Do you want to achieve a healthy lifestyle? You should do! A healthy lifestyle is essential if you truly want to take the best possible care of your health.
Yet very few people really know what is meant by a healthy lifestyle. Most believe it’s incorporating four things: eating healthily (although most don’t know how to do this), exercise regularly, don’t smoke and limit alcohol consumption or best still eliminate it totally. In truth that would indeed make a good start but there is far more to it than that.
In truth there is a lot more to it. It’s not easy to achieve a healthy lifestyle. So, is the effort worth it?
Studies show that an unhealthy lifestyle is associated with a high burden of morbidity. Tobacco, high blood pressure and high BMI account for around 30% of all UK disability-adjusted life years.
More than 6 in in 10 males and more than 5 in 10 females in England are obese or overweight.
It isn’t only adults where the problems lie. Obesity levels among children and young people present a significant, long-term challenge.
Too many of our children are growing up obese, which can lead to serious health complications. We all have a responsibility to help people live healthier lives, but with a third of children leaving primary school obese we must take a comprehensive approach and now focus on excess calories. Philip Dunne, Minister of State at the Department of Health
Although the health of the UK population has seen improvements in the last 50 years, the need for people to implement a healthy lifestyle grows. If you are planning on switching to healthy living today, you will end up gaining and experiencing several health benefits in the future. After all, these things take some time to come to fruition.
So, yes, the efforts worth it.
The groundwork for all happiness is good health. Leigh Hunt
Get started by implementing these simple steps to achieve a healthy lifestyle
1. Get Enough Sleep
Sleep has the ability to optimise mental and physical energy, and optimal levels of sleep (about eight hours a night) are linked with reduced risk of chronic disease and improved longevity. Your body and mind work so hard during the day, they need sleep for repairing. Studies have shown that 8 hours of sleep per 24-hour period is the average requirement for adults.
2. Exercise regularly
Being active should be a priority. Experts say that people should have at least 150 hours of exercise per week. Achieving these hours of exercise will combat health conditions and diseases, enhances mood and well-being, boosts one’s energy, and promotes better and quality sleep. A great starting point is simply walking.
3. Drink Water
Drinking at least 8 glasses of water every day is good for your health. Maintaining hydration can have a profound influence on our vitality and energy levels, including mental alertness. Water helps to clear our system, bring on metabolism rate and flush out the toxins. The list of benefits goes on and on, but hopefully you get the point.
4. Snack only on fruit
Potato chips, salted nuts, candies, cookies and other tasty stuff are definitely unhealthy for your body. They contain lots of fat, salt, sugar. Mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks will give you an energy boost and control hunger. So you need to snack, but should choose fruit every time, nothing else, well apart from water if you want to achieve a healthy lifestyle.
5. Eat mainly plant based
Eat foods that can be grown, not hunted and killed. The food that has been provided to us from the earth is there to make us healthy and to live the most vibrant lives, so let’s get back to basics and eat real food to fuel our bodies! Fruit, Vegetables, tubers, whole grains, and legumes; exclude or reduce meat (including chicken and fish), dairy products, and eggs, as well as highly refined processed foods.
6. Eat fat in moderation
Foods that are high in saturated fats include pizza, cheese, red meat, and full-fat dairy products are not good for you. Eat healthy fats from plant sources, like flaxseed, plant oils, and nuts and seeds, avocados. Fat contributes to energy intake and helps you absorb vital vitamins; therefore, a healthy diet should always contain a certain amount of fat. But even healthy fats you need to restrict. I recommend no more than 30 grams daily.
7. Give up your harmful bad habits
Burning the midnight oil, drinking alcohol to excess, smoking are harmful bad habits which will damage your health. Stopping smoking is essential. Drinking only occasionally is simply the healthiest way, well apart from not drinking at all. We’ve already talked about getting enough sleep.
I assure you doing these things necessary to achieve a healthy lifestyle, most days of the week will quickly result in vast improvements in your health.
If you haven’t already started making changes in your lifestyle to be more health conscious, I hope this will help you to do so. It’s definitely worth the effort. If you want some advice on how to achieve a healthy lifestyle try out our FREE Healthy Lifestyle Plan and it’s unique 70 point weekly scoring system – Find Out More
Looking good and feeling good go hand in hand. If you have a healthy lifestyle, your diet and nutrition are set, and you’re working out, you’re going to feel good. Jason Statham
Score Your Way To Good Health - With Our Healthy Lifestyle Plan
Score your way to good health with our healthy lifestyle plan and it's unique 70 point weekly scorecard!
