around you breathe better and live longer.
People who stop smoking generally have an improved sense of smell and taste, feel less stressed and become more energetic.
How to ditch smoking?
1. Make a promise, set a date and stick to it. Sticking to the “not a drag” rule can really help.
2. Keep your hands and mouth busy
3. Consider nicotine replacement therapy
4. Tell your friends, family, and other people you’re close to that you’re trying to quit. They can encourage you to keep going, especially when you’re tempted to light up.
5. In addition to all the health benefits, one of the perks of giving up cigarettes is all the money you will save
Alcoholism causes physical and emotional health problems. The person with alcohol addiction experiences the brunt of the physical problems, but people who are close to them often share the emotional side effects of the person’s addiction. Family members of alcoholics can experience anxiety, depression and shame related to their loved one’s addiction. Family members may also be the victims of emotional or physical outbursts.
How to curb your drinking habit?
- Work out a personal limit per day, per week or per occasion – and stick to it.
- Having no alcohol at home can help limit your drinking.
- Building new relationships with people who also choose to avoid alcohol can have a lot of benefits.
- Choosing the right replacement beverage can help you stand firm in your desire to stop drinking.
Get started!
Make 2022 your year to renew your commitment to making the necessary changes that will empower you to age well. Most importantly, just get started!
