Proper nutrition is the key to having a healthy life, and there are many ways one can improve health one such way is eating a balanced diet, containing vitamins and minerals such as fruits, vegetables, whole grains and some source of protein. Some reasons you might want to improve your health include avoiding health problems, high blood pressure, cholesterol, etc. If you have a family history of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis if you are overweight. Even if you want to make some lifestyle changes, quit smoking or lose some weight always taking small steps towards it makes a big difference.

The path to improve your health

Eating habits are hard to change, but taking small steps towards it is a good idea. If you have conditions such as Kidney disease, lactose intolerance, or celiac disease, you can benefit from a diet that you dietician prescribes you. You do not have to do all at once, small changes can improve your health over time, some changes include

• Eating you meat baked, grilled or broiled, take the skin out of your chicken and turkey, Eat fish at least once a week.
• Reduce intake of butter, sour cream, baked potatoes, salad dressing, if you want to you can use the non-fat version of this in your diet
• Eat fruits and vegetables as your snack or with your meals
• Read the labels on your foods before buying them
• Do not eat fat sized portions of any food
• Stay hydrated, Beverages which has zero or low calories such as water or tea is highly advisable. Do not drink fruit juice, energy drinks, flavoured milk, sweet ice tea as they have a lot of added sugars, which is unhealthy.

Things to consider

A mix of balanced nutrition and regular exercise is good for health as it helps you lose or maintain weight. Try to set realistic goals. Ask your doctor or dietician to help you make a diet which can be a part of your daily life rather than following a diet that you have seen on the internet.

• There is no magic potion for losing weight quickly, as some short term diet will help you lose weight, but it is hard to keep up with and could be unhealthy for you.
• Proper nutrition includes eating a variety of fruits and vegetables every day as your body benefits from eating whole foods. And try not to take vitamins until and unless prescribed by your doctor.
• Before trying a new diet or a new product, read about it carefully. Advertisements can be misleading as they are paid for. Try talking to the doctor about its side effects, problems, or gained weight.

Physical activity and exercise can have immediate and long term health benefits such as improving your health and reducing the risk of developing diseases such as type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. More importantly, it can improve your quality of life. A minimum of 30 minutes a day can allow you to enjoy benefits such as

• Reducing the risk of developing a heart disease
• Manage a better weight
• Have a low blood cholesterol level
• Lower the risk of developing type 2 diabetes
• Lower blood pressure
• Have stronger bones, muscles and joints
• Lower risk of osteoporosis

Helps you have a better healthier state of mind

Physical exercise has found to be good for depression as exercise blocks negative thoughts or distracts you from daily worries. Some benefits of exercise in having a healthier state of mind includes

• Physical activities provide an opportunity for increased social contact
• Increased fitness will help lift your mood and improve sleep patterns.
• Exercise is known to increase chemical reactions in your brain such as serotonin, endorphins and stress hormones.

Some guidelines to improve physical activities

Doing some physical exercise is better than doing none. If you currently do not do any physical exercise by start doing some will gradually help build up your health

• Be active every day
• Accumulate 150 to 300 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity or 75 to 150 minutes of vigorous intensity physical activity or a combination of both moderate and vigorous activities each week.
• Do muscle strengthening exercise at least two days each week.

Ways to increase physical activity

Regular physical activity is a must for good health and to maintain a better lifestyle. People with active jobs such as a construction worker, mail carrier reach the recommended activity level of 150 minutes. However, the majority of people don’t by committing to a routine will help you be more active in some ways you can increase physical activities are

• Taking the stairs instead of the lift
• Park farther away from the front door, so you have to walk a little bit more
• Standing burns more calories than sitting, stand or better walk while on phone calls
• Take a walk after your lunch or before lunch
• Walk to your destination, or take a cycle to your grocery store
• Take 10 minutes to walk in the morning and evening
• Plan activities with your kids or go to your kids sporting event
• Keep hand weights at your desk and do bicep and triceps while you talk on the phone
• Wear a pedometer and aim for 10,000 steps per day
• Walk through your golf game rather than taking a cart
• Hand wash your car instead of the drive-through car wash

We develop habits pretty quickly, and they are some that will enhance you your life. There are some few which will give you the edge you need to lead a healthy life.

