‘Prepare your own meal’: 20 important tips for healthy living

by Trina Remedios

black-woman-eating-fruit

A healthy diet or a healthy meal plan can help you towards meeting your healthy living goals

Live your life with a purpose

You are born for a purpose though we wait for divine intervention to tell us ‘what is the purpose’. Enough of philosophy, but you need goals and mottos to live life to the fullest. Achieving these goals and living up to your motto will give you a sense of bliss and happiness. Achieving this bliss-like state is a step to healthy living.

Prepare your own meal

Learning to cook with natural and fresh produce is a major leap towards healthy living. This healthy tip is a filter that helps you consume fresh vegetables, skip processed food, reduce salt and oil and find healthy ways of cooking. Preparing your meal will help you cut down on lifestyle diseases like heart problems and unhealthy weight gain.

Avoid sugary foods

This is like taking candy from children. In hindsight, it’s not a bad idea, especially with the increasing number of young adults developing diabetes. Refined sugar has no vitamins or minerals; it only adds sweetness to the dish.

Improve your posture

It is important to improve your posture; these are the health benefits for good posture:
– Helps the organs to function properly, especially digestion.
– Avoid back pain and neck pain
– Prevent a hunchback
– Improves concentration

Carry water and drink enough water

Your body needs water to function properly and efficiently. Water helps the body in a big way to flush out all the waste from the body. Water has several health benefits; it’s as long as your shopping list. Stay hydrated with water than opting for packaged bottle of juices, energy drinks or aerated drinks.

Have a coloured diet

Include as many colours in your daily meals. With a coloured diet, you know you are getting all the nutrients and minerals. Different coloured pigments from fruit and vegetables has different chemical properties that caters to healthy living.

Practice dental hygiene

Oral health or dental hygiene is also important for healthy living. Regular visits to the dentist can avoid tooth decay and the dentist can suggest different ways to improve dental hygiene. Sadly, most of us only visit the dentist when you have an ache, don’t you agree?

Pick an exercise you love

It is important to select an exercise or workout routine that you enjoy, this will only help you stick to your fitness goals.

Exercise all muscle groups

When you exercise it is important to flex different muscle groups in your body. Most of us opt for cardioworkouts which only has cardiovascular benefits. For example, running can burn calories, improve stamina in your legs and tone muscles. What about the rest of the body?

Improve your eating habits

While eating, there are few pointers that get sidelined but plays a vital role in healthy living. These are some of the healthy tips while eating for healthy living:
– eat in small proportions
– eat in a smaller plate to reduce the consumption of food
– eat slow, it will help in digestions and give you a satiated feeling
– stop eating when you are full

Change your diet

A healthy diet or a healthy meal plan can help you towards meeting your healthy living goals:
– have five servings of fruits and vegetables a day
– cut out processed food
– avoid foods that trigger you to eat more, especially for emotional eaters
– choose fresh produce

Get sufficient sleep

Sleep is important for healthy living. Lack of sleep is one of the causes for the onset of lifestyle diseases. Life is too short, but you need to sleep and get sufficient rest for your body is recuperating.

Take a deep breathe

A hectic schedule leaves no room for a breather. Stress can lead to lifestyle diseases like insomnia and cancer which can send your world spiralling out of control. When stressed, take a deep breathe, do this couple of times. Slow deep breathing exercises are a great way to pump up low energy levels and concentration.

Get out more often

Staying cooped up at home can make life boring, dull and make you a couch potato. Besides it can make you frustrated, no one likes a wet blanket! Make the most of life and get out there, you will definitely find something new.

Hang out with healthy people

The friends you have will decide your eating habits which in turn will decide your healthy living habits. There are few criteria in place by what we mean by healthy people: they should have healthy foodchoices, eat sufficient amounts of food, and lead active instead of sedentary lifestyles.

Choose the right friends

If your friends make you sad and increase your negativity, you need to ditch them. Negative attitude will only ruin your health. Certain friendships are good for temporary benefits… get the hint! Healthy living is begotten from healthy and positive mind.

Quit smoking

Smoking is just bad for health, although you may argue your grandfather smoked and lived a 100 years! But here’s the catch, your lifestyle choices are not the same as your grandfather, case closed! Even secondhand smoke is equally unhealthy.

Cut out aerated and caffeine rich drinks

Most office goers are addicted to coffee and rarely drink water, time to turn the table. Even aerated drinks hamper the health of the body.

Don’t drink alcohol

The truth is heavy consumption of alcohol actually destroys you and your family. In fact, an addictioncan break down a family. Not to mention the ill effects of drinking on your health.

Try something new

Healthy living is also about exploring yourself and your skills. It could be a mental or physical achievement that will give you lifetime satisfaction. Go live!

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Read more in Health Me Up

 

Op-ed pieces and contributions are the opinions of the writers only and do not represent the opinions of Y!/YNaija.

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