How to Lead A Healthy Life
We are all getting older everyday, some of us though are aging at a rapid rate, more so than others. We are using and abusing our bodies and expecting everything to work itself out within our self. Some of us however, have come to the realization at some point in our lives that our wealth is our greatest asset. Whether you realized this at a young or old age, the fact still remains that you realized it and have more than likely chosen to do something about it. For those who are still working on treating their body as the temple that it is, here are some tidbits on how to lead a healthy life.
Know Yourself
If you don’t know yourself, then how will you know what is good for you? Remember, one man’s poison is another man’s medicine. So get to know yourself! Explore new activities, i.e. hobbies, games…step out of your comfort zone. Test your limits within a logical realm of things.
Finding out how your body responds to foods is one way of getting to know yourself. Testing to see what works for you energy wise is one way to make note of how the foods you put into your body affect you.
One man’s poison is indeed another man’s medicine, because you what someone else claims to boost their energy levels may leave you feeling drained, groggy, or unaffected in any shape or form.
You have to get to know yourself inside and out. The foods you eat do show on the outside, in other words, your skin is a visual representation not only of what is going on inside your body, but also, of what is feeding your body…your cells…. So if you love eating cheeseburgers, but you know that they impact you in a negative way, i.e. bloat, indigestion, constipation, whatever have you, then you certainly need to cut them out, regardless of how good they taste.
Educate Yourself
There is so much information on eating healthy nowadays that it is highly likely that you have come across plenty of health-related articles written on foods you can eat and how you can prepare those foods. So, you should certainly take the time to do your research and find out what foods are considered healthy and will benefit you health-wise.
Not all healthy foods are created equally, so do opt for organic and natural foods as opposed to the alternatives and when choosing premade healthy meals, make sure that the ingredients used are to your liking and are healthy, organic ingredients. And that none of the ingredients used are of undesirable origin or part of your health journey’s excluded list of foods. Which leads us to our next suggestion – make a list of foods that are considered healthy and that you would like eating on a regular basis. And if you come across foods you are not familiar with, then make sure to look them up. Find out what the benefits are and make a choice.
Prepare Yourself
Yes, much like a marathon you have to prepare your body to get ready for the journey it is about to embark on. A healthy lifestyle is not an easy lifestyle to lead, especially with the price of food going up in general, not to mention the high costs of organic and other naturally grown foods. It can prove difficult, as well as, discouraging to venture down the path of healthy eating because one’s budget might not allow.
Budgets and high food prices aside; there is also the issue of taste. Yes, healthy foods can be tasty, but let’s be really a good percentage of the time the tasty of healthy foods takes getting used to and let’s just say there’s a transition period. So, it is best to get one’s self prepared and ready to accept the change.
The most effective way to prepare yourself to have a taste for healthy foods is to fast for at least 3 days. During these 3 days you can choose to drink water, but if you are a stickler for doing things as they should be done, then fast in the true sense of the word by refusing any food or drink. Please keep in mind if you have a healthy condition, then this is not advisable, without consulting your doctor. We know that fasting is not easy, but it certainly can be done.
In order to make your transition into those three days of fasting, you can start reducing your meals per day the week prior to your chosen days of fasting. For example, in the week prior to fasting, the first two days you should try going longer hours between eating your meals. Let’s say you eat 3 meals (if you eat more than 3 meals, then adjust accordingly and your may want to give your self a 2 week adjustment period before your 3 day fast), you can eat breakfast at 8a.m. then wait until 3p.m to eat lunch, and when dinner time rolls by around 6 or 7 pm you can eat lighter and you may even find that you are not even hungry. Basically, what you are doing is fasting intermittently all the while preparing your body to go completely without food for a longer period of time, in this case, three days. You can fast for more than 3 days if you choose, but three days seem to be plenty when it comes to adjusting taste buds, but if you find yourself craving your regular non-healthy food items, then you will need to fast for a longer time.
