Health Tips for Healthy Living

How healthy are you? Do you have a healthy diet? Do you exercise regularly? Do you drink at least eight glasses of water a day? Do you get enough sleep every day? Do you live a healthy lifestyle?

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Our body is our temple and we need to take care of it. Do you know that over 70% of Americans are either obese or overweight?^[1] That’s insane! Think of your body as your physical shell to take you through life. If you repeatedly abuse it, your shell will wear out quickly.

Life is beautiful and you don’t want to bog yourself down with unnecessary health problems. Today, your vital organs may be working well, but they may not be tomorrow. Don’t take your health for granted. Take proper care of Good health isn’t just about healthy eating and exercise — it’s also about having a positive attitude, a positive self-image, and a healthy lifestyle. In this article, I share 45 tips to live a healthier life. Bookmark this post and save the tips, because they will be vital to living a healthier life. 🙂

1. Furthermore, drinking water helps in losing weight. A Health.com study carried out among overweight or obese people showed that water drinkers lose 4.5 more pounds than a control group! The researchers believe that it’s because drinking more water helps fill your stomach, making you less hungry and less likely to overeat.

   The amount of water we need is dependent on various factors such as humidity, your physical activity, and your weight, but generally, we need 2.7-3.7 liters of water intake per day.^[2] Since food intake contributes about 20% of our fluid intake, that means we need to drink about 2.0-3.0 liters of water or about 8-10 glasses (now you know how the 8 glasses recommendation came about!). One way to tell if you’re hydrated — your urine should be slightly yellow. If it’s not, like it’s dark yellow or even orange, you’re not getting enough water! Other signs include dry lips, dry mouth, and little urination. Go drink some water first before you continue this article!

2. Get enough sleep. When you don’t rest well, you compensate by eating more. Usually, it’s junk food. Get enough rest and you don’t need to snack to stay awake. Also, lack of sleep causes premature aging and you don’t want that!
3. Drink more water. Most of us don’t drink enough water every day. Water is essential for our bodies to function. Do you know over 60% of our body is made up of water? Water is needed to carry out body functions, remove waste, and carry nutrients and oxygen around our body. Since we lose water daily through urine, bowel movements, perspiration, and breathing, we need to replenish our water intake."
   
   
   

Healthy Lifestyle Tips for Adults

 

1. Eat a variety of foods
2. Base your diet on plenty of foods rich in carbohydrates
3. Replace saturated with unsaturated fat
4. Enjoy plenty of fruits and vegetables
5. Reduce salt and sugar intake
6. Eat regularly, control the portion size
7. Drink plenty of fluids
8. Maintain a healthy body weight
9. Get on the move, make it a habit!
10. Start now! And keep changing gradually.

1. Eat a variety of foods 

For good health, we need more than 40 different nutrients, and no single food can supply them all. It is not about a single meal, it is about a balanced food choice over time that will make a difference!

• A high-fat lunch could be followed by a low-fat dinner.
• After a large meat portion at dinner, perhaps fish should be the next day’s choice?

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2. Base your diet on plenty of foods rich in carbohydrates

About half the calories in our diet should come from foods rich in carbohydrates, such as cereals, rice, pasta, potatoes, and bread. It is a good idea to include at least one of these at every meal. Wholegrain foods, like wholegrain bread, pasta, and cereals, will increase our fibre intake.

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3. Replace saturated with unsaturated fat

Fats are important for good health and proper functioning of the body. However, too much of it can negatively affect our weight and cardiovascular health. Different kinds of fats have different health effects, and some of these tips could help us keep the balance right:

• We should limit the consumption of total and saturated fats (often coming from foods of animal origin), and completely avoid trans fats; reading the labels helps to identify the sources.
• Eating fish 2-3 times a week, with at least one serving of oily fish, will contribute to our right intake of unsaturated fats.
• When cooking, we should boil, steam or bake, rather than frying, remove the fatty part of meat, use vegetable oils.

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4. Enjoy plenty of fruits and vegetables

Fruits and vegetables are among the most important foods for giving us enough vitamins, minerals and fibre. We should try to eat at least 5 servings a day. For example, a glass of fresh fruit juice at breakfast, perhaps an apple and a piece of watermelon as snacks, and a good portion of different vegetables at each meal.

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5. Reduce salt and sugar intake

A high salt intake can result in high blood pressure, and increase the risk of cardiovascular disease. There are different ways to reduce salt in the diet:

• When shopping, we could choose products with lower sodium content.
• When cooking, salt can be substituted with spices, increasing the variety of flavours and tastes.
• When eating, it helps not to have salt at the table, or at least not to add salt before tasting.

Sugar provides sweetness and an attractive taste, but sugary foods and drinks are rich in energy, and are best enjoyed in moderation, as an occasional treat. We could use fruits instead, even to sweeten our foods and drinks.

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6. Eat regularly, control the portion size

Eating a variety of foods, regularly, and in the right amounts is the best formula for a healthy diet.

Skipping meals, especially breakfast, can lead to out-of-control hunger, often resulting in helpless overeating. Snacking between meals can help control hunger, but snacking should not replace proper meals. For snacks, we could choose yoghurt, a handful of fresh or dried fruits or vegetables (like carrot sticks), unsalted nuts, or perhaps some bread with cheese.

Paying attention to portion size will help us not to consume too much calories, and will allow us to eat all the foods we enjoy, without having to eliminate any.

• Cooking the right amount makes it easier to not overeat.
• Some reasonable serving sizes are: 100 g of meat; one medium piece of fruit; half a cup of raw pasta.
• Using smaller plates helps with smaller servings.
• Packaged foods, with calorie values on the pack, could aid portion control.
• If eating out, we could share a portion with a friend.