Battle For A Better Body!
0Living a healthy lifestyle all year round is definitely not easy! All things worthwhile in life take time, sacrifice, and a great deal of effort. For many of us this becomes a constant war against obesity and illness.
The following tips and lifestyle habits will help you succeed in your battle to a better body!
1. Proper Diet and Nutrition:
Tips:
- Make healthier choices each day (cook your own meals instead of eating out)
- Eliminate one unhealthy habit every 1-2 week’s. For example eating frozen foods or dessert.
- Watch out for red flag ingredients such as saturated or trans fats and refined grains.
- Pre- plan and cook meals ahead of time to eliminate unhealthy temptations.
- Replace unhealthy ingredients with healthy ones. For example, an egg white and vegetable omelet instead of one with cheese and sausage.
- Consume smaller portions.
- Slow down your eating pace.
- Aim for balance of protein, carbohydrates and healthy fats with your meals throughout the day.
Health benefits of proper diet/nutrition:
Healthy eating is one of the most important and crucial things you can do to help prevent and control health issues, such as:
- Heart disease.
- High blood pressure.
- Type 2 diabetes.
- Some types of cancer.
2. Stay active through daily exercise:
Tips:
- Keep an exercise log. Monitoring the amount of activity you get each day will help to make you more accountable.
- Plan exercise into your day. Set aside a specific time in your schedule to workout or be active.
- Set goals.
- Make it fun. Try a new sport like tennis or rollerblading. The more that you enjoy exercise, the more likely you are to stick to it.
- Buy your own equipment: This allows you to stay on track without even leaving home and is also great for working out when the gym is closed.
Health benefits of exercise:
Get off the couch and stay active! You will reap many great rewards and your body will thank you for it. Here are some health benefits that are hard to ignore:
- Reduces the risk of developing diabetes.
- Reduces the risk of developing high blood pressure.
- Helps to lower it in people who already have high blood pressure.
- Reduces feelings of depression and anxiety.
- Helps control weight.
- Helps build and maintain healthy bones, muscles and joints.
- Promotes psychological well-being.
3. Water Consumption
Hydration tips:
- Have a glass of water with every meal or snack.
- Eat more vegetables (example- cucumbers). Their high water content will add to your hydration. About 20% of our fluid intake comes from foods.
- Keep a few bottles of water with you in your car, at your desk, or in your bag.
- Watch out for “added sugar” to drinks. These red flag ingredients include: corn syrup, fructose, high-fructose corn syrup and molasses.
Health benefits of consuming water:
Water consumption is the most crucial and essential nutrient for the human body. This miracle substance comes with so many great health benefits- here are some below:
Drinking water helps maintain the balance of body fluids, which is required for digestion, absorption, circulation, creation of saliva, transportation of nutrients, and maintenance of body temperature.
- Water can help control calories.
- Water helps hydrate muscles.
- Water helps with your kidneys function.
- Water helps maintain normal bowel function.
- Water boosts energy.
- Nourishes your skin.
4. Sleep
Tips:
- Keep a regular sleep schedule. Try and get at least 7 hours of sleep each night.
- Wake up at the same time every day.
- Nap to make up for lost sleep.
- Turn off all your electronic devices before bed. Leaving them on can be disruptive!
- Try natural supplementation such as taking Melatonin and ZMA before bed to help sleep quality.
Health benefits of proper sleep:
Everyone knows how important getting a good night’s sleep is for your body. For athletes and those who live a very active lifestyle, sleep is crucial in order to perform and train at optimal levels, and to recover and rebuild muscle tissue. In fact proper sleep is beneficial for anyone, no matter their fitness level in many ways! Here are some examples:
- Helps to decrease inflammation.
- Inflammation is linked to heart disease, stroke, diabetes, arthritis, and premature aging. Research indicates that people who get less sleep (six or fewer hours a night) have higher blood levels of inflammatory proteins than those who get more.
- Helps promote a healthier weight.
- Lower stress.
- Lower risk of depression.
5. Positive Thinking
Tips:
- Surround yourself with positive people.
- Positive thinkers cope better with stress.
- Help others.
- Meditate to refresh and clear your mind.
- Seek support.
- Ignore and avoid negativity.
Health benefits from being positive:
Positive thinking is good for your body, mind and overall health. Here are some of the biggest benefits:
- Increased life span.
- Lower rates of depression.
- Lower levels of stress.
- Greater resistance to the common cold.
- Better psychological and physical well-being.
- Reduced risk of death from cardiovascular disease.
- Better coping skills during times of hardship.