Starting a healthier lifestyle

These days we see constant reminders about our mortality. Hit TV shows that revolve around sickness and death, magazines specially catering to specialty meals, even parts of the news dedicated to the never-ending watch on how one lives. The truth is that this is not a novel thing. It is not a new occurrence. Man has been on the constant quest to find a way to live longer. This article is not necessarily about living longer, but rather, about living healthily. And the three main categories a person must focus on to make this a reality is food, exercise, and managing mental stress.

Experts will tell you it’s never too late to start being healthy. There are many things we can do to get started. And these things are not necessarily hard to do. Simple choices about everyday decisions can go a long way in living healthily.

The first thing is to have a balanced diet. It is tempting to try out all the fad diets out there promising miracle weight loss of a certain number of pounds in record days. But it really is not about the number of pounds lost, although this is very important especially for those who are weighing far above their target weight. The thing is, there really is no perfect weight. Every person’s ideal weight is dependent upon several factors: height, bone structure, age, and genetics. To forget all these factors when getting healthy would be the beginning of successive disappointments. The simplest and easiest way to look at it would be to realize what your ideal weight is, through the help of medical experts if need be, and then to set goals accordingly. Follow the food pyramid and the recommended daily allowance for certain food groups. A person does not necessarily need to stress over white flour, brown sugar, natural rice, or organic vegetables. A balance of everything, including junk every now and then, is actually recommended. Eat smaller meals throughout the day instead of fewer large ones. And always listen to your body. It will tell you when something is just not right.

The next thing to focus on would be exercise. In the frenetic pace of corporate lives, as a lot of people are used to, this may be a luxury. But exercise need not be 6 hours in the gym every day. A simple 20-minute brisk walk to and from work daily will suffice for regular exercise. Do 20 crunches and push ups in the bedroom every other day, carry your laundry up and down the stairs everyday, or even run after your kids when you are in the park for that afternoon treat. These simple, enjoyable activities are great ways to get exercise. The important thins is to get your blood circulating by getting physical activity. Naturally, for those who want to lose weight, a little more effort is required. But a person can incorporate that into their daily schedule eventually. First things first: get moving. The earlier a person starts, the more constant the activity, the easier it will be to get healthy.

And finally, we need to focus on our minds. This is the part most people either don’t realize or just forget to pay attention to. Mental health is a very important component in starting a healthier lifestyle. First, we have to want to be healthy to actually be able to start something achievable. And we have to make sure the daily stresses of life do not take over such that our goal just cannot be realized. For example, a person may want to start being healthier but just cannot find the time to start this what with a 50-55 hour work week. At the end of each day, the mind and consequently the body is just too exhausted to do much more. So compartmentalizing is the key. Set aside hours for work and hours for leisure. Take the weekends off. Spend those days with the family. Or if single, focus on a hobby that is just pure pleasure. A balance in mind will bring about a balance in life.

These three factors are the most important and the easiest things to focus on if one wants to start being healthy. And, as was shown above, the ways to achieve this need not be difficult as well. So, while this article in not about how to live longer, hopefully, that will be an effect anyway.

April 24, 2007 | Filed Under Motivation

Comments

4 Responses to “Starting a healthier lifestyle”

Marc on April 25th, 2007 4:55 am

I agree and think you make some good points. I think when you have some bad habits it takes time to change. It took me 6 years to reform my diet and eating habits. Little by little going from eating lots of junk to now a very healthy mostly organic diet and with much smaller portions than I used to eat. Portion size is one of the most important things. But for me it took years of constantly reminding myself before it became my natural behaviour.
Daniel on April 27th, 2007 1:50 am

I’ve been really focusing on my health this year and its paying off quite well. I just need to get a bit more sleep.

You covered all of the mains points very well.
Primescape » A title to end all titles on May 2nd, 2007 1:18 pm

[…] The first one is from Andreas Bard, I’ve been reading the last few entries in this blog and I’ve found the content to be really useful stuff. I reckon that the Starting a healthier lifestyle entry is my favourite though, so have a good read thru. […]
Motivational Articles on May 25th, 2007 8:20 pm

[…] Ah, the healthier lifestyle… It’s something we’d all love to have, but so few are willing to work towards. One point that I disagree with is that the mind should be tackled first. I agree that the better eating habits should proceed the exercise, but without a committed, focused mind, you’re likely to falter and regress to your previous couch potato state. I know it’s happened to me a bunch of times. The few times where I feel I’ve been somewhat successful are when my mind has been sharp and focused on the task. […]