Every person lives a certain lifestyle, but not everyone can lead a healthy lifestyle. When your lifestyle is wrong, you will feel restless and unenergized even if you stay in bed all day.
To add, you can also easily attract negative triggers or feelings such as anxiety, depression, panic attacks, etc. Not only that, but unhealthy habits can lead to health deterioration in the long run. You will be prone to illnesses and diseases, ultimately affecting your health.
With this, it is important to recognize the importance of a healthy lifestyle. Every day, you can live a more meaningful life, build healthy habits, stay in better health, and have a more positive attitude towards life. Needless to say, committing to a healthy life can lead to a happier life.
However, this is only possible if you abandon a sedentary lifestyle, improve your eating habits, and make healthy lifestyle changes.
Of course, if you have been leading an unhealthy lifestyle until you read this, you should know that a healthier lifestyle does not happen overnight. Developing good habits will take eighteen (18) to three hundred (300) days. The time may vary depending on the person, and the persistence and diligence poured into the transition to healthy living.
Do not be discouraged; take it one step at a time and work your way up. Always remember that good things take time. So, embrace the process and start working on your bad habits individually until you feel the amazing effects of your healthy choices.
Now, you might wonder how you start living a healthy lifestyle. What are the steps that you take to build one?
This article will discuss the benefits of a healthy lifestyle and suggest ways to build good habits.
A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
First and foremost, let’s define a healthy lifestyle. Essentially, a healthy lifestyle consists of good habits that you develop daily. These include eating well, exercising regularly, and getting enough sleep.
It also includes creating a good balance between work and play. This balance enables you to live life fully without compromising your health.
Additionally, it helps maintain overall health. This is not limited to physical health but also improves mental, social, and spiritual well-being. This shows that living a healthy lifestyle is one way to live happily.
Improving your daily routine will increase your self-esteem and confidence. Finally, when you begin to love yourself and what you are doing, you will feel a sense of contentment that has never been felt before.
10 STEPS IN DEVELOPING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
Step 1: Eat nutritious and healthy meals
This is simple advice: To start your journey towards a healthier lifestyle, you should first develop a good eating habit.
Eat more fruits and vegetables. Eating up to five (5) servings of fruits and vegetables daily is highly recommended to ensure that you are getting adequate vitamins and minerals.
This is a friendly suggestion: if you are not a huge fan of fruits and vegetables, try brightly colored foods to increase your appetite. These may include bananas, pineapples, oranges, apples, avocados, blackberries, eggplants, papayas, and tomatoes.
These foods are high in antioxidants, or natural molecules that help protect body cells against free radicals. A meal plan rich in antioxidants effectively reduces the risk of many illnesses.
Step 2: Drink plenty amount of water
What's a nicer pair for healthy food than drinking adequate water? Depending on your weight, drinking 67 ounces to 168 ounces of water is recommended daily. Apart from weight, other factors, such as daily activity and age, also determine your level of daily water consumption.
Needless to say, drinking enough water daily is crucial for our body systems to function properly. Water is responsible for carrying nutrients and oxygen to our cells, flushing toxins from our bodies, normalizing blood pressure, and regulating body temperature, among many other functions. It also plays a role in various bodily processes, such as digestion and muscle development.
As we all know, water is released from our bodies through urination and perspiration. Hence, we need to drink enough daily water to replenish our bodies.
However, it is important to know that drinking just any kind of water is not enough, and if it is clean and safe to drink, you will be subjected to various diseases worse than dehydration.
That is why the Berkey Water Filters are here to provide pure and clean water in the comfort of your home. Black Berkey® Elements dramatically reduce trihalomethanes, inorganic minerals, heavy metals, pharmaceuticals, pesticides, VOCs, petroleum products, perfluorinated chemicals, rust, silt, sediment, radiological, and more.
Step 3: Move your body
Moving your body is an important component of your daily routine. It positively affects sleep quality, brain functionality, and happiness levels. Hence, exercising daily is a good way to live a healthier lifestyle.
It is recommended to exercise six times a week, from Monday to Saturday, with Sunday as the rest day. You can do cardio training, steady-state exercises, low- and high-intensity workouts, weight lifting, yoga, pilates, and more. Sports, which involve rigorous training and movements, are also good activities. These may include swimming, basketball, volleyball, etc.
Step 4: Stay away from trigger foods
One of the ways you can effectively build good eating habits is by knowing your trigger foods so you can avoid them indefinitely. "Triggers" foods are foods that are so addicting that you keep coming back for more. It varies from one person to another. For example, a piece of chocolate candy may be a "trigger" food for you, but not for me.
Although trigger foods are common to everyone, they include candies, chocolates, cookies, chips, burgers, and fries—basically, food with a high level of processed sugar, salt, fat, or flour.
This is why overconsumption of processed foods is not good for your health. Not only do they trigger your food addictions, but they are also full of artificial and preservatives. If consumed regularly, they may cause serious illnesses such as high blood pressure and heart disease.
Step 5: Get sufficient sleep every night
According to the National Sleep Foundation's guidelines, sleeping seven to nine hours every night is recommended. Sleep helps your body rest from its maximum function, slowing down your body organs and recharging you for the next day's activities.
Getting sufficient sleep can improve mood and productivity. It also helps improve memory, strengthen the immune system, and give the brain a power boost.
On the contrary, sleep deprivation can lead to serious health problems such as heart disease, chronic stress, diabetes, and obesity. You will also feel lethargic and dizzy throughout the day if you don't sleep enough the night before.
