How To Live a Fit & Healthy Lifestyle

How healthy are you? How many times have you been to see your physician for a full physical examination? Is your daily diet well-balanced and do you exercise on a regular basis? For a lot of us, health is not a priority and it has in more ways than one, taken the back burner for various reasons.

Most of us want to live a healthy lifestyle, but you are not alone if you find exercising regularly or sticking to a healthy diet a struggle. Anything that adds value to our lives should not only be fun, but it should be part and parcel of our daily life. The idea is to find what works well for you, commit to it and find ways to keep motivated by working through stumbling blocks that have a knack for getting in your way. Leading a healthy life is a multi-faceted avenue that involves a few of the following components:

1. Nutritional Fitness

We all need a diet that provides energy in the form of carbohydrates and fats as well as essential protein, vitamins, and minerals. Combined with physical activity, your diet can help you to maintain a healthy weight, reduce your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease and diabetes, and promote your overall health. You can improve your nutrition and move toward a healthier you by ensuring that:

• Half your plate contains fruits and vegetables that provide you with the vitamins, minerals, and fiber your body needs.
• Swap the refined-grain foods with whole-grain foods.
• Choose a variety of lean protein foods.
• Eat at least eight ounces a week of a variety of seafood.
• Cut back on solid fats, sugars, and high-sodium foods.
• Eat more healthy fats such as olive oil, coconut oil, and avocados.

2. Physical Fitness

This is perhaps the most challenging aspect of health and well-being due to work, family obligations, or simply a lack of motivation and willpower. You do not always have to pound the pavement or exercise for hours to reap the benefits. You can pick five exercises such as squats, lunges, Kettlebell exercises, ABS workout, etc. and perform five minutes of each every day, then gradually incorporate cardio, yoga, aerobics, or weight lifting into your routine.

Physical activity plays a crucial role in your mental health and well-being and is necessary to stimulate the body’s own natural maintenance and repair system. Without it, you increase your risks of heart disease, strokes, high blood pressure, fatigue, depression, stiff joints, osteoporosis, poor posture, and lack of adequate sleep.

3. Mental Wellness

This aspect of your life may include meditation, affirmation, contentment, giving, journaling, gratitude, and achieving. It may seem like an unattainable goal, but you can start by freeing your body from the muck that is weighing it down and replenishing it with wholesome and nourishing foods. Wellness also means that you connect with yourself emotionally, physically and spiritually, enhance your mental and physical health through regular exercise and hydration, and ensure that you get enough sleep to boost your mental alertness.

By Leah Ward, WFBB Pro