Todd Nesnick
Feeling better and improving your health is easy if you make some simple changes to your lifestyle. Over time, these changes can become extremely effective and although you may not notice changes immediately, small changes will have a big impact over time if you continue to implement them. What are some simple changes that you can make to improve your health:
Find a way to get Regular Exercise
It can be difficult to find the time and the energy to exercise on a regular basis. If you would like to stay healthy, you need to find an activity that you like to do and keep doing it. If you do not like to run, then do not decide that you are going to try to go running regularly. If you try to do exercise that you dislike, then you are trying to do then you will not stay with it for the long term. Finding an activity that you like means that you will continue to do it. You will be able to find success by repeating your actions and keeping a schedule up to four or five times per week. Find an activity that you can do with family or friends, and you will be farther ahead.
Take time for yourself
We all lead busy lives. It is very important to take time out for yourself every day. You need to relax and destress from the day’s activities. Many people overschedule their lives and are over committed. They find themselves crushed under the weight of stress and this is a good way to put yourself in line with strokes and heart attacks. Time for yourself and relaxation will also move you towards better health.
Go to Bed Earlier
Do you pride yourself in being a night owl? Are you able to survive on small amounts of sleep? This may sound like something that you should be proud of, but if you do not get enough sleep you are going to pay the price in so many ways. Not getting enough sleep can affect many parts of your day from your mood to your ability to perform your job duties. If you are operating a vehicle without enough sleep, it is the same as driving impaired. Your body takes the hours that you are asleep to rest the brain and make repairs to your cells as well as digesting your food. You need to ensure that you have enough sleep for your body to get all of these things done.
Eliminate Sugar
Sugar is a poison that your body does not know how to deal with. It can raise your blood sugar and cause you to gain weight. It is addictive and it can cause some types of cancer in your body. You want to reduce the amount of sugar that you eat, even if you are eating natural sugar because your body still has to process it. Sugar is not a necessity and should only be consumed occasionally as a treat. When you are purchasing packaged foods, read the labels to see if sugar has been added. Among additives, sugar is definitely one of the worst.
Drink Plenty of Water
Your body needs enough water to carry out its various functions in an effective way. You are made up of around 85% water. If you are able to, you should drink a minimum of half of your body weight in liters of water. Once you have gone that far, you can keep adding water because it is very important to all of your body’s functions. Your body can carry on without food for a long period of time, but you absolutely cannot live without water, you would die after just a few days without it. You should drink water daily and do not replace your liters of water with coffee, tea, soda, milk or juice. Drinking ordinary water is the best and you should aim to drink the amounts that you need.
Consume More Vegetables and Fruit
Your body needs fiber and vitamins, and you can get those through the consumption of vegetables and fruit. You require eight to ten servings of fruits and vegetables, and it is important to incorporate those into your daily meals. This will help you to feel better and stay full longer between meals which should prevent you from snacking which is not healthy if you are eating the wrong things.
Remove Processed Foods from Your Diet
Processed foods are like poison to your body. You are consuming preservatives, chemicals, food dyes, chemicals and fake flavors that do not contain nutritional value. Since your body does not know how to process these items, the effects can be very bad for your health. It is best to eliminate these foods from your diet. If you cannot stop eating them, do not bring them home in the first place. If they are not in your house, you cannot eat them. There is little nutritional value in these foods, and they are not worth eating.
Plan Your Meals
If you plan what you will be eating each day, then you do not have to worry about binge eating because you are hungry. You will know exactly what you will be eating, how much you will eat and when you will eat it. So often we overeat because we fail to plan, and we are hungry. When we are hungry and want to eat right away, we tend to overeat and then regret it later. Overeating because we are hungry leads to weight gain and if you have been trying to keep your eating in check, that can be very discouraging. Planning meals can also help you because you only purchase healthy items to go with your meals. If you are planning meals then you also have a grocery list which you follow closely to create meals, then you can also save money by not purchasing items that are not needed for your weekly meals.
Take Vitamins and Supplements
A good multivitamin is an important part of your daily routine for good health. Multivitamins pick up the slack and add the nutrition piece that you may not be getting from your meal. Some vitamins can help you to resist infections while others help keep nerves healthy and help your body to extract energy from foods that you eat. Some vitamins even assist your body with being able to create blood clots. Most of the time you can get the vitamins that you need from foods, but this is not always the case. At the very least a good multi vitamin is something that you should consider incorporating into your healthy lifestyle.
Avoid Alcohol and Tobacco
It is ok to have a few drinks on special occasions or once a week but if you are drinking on a daily basis, then it can start to have a detrimental effect on your health. Alcohol can disturb your sleeping patterns, cause you to have vitamin and mineral deficiencies and seriously tax your liver. If you want to strive for better health, alcohol has no place in your life. Cigarettes are unhealthy as you are well aware. They can affect blood oxygen and send toxins coursing through your blood. Smoking can lead to lung cancer and is an expensive habit both financially and for your health. It can take several attempts to quit but once you succeed you are going to be very glad that you have quit the habit.
Keep Track of Your Weight
It is important to step on the scale on a regular basis. You should know what your weight is and if you notice significant gains or losses in a short amount of time, this can be cause for concern. It can be a sign of a health problem and you should have it checked out as soon as possible. Gaining a lot of weight can be a sign that something is not right with your blood sugar and losing a lot of weight can also be a sign of a serious problem, so it is best to see a doctor to find out why these changes have occurred.
Making small changes over time can be very effective in the long run. Look after your health by making several of the small changes listed here, over time and then try to keep them in place for the long term. The body is a marvelous and resilient machine but everything that you consume has an affect on it. Making small changes over time is the best way to create a habit and habits are something that you will do daily without even thinking about it. Over time habits become a part of the fabric of your life and help to make up a part of your healthy lifestyle which in turn helps you to become and stay healthier.
Article suggested by MyMedici