Chapter 1

Healthy Living Basics

 

Almost all of us wish to live longer, do more, and spend more time with our family. But even if we like to live longer, our lifestyle is otherwise. Living longer, loving life means living healthy.

 

We hear a lot about living a healthy lifestyle, but how do we do it? A healthy person is somebody who doesn’t smoke, is not over-weight, eats healthy and exercises. Sounds easy? Not so easy when we’re trying to do it. In trying to live healthy, it is important to take simple steps or make small changes until we have totally incorporated healthy living into our lifestyle without changing drastically.

 

Exercise

People lack activity nowadays. Movement, even in moderate activities like doing chores, gardening and walking, makes a difference. Just adding movement to our daily routine can reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes, osteoporosis and fractures, stress and symptoms of anxiety and depression.

 

There are simple ways of moving our body without spending cash for gym membership. We can do the following:

 

• Spending one day of the week doing something physical with the family, like playing in the park.

 

• Walking more! Walking 20 minutes every day can give great results, not only to how you feel physically but also to your weight.

 

• Do some chores like gardening, raking leaves, sweeping the floor.

 

• Be aware of your physical activities every day. If you notice that most of your time is spent on a chair, then incorporate more movement into your daily schedule.

 

Eating well is another practice of living healthy. Clean and healthy diet can improve your health as well as your weight. Again, the key is sneak smaller changes until you’ve realized that you are completely eating healthy.

 

You can do the following for you to eat healthier:

 

• Eat more fruit with your cereals, salads and meals.

 

• Eat more vegetables. Add vegetables to your sandwich, pasta sauce. Instead of digging into chips for quick snacks, have available fruits and canned vegetables.

 

• Eat low-fat or fat free dairy. You can change your usual milk into skimmed milk or fat free yogurt.

 

• Look through your cabinets or fridge and pick three foods that you eat every day. The next time you go shopping, look for low-calorie substitutes for those three items.

 

Not only is it important to reduce your calorie intake when losing weight. You should also know when to eat. Breakfast is the most important meal of the day and the one meal that should not be missed. Lunch should be healthy but less than what you ate for breakfast. Avoid eating too much later in the day. Dinner should be healthy and light. It is best to avoid dinner snacks or eating before going to bed.