Like most people, I am always looking for tips on how to live a healthy lifestyle. And like most people, I prefer these tips to be simple and easy to understand and follow. The infographic from The Every Girl shown below provides some straightforward ideas, mostly about diet, that would not be difficult to incorporate into my daily routine (although 80 ounces of water a day might be pushing it for me - that's a lot of water!). I follow some of these rules already, but I do need to keep reminding myself to consume a greater variety of fruits and vegetables, as I have a tendency to eat the same favorite few all of the time. Is it time for you to start tweaking your healthy lifestyle rules as well?
There are all kinds of healthy habits lists on the internet, but I thought I would share some of the ideas that I find most reasonable here. I never like to start life changes at the very beginning of the year as that strategy always seems doomed to failure. Now that we are well in to 2019, however, I decided to take a look at some suggestions for a healthier lifestyle and pick a few that I could easily add to my own life. Here is my list of some of those recommended healthy habits:
Seven to eight hours of sleep a night is the recommendation, but most people often do not get that amount. Lack of sleep can lead to a variety of health problems, including weight gain, depression, cardiovascular disease, and even diabetes. If possible, it is best to go to bed at the same time every night and get up at the same time every morning.
Adequate hydration is essential for a healthy body, and water is our most essential dietary nutrient. Quite literally, our bodies cannot function at the basic biochemical level when dehydrated. The recommended amount of daily water intake is 64 fluid ounces (eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day). A more personalized amount can be calculated by dividing your body weight (in pounds) by half, and drinking that many ounces of water every day. For example, if you weigh 140 pounds, try to drink 70 ounces of water daily.
Our lives are so full of high-tech gadgets that we can end up spending more time during the day looking at screensthan anything else. Taking time away from your gadgets can actually improve productivity as well as relieve stress. Getting up and moving for a few minutes every hour will improve cardiovascular circulation, which is good for both your body and your brain.
Consumption of whole, non-processed foods raised with as few chemicals as possible is highly recommended for a healthy diet. The healthiest diets include mostly vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and lean proteins. The more colorful the produce, the more nutrient dense it will be, so choose fruits and veggies in all the colors of the rainbow! The Mediterranean diet, which endorses all of these principles, was recently awarded the 2019 top spot as the best overall diet.
A sedentary lifestyle is now considered to be almost as harmful to your health as smoking (although smoking is still worse!). There are so many benefits to physical activity that it should be a priority every day. At least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity a day is ideal, but doing any type of movement is better than none at all. If possible, incorporate exercise into your daily routine, like walking instead of driving, taking stairs instead of elevators or escalators, parking farther away from stores to increase walking distance, etc. Every little bit helps!
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I need to work on improved sleep habits and could easily change mine for the better. I can also always find ways to tweak my diet, and in winter especially I need to be mindful of drinking enough water, getting up from the computer more frequently, and maintaining my activity level despite sometimes uncooperative weather. One bit of wisdom I have learned with age is that, with any lifestyle change I wish to make, I do not have to be perfect. No goal is an all-or-nothing proposition, and if I happen to slip up once in a while all is not lost. I can forgive myself for a misstep and get back on track, rather than just giving it all up as a failure. All of my goals are easily achievable, and I intend to work on them as soon as possible. Or at least right after I finish off or give away all of the Valentine's Day goodies, that is - okay just (sort of) kidding!
Have you made any resolutions for the New Year? Does your list include losing weight as one of your goals? I recently read about a few factors that seem to influence whether or not you will be successful (see articles here and here), and they may not be what you think! Below is a short list of unusual influences that you may not have considered when deciding to shed those pesky extra pounds:
1) Living in close proximity to a gym (less than half a mile) increases your chances of weight loss success, especially for women and those with higher incomes.
2) People who fidget a lot are more likely to maintain an ideal weight - this spontaneous physical activity includes walking, standing, cooking, gardening, and other non-exercise activities.
3) The consumption of spicy foods seems to be correlated with a lower incidence of obesity as well as better health, possibly due to the capsaicin found in hot peppers which modestly increases metabolism (and other spices such as ginger, cinnamon, and turmeric may also help keep weight under control by reducing inflammation).
4) Living at higher elevations seems to reduce obesity incidence, perhaps because of the higher metabolic demands of lower oxygen levels and/or reduced appetite caused by increased sympathetic nervous system activity.