Fasting will prepare you and help you adjust to new flavors in the healthy foods you choose, as well as, remove cravings for unhealthy foods.
Clearing your pantry of unhealthy foods is also essential to making your healthy eating journey a successful one. This doesn’t mean throw out all your food if you have a pantry full of foods that are not healthy. You can simply give yourself time to either “A” eat what is decently healthy or “B” donate to a local food pantry…. It is up to you.
Restock your pantry over the course of 2 to 3 months and have a healthy array of foods that you know or have now discovered and like to eat. No need to rush out and get a bunch of “healthy foods” only to later find out you don’t like say kelp chips 2 months down the road with bags and bags of kelp chip snacks left to be eaten. Nor do you want to overspend in one setting for the sake of eating healthy. Stick to your budget and do take to time to explore and sample healthy foods that you may find appealing before taking the plunge and giving them room on your pantry shelf.
Find Time for Yourself
Finding time for yourself is becoming harder and harder everyday and with so many responsibilities and reasons to be distracted it is certainly no wonder that we often find ourselves running out of steam so to speak. So, do take the time to make yourself feel good and loved. You are a temple and temples that are treasured are well cared for…so take the time and adorn your temple and of course clear out some cobwebs while you’re at it.
What cobwebs? Well, emotional/spiritual clutter and even physical clutter are “cobwebs” that can obscure and hinder us. So clear them out. Don’ t let emotional baggage be your undoing. External factors that clutter our emotional, spiritual, and even physical state of being are just that external! But once we let those external factors become internal factors we find that they can be hard to get rid of and become a nasty cluster of “cobwebs” that keep us from being free and clear.
Meditation is a great way to let go of excess baggage and gives us mental clarity when approached the right way. Do keep in mind though that meditating can also bring about old repressed feelings/emotions that you must be willing and prepared to deal with in order to more forward in your healthy life journey.
Don’t Forget to Pray
From a Christian standpoint, prayer is everything. This is time you set aside to commune with the Father in an intimate way, i.e. getting to know God! If you are a Christian, then your day should always start with communing with God and you will see a vast improvement in how your day goes. Setting aside 30 minutes to an hour in the beginning of each day is doable, even if it means going to bed 1 to 2 hours earlier to make this possible.
Beginning your day with a prayer of thanksgiving and worship is the best way to start your day, followed by ten to fifteen minutes of reading your Bible (you can of course adjust this accordingly and do as the holy spirit leads you).
Throughout your day you should also make it a habit of praying, praising, and worshipping God and at the end of your day, prayer is just as important, as the beginning. This is when you can spend the most time communing with God and letting his presence in fill you. It is also during this time that you should take to the time to meditate on the word of God and or sit in silence after praying so you can hear God speak – this of course will take time to master if you are fairly new to Christianity or if you are not use to praying often.
Prayer alleviates the stresses of the day and provides an outlet what can become emotional baggage, i.e., the “cobwebs” in your temple. So, get in the habit of praying fervently and watch God move mightily in your life.
Sleep is Important!
Some may beg to differ, but in our book sleep is important and we will shout it from the rooftops, because we care! So, you might just be one of those people who can live off of 4 hours of sleep and be the most energic workhorse ever, but not a lot of people can do that, at least not without the aid of caffeine. In steps, the need for those 8 plus hours of sleep. For some 8 hours is just the bare minimum, while for others is just the perfect amount of rest. Well, now this is where knowing yourself comes into play. If you have gotten to know your body and how you react to foods, then you have more than likely chartered into this territory as well – how food affects you sleep and the need for more sleep.
Have you ever noticed that certain foods make you sleep longer? Or that after eating certain foods you feel a deep sleep coming on? Well, discussions of tryptophan aside, the way your body reacts to the foods you eat and their composition will often times determine how bright and bushy-tailed you are throughout the day and even the next day (especially if you eat dinner late). And just in case you may not already know, Tryptophan is the chemical present in certain foods that when present in high amounts often induces the need for sleep after eating such foods (think turkey chicken, nuts…).