Get Rest

Working for more extended periods of time can exhaust anyone, and you need to give your body some time to rest or else your body will crash, which can result in some severe health consequences. Sleep for the amount of time you need to remain healthy and feel energised the next day.

Wake-up Early

If you wake up early and step outside the first few hours, you need to regain the momentum you lost so you can take control over your state of mind and body. In these hours you can kickstart your day in the way that suits you better.

Eat Healthy

Health always comes first, and if you do not eat healthy foods and not take care of your intake body will slowly stop working. Take care of your body before it is too late. The two main things you need to keep in mind is Healthy diet, and Physical activity, these seemingly small changes will help you lead a better life.

Meditate

Find a peaceful moment just for yourself, in this world full of distraction. Meditation can help you feel calm and peaceful all day every day. Just minutes in the morning will create a grounding effect that will help you find your centre and focus on what is important.

Have a schedule

In this busy day and age, everything has become important due to which it seems like we have no time for ourselves. An easy way to avoid this is by having a schedule, and this helps you sought thing out for the day and make time for yourself too.

Acquire a new skill

Learning a new skill that helps you achieve a set goal. Any skill you acquire will benefit on its own and also will work together with your other skills which will help you move forward in life.

Read

Reading sparks creativity and imagination, no matter what genre. Any book you read will interact with the knowledge you already have, and this will help you apply those ideas in real life for a better and healthy future.

Interact with Doers

Find people who do something incredible in their lives and learn from them as interacting with someone accomplishing something in their life will inspire you to take action and work hard.

Reflect and evaluate

Time is passing faster than ever now due to which we forget to reflect and evaluate our mistakes and think about how we can turn things back help work in our favour.

An average person will catch a cold at least two times a year. We can still strive to stay healthy with some small changes to keep our immune system strong.

Sugar

Sugar is a threat to the body as it weakens the immune system, especially artificial sugars that come in the form of candy bars, you might think that granola bars are healthy but even this seemingly healthy snack contains a huge amount of sugar. If you have a weaker immune system, your body has to work that much harder, which later leaves you feeling sick. If you crave sugars, you can get it from grapefruit and strawberries as they have vitamins that fight illness.

Don’t be a couch potato

Exercising is crucial to maintain a healthy immune system. Before you head home after work tries going to yoga classes or spin classes for at least an hour before finally going home.

Do not stress

Stress in this busy lifestyle is unavoidable, but some tips that are helpful for reduction of stress include, not saying yes to everything, organising yourself, planning meals ahead or having a to-do list.

Drinking

A glass of wine sometimes won’t hurt, but heavy alcohols can suppress your immune system. Alcohol dehydrates your body and weakens your immune system making it more susceptible to illness. If you drink coffee or tea every day will dehydrate you drink lots of water and stay hydrated to reduce the effects of alcohol.

Smoking

Smokers get frequent colds or just being around someone who smokes can also weaken your immune system. Try quitting smoke as it will help your immune system fight all the illness, promoting a healthy life. If you stay with someone, who smokes stay away from them when they smoke.

Processed Foods

Processed foods are full of sugar, carbs, which makes your body work harder, which suppresses your immune system, leaving you vulnerable to getting sick. You can avoid processed food if you do grocery shopping and read all the labels before you buy. Fill your baskets with fruits and vegetables. Proteins such as salmon have Omega-3 fatty acids to combat inflammation in your body.

Taking cold medication

Over the counter pills mask cold, and if you stop taking the medication, you will likely fall ill. Try home remedies such as drinking chicken soup, put a humidifier when you sleep, acupuncture can also help you boost your immune system.

Staying Up too late

Beauty sleep is important, especially during the cold and flu season. Try sleeping for more than 8 hours to wake up happy, healthy and refreshed. Don’t just sleep, take rest for the night; let your body relax and start healing you from inside out.