5) Those who live in big cities (populations of one million or more people) may be less likely to carry excess weight, although other studies have found just the opposite to be true, so more work is needed in teasing out just what is healthy about living in a large metro area (increased walkability and/or better diet?) and what is not (easier access to high-calorie fast foods and/or less work-related physical activity?).
6) Eating foods as a sit-down meal rather than as a stand-up snack leads to lower calorie consumption and thus a greater likelihood of maintaining a healthy weight (those who ate more food as a snack consumed up to 50% more calories in a day than those who sat down to meals!).
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Obviously most people are not in a position to change a lot of these factors in their lives. In a more general sense, however, these findings suggest that a more active lifestyle and a focus on healthy food choices, both simple common sense rules, are the best way to increase your chances of achieving your weight loss goals for 2018. Give it a try, and good luck!
With summer approaching I feel the need to get more active. I read an article quite a while ago listing ten of the most beneficial exercises you can do for the rest of your life, and thought that it might be a good idea to take a look at the list again. Some of these exercises I do on a regular basis, but it may be time to add more of them to my life. In case you are curious, here is the list (and how I personally feel about each one!):
1) Walking is one of the best and most doable exercises of all. I walk for about 40 minutes almost every morning with my dogs, and they are so used to their morning walks that there is no way I could ever convince them to just hit the snooze button and go back to sleep. They are such good motivators!
2) Running - while I never considered myself a runner, I used to jog instead of walk every morning. As I got older, however, an old Achilles tendon injury made high impact exercise an unsafe option so I switched to walking. I felt that I got better cardiovascular benefits from jogging, but sometimes compromises must be made!
3) Squats are great for strengthening the lower body as well as improving flexibility and balance. If you want even more benefits, try lunges, which are basically just squats while walking.
4) Turkish Get-Ups are one type of exercise I had never heard of before! Take a look at the video above for an idea of what you are getting yourself into should you decide to attempt them (and try not to be intimidated by the very muscular guy doing the demonstration!). I am feeling a bit ambivalent about this exercise, but if I do try it I think I will forego the medicine ball, possibly forever but definitely at least until I have the rather complicated moves down pat first! (I just know I would be one of those people who would drop the weight on myself at some point.)
5) Swimming is not an activity I have ever enjoyed. I am not a water person and hate to get my head wet. I took lessons as a child and am perfectly capable of swimming, but unless someone forces me into the water I doubt that I will ever swim on a regular basis.
6) Pushups were not a routine for me until a few months ago, when I started doing simple wall pushups every day, and much to my surprise they are actually toning up my arms! I have never had much arm strength, and conventional pushups have always been beyond me. Although I could do a few bent-knee pushups, they never seemed to have any worthwhile benefits because I could not do enough of them. With wall pushups, I started with 20 a day and have gradually worked up to 60. I intend to add more pushups gradually every year. By the time I reach the age of 100 I should have phenomenal arms!
7) Plank may seem like a relatively easy exercise, but just try and maintain it for any length of time if your overall muscle strength, especially in the core, is lacking! I find that this simple pose is one that I often overlook, especially when I am not taking regular yoga classes, so I am going to make an effort to do planks daily from now on. Watch the video above if you are unsure of the proper position for a plank (and enjoy the pleasant British accent as you watch!).
8) Pullups - I may dislike swimming, but I absolutely loathe pullups. I can never remember a time when I could do even one of these. Go ahead, call me a wimp, but I can say with great certainty that I will never again attempt to do what is for me an exercise in futility!
9) Stretching has been a part of my daily routine for decades now, and it really has made a difference. Even though I have always been very flexible, as I've aged I find that if I do not keep up with stretching I will lose flexibility much more quickly. I do not even get out of bed in the morning without doing a few different types of stretches first, and my consistency has paid off in keeping me limber over the years.
10) A Healthy Diet is not really an exercise so much as a lifestyle commitment. A balanced diet is a crucial part of any fitness goal. For my specific nutritional needs as I get older, I find I must try to limit sugar and processed foods as much as possible, reduce the amount of starches in my diet by half, and avoid red meats since I am allergic to them. I am not perfect, of course (no one is!), but I have managed to stick to this regimen pretty well and have lost a fair amount of excess weight over the past year as a result. The perfect diet will differ from person to person, but the basics, such as lots of vegetables and fruits, lean proteins, whole grains, and healthy fats, are pretty universal.
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Remember, as the original article mentions, the single best exercise is one that you will actually do!