Getting enough sleep will help counteract the dip in energy caused by some foods, and can help take you through the day without the need for a nap.
Sleep is most essential because it is a time of rest for the body and enables great healing. The process of healing is what keeps the body healthy and able to function like a well tuned machine. Without the proper amount of rest, healing can’t take place or at least not enough healing takes place and over time that gets compounded resulting in a weakened and even a sick body.
Find out what amount of sleep gets you feeling well rested and energized enough to take on the day and make it happen as often as you can. For some, the magical number is 6 hours and for others it may be twice as much, at a whopping 12 hours. No matter your required sleep amount, you will find that as you go deeper into your healthy eating journey, you may have a new number when it comes to required rest time. That number is most likely to level out over time, as your body becomes fully acclimated to healthy foods and the benefits they bring, but you will find that your sleep is more restful and your body will feel renewed. You may even notice any existing or chronic ailments have subsided or completely disappeared.
Sleep equals healing, so make it a top priority to get your healing rest. Be sure to check out this article on sleep.
Eat Well and Eat to Be Well
Eating well is essential to leading a healthy lifestyle. Take the time and prepare as healthy a meal as you can and do so as often as you can by setting time aside to meal prep for the week. In order to eat well and eat to be well, you have to make choices that may involve sacrificing time spent doing other things such as Instagram, Facebook, or perusing YouTube. Or you may have to sacrifice and indulgence or two whether it your favorite cup of latte or your favorite flavor of ice cream. This is not to say you shouldn’t give yourself an off day or have treats every now and then…we are simply saying regular indulgences that do not benefit your health or contribute to you eating healthy and being well should be reduced to a bare minimum.
Eat well almost always results in being well, so watch what you eat and drink plenty of water.
Water! Water!
Help your body out and keep it hydrated and there is nothing better to do this with than Water! Water, is a must when it comes to living a healthy life and there is absolutely no substitute! Check out this article for reasons why you should be getting your fair share of water and then some.
Water is powerful and life sustaining. Did you know you could survive days without food, but only 7 days without water? Of course, this number could be less based on the person. If you are already depleted of water or dehydrated, you would have a hard time surviving beyond 3 days without any source of water. This is because our body is overall comprised of 60 to 70 percent liquid and you guessed it, water is the primary source.
So, make it a priority to stay hydrated, even if it means putting in a reminder on your smartphone, tablet, or watch…and even, your calendar. Water is a must!
There are variety of ways to enjoy water and encourage yourself to drink water so no excuses! Limes, Lemons, a drop or two of Calamansi juice and or tamarind juice are just a few ways to add some flavor to your water, not to mention watermelon or cucumber juices…you have a myriad of options.
Get your water through the fruits and veggies you eat as well – watermelon is one such fruit chuck full of water and amazingly hydrating and so are cucumbers, zucchinis, cantaloupes, coconuts to name a few.
As far as veggies and greens are concerned celery, cabbage, leafy greens like lettuce and spinach are fantastic sources when it comes to obtaining a good daily intake of water.
Conclusion
Leading a healthy life or lifestyle is certainly something that can be done and when armed with the right knowledge base, it becomes even easier to do. Don’t be too hard on yourself if takes a few tries to get it right, all that matters is to taking the steps to a better and healthier life.
Note
Now that you know our tips on how to lead a healthy life, do take the time to share you tips as well or you can certainly leave a comment and let us know if there’s anything we may have left out and do feel free to subscribe to our email list (it’s free) and our youtube channel coming soon. And by the way if you liked reading our article(s) chances are your friends and family might enjoy reading it as well, so be sure to share, like, pin it, link it, and give us a shout out on facebook and don’t be shy to let us know you did, we will certainly check it out.
