Are you interested in maintaining a healthy lifestyle but don’t know where to begin? If yes, this article is all you need to create and maintain healthy habits. In this article, I will share with you the three most important things to do to stay healthy in a lifetime.
Maintaining a healthy lifestyle means you stand a greater chance of aging happily without lifestyle diseases like diabetes and heart diseases. First, you must understand that being healthy is not a ‘one-day’ adventure. But a lifestyle, meaning the only way you will achieve your goal is with consistent efforts.
Here are my three most important tips to consider when making a healthy lifestyle plan.
Contents
1. Eat a balanced diet
What is a balanced diet?
There is no healthy living without adequate nutrition. A balanced diet consists of various foods that give your essential body nutrients like protein, carbohydrates, vitamins, fats, and minerals. These nutrients are required to grow and improve overall health and well-being.
How many times a day should you eat?
Nutrition is fundamental to healthy living, but determining meal frequency could be confusing. According to experts, eating more frequent, smaller meals increases metabolic rate is just a myth. Instead of focusing on meal frequency within a day, I recommend you create a meal plan suitable for your lifestyle. Also, try to eat around the same time range each day. Meal planning will help maintain good energy and avoid mood swings throughout the day.
Limit processed carbs and junk foods
Processed or refined carbs are foods that do not come in their organic or natural forms, for example, table sugar 1You May Never Eat SUGAR Again after Reading This, sweets, soda drinks, and canned foods. These foods are called ‘empty’ carbs or calories, giving your body little or no nutritional value but just extra unwanted fats. Refined foods lack fiber and other essential nutrients due to food processing. Eat more natural or organic foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and tubers to live healthier. These foods are rich in essential nutrients and fiber to nourish your body.
Stay hydrated
The most efficient and inexpensive way of hydrating your body is, you guessed proper, water. Water aids in carrying nutrients and oxygen to your cells, aids digestion, prevents constipation, regulates body temperature, protects organs and tissues like the kidney, and prevents infections. Water provides your body with essential minerals like calcium, magnesium, iron, zinc, sodium, and many more. You can also hydrate adequately by eating water-rich foods like watermelon, cucumber, peaches, and tomatoes.
2. Exercise regularly
People usually confuse exercise and physical activity. Exercise is a subset of physical activity where the earlier is well-structured, planned, repetitive and purposely focused on improving or maintaining one or more components of fitness. Regular exercise, at least thrice a week, helps prevent many chronic diseases like diabetes and hypertension. It helps keep a healthy body mass index, strengthens bones and muscles, improves mood, improves skin quality, ensures healthy hair, skin, and nails, and improves memory and brain function.
3. Have adequate sleep
The recommended hours of sleep by the CDC for adults is 7-9 hours daily. Rest is like the re-set button for your body. Without sleep, your body will shut down.
Other signs of sleep deprivation are poor concentration, mood swings, and poor metabolism.
