How can you improve your health?
Sadly, the United States is far
from the healthiest country in the world. In fact, less than 3 percent of Americans
are currently living a healthy lifestyle. Heart disease is the number one cause
of death in the United States, closely followed cancers caused by smoking, high
blood pressure, and obesity. By making a few lifestyle changes, you can
decrease your risk of all these health issues, and much more. This just goes to
show how imperative it is to start healthy habits for yourself and your family.
While it might not seem easy to implement changes to your daily life, it will
heavily benefit you in the long run. Making changes to your diet, exercise
routine, and more doesn’t have to be extremely difficult! Even small changes of
bad habits will help your overall health!
The hardest part of starting lifestyle
changes is getting the motivation to do it. The first step to look at if you are
planning to start is to evaluate what stage you are in, contemplation,
preparation, action, or maintenance. Once you have made it to the action stage
and you are ready to begin. When you think of a healthy lifestyle, you probably
immediately think of the word “diet”, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Eating
healthily doesn’t have to require an extremely strict diet, as long as you are eating
healthy proteins with plenty of fruits and vegetables. It is also extremely
important for your health that you exercise. You don’t have to do any strenuous
activities to stay fit! Things like yoga, aerobics, or even walking are all great
ways to get your body moving! These things, along with avoiding tobacco, drugs,
and alcohol, are all great ways to begin living healthier.
After reading this article, do you think that you live a healthy lifestyle? If not, what do you think you can add to
your day to day life that would benefit your health? Have you found lifestyle changes that work for you, that you would recommend to others?
Hello! I recently made some healthy changes to my lifestyle that I would like to comment on. I started fasting and cutting out processed foods and junk foods out of my diet. I also walk around 8,000 steps a day to keep my self active for an hour and a half each day. This helped me drop 20 pounds in about two months and let me pass my MEPS. I would recommend everyone trying this at least once to see if it works for them.
ReplyDeleteHi Iain, That's absolutely wonderful! It takes a lot of dedication to do something like that. I'm glad you're getting the results you are looking for, and hope it continues to go well! Keep up the good work!
DeleteHello! I enjoyed reading your blog. It is very important to keep a healthy lifestyle to live a healthy and full life. I think I live a pretty healthy lifestyle. I eat enough healthy foods that will fuel my body. I go to the gym every day and I make sure I take care of my mental health as well. Both motivation and discipline are the key to living a healthy life. I would recommend finding ways to stay fit and eating at least a vegetable or fruit with every meal as well as drinking only water. Read, journal and meditate to keep the mind healthy and happy.
ReplyDeleteThat's great Maria! Eating healthy foods is a huge part of living a healthy life. If you're constantly putting junk in your body, your body is going to feel like junk. Exercising is also extremely important, which takes a lot of motivation and discipline like you said. I love that you read and journal, that's great for your mental health. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteHeya! I truly believe that I do live a healthy lifestyle, along side therapy to help with it. When I am not having much of those good days, I often speak with my therapist about it and we find ways to go about resolving those issues. Going to therapy and sometimes medications help me with living out a healthy lifestyle, and I even recommend it for others as well who struggle with unhealthy lives.
ReplyDeleteHi Gavin! Therapy is great, and it is sadly often overlooked as being a part of healthcare. It's more than okay to have bad days, as long as you have healthy coping mechanisms. Therapy is a really good way to help your mental health, which is one of the first steps of living a healthy life. I'm happy that you have found something that works for you!
DeleteI myself am out of shape and finding the motivation to change that is extremely hard. Taking care of my son helps and working two jobs that require me to be on my feet all day help too. Unfortunately after all of that I have no energy left. Or at least that's what I tell myself. I honestly just don't make it a priority. I try to live as healthy as possible but it is not always easy. I am definitely ready to get back in shape I just need to make it a priority.
ReplyDeleteHi Kat! The first step of living a healthy life style is recognizing that some changes need to be made, so you already have that covered! Like you said, finding the motivation to do it is the hardest part. It's great that you are able to be active with your son and in your work settings, any small movement Is better than being stationary all day!
DeleteA big part of this problem is what the Food and Drug Administration allows for consumption in our country vs. the health standards of other countries. For example, there have been tons of conclusive research to show that Red dye is terrible for the human body - and thus, other countries have banned its use - but not in the United States. While cutting out foods that we are overtly aware are overprocessed, there are also many foods that most Americans aren't aware of. Our health concerns as a country go beyond the average of a single American's control over what is on the shelves.
ReplyDeleteHello! I really enjoyed this post. It meshes really well with my blog about weight loss and "cutting." I personally, do not live the healthiest lifestyle. My biggest issue is my eating habits, which is part of the reason why I decided to do my blog on the topic. I go to the gym very frequently, and with a healthy diet, I would be unstoppable. I recommend that people pay attention to the macronutrients they consume on a daily basis, the most important two being protein and sugar. Setting goals and monitoring these two will help greatly in your health journey. I know because they have worked for me!
ReplyDeleteI think this is a great article! You're right. Even small changes to one's lifestyle can help improve health. Maintaining one's health is commonly seen as a chore and as too much work, so I like that you included incentive to at least try: decreasing the risk of developing some of the leading causes of death in the United States. It's not all about dieting; it's a lifestyle. We can replace some of the things we eat with healthier choices and simply do at least 30 minutes of exercise a day. It helps.
ReplyDelete