Five Steps to a Healthy Lifestyle

FIVE STEPS TO A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

1                Get Active for an hour each day

Physical activity increases your chances of living a longer, healthier life. It can also help you look and feel your best. Be patient. Change takes time.

     Benefits of active living:

·       Be healthier

·       Increase chances of living longer

·       Feel better about yourself

·       Have less chance of becoming depressed

·       Sleep better at night

·       Help to look good

·       Be in shape

·       Get around better

·       Have stronger muscles and bones

·       Help to stay at or get to a healthy weight

·       Be with friends or meet new people

·       Enjoy yourself and have fun

Do it your way

• Pick an activity you like and one that fits into your life. 
• Find the time that works best for you.
• Be active with friends and family. Having a support network can help you keep up with your program.
• There are many ways to build the right amount of activity into your life. Every little bit adds up and doing something is better than doing nothing.
• Take a brisk walk around the neighborhood after dinner today.
• Make an activity plan for next week and write it on your calendar.
• Start small. Try taking a walk after dinner twice a week, or do sit-ups while you watch TV.
• Mix it up. Learn new stretches and warm-up exercises.
• Sign up for a fitness class if possible .
•  Choose an activity that’s new for  you.
• Wake up a few minutes earlier to go for a brisk walk  before breakfast.
• Walk or ride your bike to the store or coffee shop.
• Choose activities that work all the different parts of the body—your legs, hips, back, chest, stomach, shoulders, and arms.
• Exercises for each muscle group should be repeated 8 to 12 times per session.

Try some of these activities a couple of days a week :

• Heavy gardening (digging, shoveling)
• Lifting weights
• Push-ups on the floor or against the wall
• Sit-ups
• Working with resistance bands (long, wide rubber strips that stretch)

      Choose Water as a drink

Water has none of the sugar, found in fruit drinks, soft drinks, sports drinks and flavoured mineral waters.

   If you feel thirsty you’re probably already starting to dehydrate, so make sure you drink water regularly and especially before any physical activity.

  Have a few mouthfuls of water during any breaks in playing games or sport.

 After sport or exercise, drink plenty of water to make up for what you’ve lost in sweat.

Fruit juice, which contains Vitamin C, is often seen as a healthy choice of drink. However, fruit juice is high in sugar and kilojoules, just like fruit drinks, flavoured mineral water, energy drinks and soft drinks. For example, a 250ml cup of apple juice or cola contains up to six teaspoons of sugar. 
Add it up: just one can of soft drink per day means you’re adding 18 kilos of sugar to your diet each year!
You can have them occasionally, but these drinks are not a necessary part of a healthy diet. Use smaller glasses when drinking sugary drinks.

    Eat more Fruits and Vegetables

      Healthy eating includes eating at least five portions, and ideally 7-9 portions, of a variety of fruit or vegetables each day. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables every day is healthy for you. They have vitamins and minerals that can help protect your health. Most are also lower in calories and higher in fiber than other foods. As part of a healthy diet, eating fruits and vegetables instead of high-fat foods may make it easier to control your weight.

    Benefits of eating more Fruits & Vegetables :

•  You have a lower chance of developing cardiovascular diseases due atheroma ('hardening of the arteries'). For example, heart disease, peripheral vascular disease, or a stroke.
• You have a lower chance of developing some cancers such as bowel and lung cancer.
• Contain lots of fibre which helps to keep your bowels healthy. Problems such as constipation and diverticular disease are less likely to develop.
• Contain plenty of vitamins and minerals, which are needed to keep you healthy.
• Are naturally low in fat.
• Are filling but are low in calories. So, they are ideal to keep your weight in control.

How to Increase Eating

Breakfast   -  Add some fruit to your cereal.

Snack -         Grab a piece of fruit.

Lunch -          Eat a big salad.

Snack -         Choose raw vegetables as an afternoon snack.

Dinner  -        Have two vegetables with dinner and eat fruit for dessert

     Turn off TV and Computer & Get Active

Spending too much sedentary or ‘still’ time watching TV, surfing online or playing computer games is linked to becoming overweight or obese. People who watch TV for more than 2 hours every day are more likely to have an unhealthy diet, less likely to eat fruit and less likely to be physically active. People who watch more TV are more likely to snack on foods that are high in sugar, salt or saturated fat when they’re watching TV.

• Set limits on TV viewing. If there is a specific program that you want to watch, turn the TV off once it is finished. Alternatively, record the program and watch it together later on.
• Set limits for computer games and being online – no more than 2 hours a day and not during daylight hours when you could be outside and active.
• Don’t watch  TV or computer in your  bedroom. Keep them in a common area of the family home so you can do other actives while watching TV.

    Eat Fewer Snacks And Choose alternative Healthier

You have striven to keep unhealthy foods out of the house to begin with, you must focus on developing a strong sense of self control because you will not always be in controlled situations. Start by focusing less on food. If you look forward to coming home from wherever you have been and having a nice little snack; stop this destructive habit! The more you think about food, the more you build up a temptation to overeat. Think of eating as a necessity, not a comfort thing. Drink tea, coffee or water to soothe yourself on returning home.

You can still allow yourself eating snacks, but eat slightly less and less frequently. A self-test to see if you're really hungry: if you search around the refrigerator and pantry, you are not really hungry; you're just eating compulsively. If you have a particular snack in mind, like eating an orange, you probably really do need nourishment. This is not to say, however, that just because you are craving ice cream it is alright to eat it. Remember to observe the distinction between mouth-hungry and stomach-hungry.

Cut down on the junk food. If you find the transition from junky food to healthier food too extreme, begin by buying less unhealthy foods. For example,; instead of ordering take  out pizza, make a home made veggie pizza. replace potato chips and french onion dip with apples and peanut butter or carrots and ranch/italian dressing. Replace soda with mineral water, malts/shakes with smoothies, and fruit snacks with an assortmant of berries

Avoid buying or accepting sweet and fatty foods! If these things aren't in your house then you can't be tempted by them! Especially dangerous foods that should be avoided are ice cream, cookies, any leftover desserts, potato chips, pie, and candy.

Keep the content of your snacks healthy. Try to balance them according to your meals. For example, if you ate cereal at breakfast, a cheese sandwich at lunch, and macaroni and cheese for dinner, you shouldn't have yogurt as a snack. Your best bet is to have a piece of fruit, snack bar, or a tasty vegetable, like carrots or baby tomatoes.

For example, replace potato chips and french onion dip with apples and peanut butter or carrots and ranch/italian dressing. Replace soda with mineral water, malts/shakes with smoothies, and fruit snacks with an assortmant of berries.

Remember the crucial steps in eating spur-of-the-moment healthy snacks:

First- be sure you buy predominantly healthy foods. This means avoiding anything the has a lot of trans fat, calories, or starch (especially sugar).

Second- try to exercise self-control. Too much of anything is bad for you, so don't eat huge snacks.

 Third- don't focus or depend on your snacks. Only eat them when you are actually hungry. Fourth, when you do eat snacks, eat something that will supply you with nutrients lacking from your meals.

Finally, you can always count on whole grain foods, fruits, vegetables, and most unprocessed foods to be relatively healthy.