Do you live a healthy lifestyle?

Our body is our temple and we need to take care of it following an healthy lifestyle. Life is beautiful and you don’t want to bog yourself down with unnecessary health problems. It’s a common myth that getting fit is only about eating healthy and exercising. In reality, creating a healthy lifestyle and maintaining it isn’t about just those two factors—it’s also about being able to keep a positive attitude, strong mental health and a healthy self-image. Although there is a ton of advice out there on how to achieve a healthy lifestyle, here are some key factors to keep in mind.

Follow our 10 tips tips for how to maintain your healthy lifestyle, body weight, and overall well-being.

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Drink more water

Most of us don’t drink enough water every day. Water is essential for a healthy lifestyle and our bodies to function. Do you know over 60% of our body is made up of water? Water is needed to carry out body functions, remove waste, and carry nutrients and oxygen around our body. Since we lose water daily through urine, bowel movements, perspiration, and breathing, we need to replenish our water intake.

Get enough sleep

When you don’t rest well, you compensate by eating more. Usually, it’s junk food. Get enough rest and you don’t need to snack to stay awake. Also, lack of sleep causes premature aging and you don’t want that!

Exercise

Movement is life. Research has shown that exercising daily brings tr mendous benefits to our health, including an increase in lifespan, lowering of risk of diseases, higher bone density, and weight loss. Increase the activity in your life. Choose walking over transport for close distances. Climb the stairs instead of taking the lift. Join an aerobics class or a dance class.

Pick a sport of your liking

Pick exercises that you enjoy. When you enjoy a sport, you naturally want to do it. Exercise isn’t about suffering and pushing yourself; it’s about having a healthy lifestyle and having fun at the same time. Adding variation in your exercises will keep them interesting. What exercises do you like and how can you include them in your routine?

Eat fruits

Fruits have a load of vitamins and minerals. Do you know that oranges offer more health benefits than vitamin C pills? As much as possible, consume your vitamins and minerals through your diet rather than through pills. Eat a variety of fruits every morning to improve a healthy lifestyle.

Eat vegetables

Vegetables are the source of many nutrients and minerals like folate, vitamin K, folate, vitamin A, manganese, and potassium, not to mention dietary fiber which is important for good gut health. There are two types of vegetables: Starchy vegetables like potato, sweet potato, yam, and pumpkin; and non-starchy vegetables like kale, arugula, spinach, broccoli, brussels sprouts, long beans, tomato, cucumber, and mushroom. Some vegetables are slightly starchy and hence fall in the middle: Corn, green peas, carrot, artichoke, beetroot, cauliflower, and beans. Keep in mind that all vegetables are important to have a healthy lifestyle.

Cut down on processed food

Processed food is not good because most of the nutritional value is lost in the creation of these foods, and the added preservatives are bad for our health. Many processed foods contain a high amount of salt which leads to higher blood pressure and heart disease. In general, the more ingredients a food has on the label, the more processed it is.

Breathe. Deeply

Oxygen is vital for life and and preserve a healthy lifestyle. You may know how to breathe, but are you breathing properly? Most of us aren’t breathing properly — we take shallow breaths and breathe to 1/3 of our lung capacity. Athletes are taught proper breathing techniques to get their best performance. A full breath is one where your lungs are fully filled, your abdomen expands, and there’s minimum movement in your shoulders.

Cut down on sugary food and drinks

Sugary food consists of your candy bars, pastries, chocolate, cookies, cakes, and jelly donuts. Not only do they not fill you, but they trigger you to eat more due to the sugar rush. Eating once in a while is okay, but not daily. To preserve a healthy lifestyle go for healthy snacks instead. Sugary drinks are unfortunately sold everywhere today, namely in the form of soda and sweet drinks. These drinks are unhealthy and cause weight gain. Go for plain water, green tea, or vegetable juices instead!

Don’t drink alcohol

Alcohol is a diuretic, which means it drains water from your body. Not only that, but alcohol is repeatedly proven to have negative effects on our body and health— impacting the proper functioning of our brain, liver, lungs, and other major organs. If you drink alcohol regularly, it’s time to cut it out, or at the very least, reduce your consumption.