8 REVEALING HABITS OF HEALTH AND NUTRITION THAT WILL MAKE YOU LIVE LONGER
We are getting more aware of good health and nutrition and ways of maintaining healthy lifestyles. But most of us haven’t succeeded in getting that ideal weight. Managing stress levels also has become a challenge. This has affected the family unit, and the overall productivity of individuals, thus affecting the way we live.
You could be avoiding the common bad habits like drinking alcohol, smoking, watching your portions, controlling your carbohydrates intake among others, but you still find that you have those extra kilos you want to shed. In Melbourne, Australia, people are embracing ways of living longer and adopting the healthy habits that will make them achieve this goal. In this article, we’ll look at simple, yet very effective ways that you may not have been aware of to continually improve your overall wellness in order to live your lives to the fullest.
These 8 habits of health and nutrition that will make you live longer are:
- Take healthy snacks in between the main meals
- Do not be distracted during meal times
- Focus on change of diet and build on it gradually
- How do drugs affect you?
- Avoid fatigue and take control of your busy schedule
- Sleep well
- Do Physical Exercises
- Your relationship with others
Expounding on these 8 Habits of Health and Nutrition that will make you Live Longer
- Take Healthy Snacks in between the Main Meals
Earlier on in this blog, we had discussed theimportance of breakfast and the other 2 meals. A proper healthy breakfast will determine how your day will be.
It is important to take healthy snacks at around 10 in the morning and 4 in the evening. This will make the body get revitalized. The best snacks are fruits, or a cup of tea or coffee, with tubers that are high in fiber (cassavas, arrowroots, sweet potatoes). Nuts are also highly recommended (walnuts, almonds, peanuts, chestnuts, soynuts, pecans and pistachios).
There is a strong correlation between eating more frequently and a lower BMI. This is because setting your mind to eat the regular 3 times a day will more likely result in eating more. But if you have regular snacks in between the meals, you are less likely to feel hungrier at meal times, and you’ll manage to control your portions. Keep in mind that this does not give you a green light to skip the meals. It is very necessary to have your meals three times a day.
- Do not be Distracted during Meal Times
The way you eat your meals affects your eating patterns, appetite and even the way the food is digested! Seems irrelevant right? This is one of the simple things that affect your overall health.
Research shows that watching the telly affects chewing of food. You eat faster when you concentrate on the TV. This will affect the ingestion. You will also be unable to watch on your portions – there is the likelihood of eating more. People who watch the telly were also found to have a higher Body Mass Index.
Other bad eating habits include texting on your mobile phone or getting involved in social media engagements, not eating while seated (some people eat while working or doing something else) and eating from a packed box or a big bowl.
Respect the quality meal times with your family. It creates a good atmosphere and opportunity to bond well. If you have a busy schedule, then make dinner time compulsory to eat together as a family.
- Focus on Change of Diet and Build on it Gradually
Do not get attracted to the fad diets and hope for immediate results. Focus on a
systematic, regular diet plan and work on it. Be consistent and build on something that is lasting. That is the only way you’ll have a lasting, concrete change. Let it be gradual, don’t go for a quick fix.
Keep a record of what you buy, the meals and portions by the help of a log. Seek the services of a professional to guide you. Follow up on this consistently, and when you start seeing the results, you will be motivated to carry on so that you achieve the desired results. Above all, prepare your meals in your own kitchen and help your family meet their nutritional needs well. The healthy diet plan, thus, will become a lifestyle.
- How do Drugs Affect you?
We cannot separate health from illness, because being in good health depicts being free from diseases. But is this really possible? We can influence it. Good health and nutrition keeps diseases and common ailments like Flu and Obesity at bay. However, with common viruses and bacteria, you are bound to get sick at one time.
When you understand your body structure and how it functions, you will learn how it can resist diseases, and work towards it. Work closely with your physician on your health matters; together you will get valuable information on some specific situations. You will learn how to listen to your body, what to do when ill, how to deal with stress and continuity in medication, if any. That is why it’s always advisable to stick to one doctor and/or physician.
- Avoid Fatigue and take Control of your Busy Schedule
Fatigue and stress related ailments are the causes of poor health today. The current lifestyle
has so many demands, with almost everyone doing anything possible to earn more and climb the career ladder. This is at the expense of the family unit and health.
As discussed in the previous article, stress will limit our good life by bringing common ailments and affecting productivity. Getting tired and worrying brings fear in our lives, depriving the person of the psyche and determination to become an achiever. This will also reduce the person’s ability to resist illnesses.
- Sleep Well
We spend about a third of our lives sleeping. God created us to perform better when we have regular sleep. The less time we sleep, the less efficient we become. The question, however, is, how many hours do we need to sleep so that we function efficiently and effectively?
We are all very different. It is advocated that you utilize your working hours to the maximum. When this is done, you will get a good night’s sleep and rise up in the morning rested and revitalized enough to face the day and be productive through out. It is recommended that you have 6 to 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep each night.
You therefore need to remove all the distracters and other habits that may interrupt your sleep. This include feeding heavily just before you get to bed, using the smart phone during the sleeping hours, turning your bedroom into a working office, among others.
- Do Physical Exercises
While in seemingly good health conditions, most of us neglect this factor of wellness. We fail to act on out fitness levels until when it becomes necessary to engage in exercises. By this time, we are already affected by illnesses, which include obesity. But few people know the trick. Staying fit always and maintaining that condition will make you feel good at all times.
Keeping fit will make us feel fresh, eat well, keep stress levels at minimum, make us sleep well, and generally improve our overall productivity. It also greatly improves our relationship with other people, as we’ll discuss here below. When we maintain our physical fitness, some ailments and diseases will never be our portion!
- Your Relationship with Others
It is now known that your emotions will affect your health. Happy people live longer. Ever heard someone tell a smiling person that they know the secret? Or someone saying how a certain comment spoilt their day?
Taking control of your emotions will determine how happy you are, and how you interact with others. You therefore need to learn how to take captive of thoughts and feelings when dealing with people, despite the stress and bad situations that may occur. This is thus greatly determined by how confident we are, and the words we speak. Do not let someone else put you in a foul mood; they don’t deserve to control your emotions!
Summary of the 8 Habits of Health and Nutrition that will make you Live Longer
Invest in your health by taking good care of yourself so that you enjoy your old age. To achieve this, you’ll need to take deliberate effort to adopt the healthy lifestyle and maintain it.
The habits that will make you achieve this are getting enough sleep, taking healthy snacks, physical exercises, taking control of your emotions while interacting with people, avoiding
stress and fatigue, good eating habits, maintaining a healthy diet and knowing your state of health and the type and kind of medicines to take. Adopt these habits of good health and nutrition and live longer!