Step 6: Practice good body hygiene
You should commit to practicing good body hygiene to develop a healthier lifestyle. This includes taking a bath before sleeping and after waking up. You should also brush your teeth three (3) times daily, floss your teeth, and gargle with mouthwash for extra cleanliness.
As such, practicing good hygiene is the best precaution against illnesses caused by dirt, bacteria, and viruses. Getting a good bath also helps improve one's overall mood and keeps one fresh and healthy-looking all day.
Step 7: Be optimistic
Optimism is the key to a healthier lifestyle. When you look at life positively, you embody the spirit of the good and stir you away from the bad.
Hence, you should avoid negativities as much as you can. Whether it's a person or an object, you must let him or her go if they are causing so much trouble for you. Remember, prioritizing your peace is never wrong or selfish.
So, if someone or something is causing you to lose peace, say your piece and move on. When you are at peace, you can focus on your tasks and achieve your goals. You also tend to be happier and more productive.
Oppositely, when something is disturbing you, you tend to self-destruct in ways such as stress-eating, sleep deprivation, or overworking for temporary relief.
Step 8: Limit your vices
If you have your vices, you should try to limit them or stop them altogether. Popular vices such as smoking and drinking alcohol can cause harmful damage to your health.
If consumed regularly and heavily, your face will look older and have some wrinkles and eyebags. You will also be prone to insomniac tendencies, causing you to lose sleep and become sleep-deprived.
Smoking cigarettes contains harmful substances that are dangerous for your body's organs. The reason why so many people become addicted to smoking despite its foul odor is because of its very addictive chemical nicotine. In the long run, it will cause serious health complications such as lung cancer and tuberculosis.
Excessive consumption of alcoholic beverages also poses the same health threats. However, drinking alcohol moderately during parties and events is relatively okay. If you are a heavy alcohol drinker, you will be prone to alcohol intoxication, liver disease, heart disease, and digestive malfunctions.
Step 9: Wake up early
Waking up early is a good way to start your day. You can go outside, take a walk, breathe the fresh air, and feel the warmth of sunlight against your skin.
You can get health benefits from simply waking up early in the morning. For one, you will have improved cognitive function. This is because waking up early gives more mental clarity and focus than waking up late.
It is also known to reduce the risk of stress and improve people's moods throughout the day.
Lastly, it helps people become more productive and enables them to complete their daily tasks on time.
Step 10: Don't forget to rest and give yourself a break
Finally, don't forget to rest and give yourself a break when needed. Sometimes, life gets so busy that we expect our bodies to work tirelessly despite being restless. So, you should make time to unwind, go out, and relax as much as possible.
Perhaps you can go out with your friends or spend time with your family. You may also travel alone, chill at a beach resort, and recharge before returning to work. You may also get a good book, enjoy a sip of coffee, and appreciate the beauty of the surroundings.
The point here is that you don't always have to be moving, working, or doing things trying to prove something. Sometimes, you only need to let go of everything and let loose.
Remember, our bodies will become much more efficient if we let them have the rest they deserve.
THE BENEFITS OF A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE
-
Lessens the risk of serious health complications
As mentioned above, a healthy lifestyle lessens your risk of serious illnesses and diseases.
After all, living a healthy lifestyle means eating nutritious foods, exercising regularly, sleeping adequately, and balancing work and play well. These good habits indicate that you are at a healthy weight and have no strong vices or addictions.
As a result, your overall quality of life becomes much better. Your lifespan will also lengthen.
-
Saves more money in the long run
It's already been established that living a healthy lifestyle calls for fewer risks of health complications.
With that, you can save more money in the long run. Instead of paying regularly for hospital bills, medications, treatments, or maintenance, you get to enjoy your money to yourself.
Moreover, a healthy lifestyle also means eating healthy foods and snacks, less processed foods, and more fresh fruits and vegetables.
-
Fresh produce costs less than junk food, such as potato chips, sugary drinks, foods full of refined sugar, chocolate cake, and many more. Instead, you can opt for affordable healthy options such as lean meats, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and more vegetables for a balanced diet. This goes to show that health is indeed wealth. Therefore, maintaining good health is a cheap option to lead your life.
-
Environmentally-friendly choice
Did you know that living a healthy lifestyle is also an environmentally-friendly choice? Well, now you do!
For example, processed foods contain refined grains and additives that harm health and the environment. Eating fewer of these will help the environment maintain its healthful condition.
Furthermore, mega-processed foods are made by factories that greatly contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, water contamination, and plastic pollution. So, by cutting down on these, the manufacturers will produce fewer supplies than usual due to lesser demands—making it an environmentally friendly choice for all of us.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion, adopting my lifestyle is more than just a choice.
It is, in fact, a lifelong commitment that you should be ready to make. You must also persevere in choosing and replacing bad habits with good ones.
Slowly but surely, learn to trust and embrace the process and avoid the call for instant gratification.
This process is also part of your journey towards self-love. After all, loving yourself means eating, sleeping, and living well. By choosing a healthier lifestyle, you can feel and manifest positive changes, which will, in turn, make you happier.
While it may take time, you should not stop working on your goal of living a healthy lifestyle. Allow yourself to fall short a few times, but stay consistent until you reach your goal.
There is no need to rush. Building new habits, especially those opposite your old ones, will take time.
Rest assured, sooner or later, you will fully adapt to the lifestyle you've chosen. Trust me, you will thank yourself one day for making these changes.
← Older Post Newer Post →