Your Health is a Matter of Your Decision

Being healthy is not something that is simply given for free and many people often take their health for granted. Our health is what we eat, breathe, drink, moreover, the way we think and behave. Improving your health should start now and the decisions you make will have beneficial effects on the way you function and feel. What do you need every day in order to stay healthy or improve your health? Your body needs a certain amount of proteins, carbohydrates, fat and sugar each day, which varies depending on your lifestyle. Besides these nutrients, there are many essential vitamins and minerals that protect our bodies and help us stay vital and energetic.

The Dangers of Processed Foods

Many people often face the dilemma, they open the fridge and they just don’t know what to eat. Lifestyle changes all the time, and we rush around trying to balance every aspect of our lives, but we often forget about our health. There are many tasks to do during the day, but eating healthy food is neglected. We often choose to buy some type of fast food and keep on running around doing our daily routine. Do you drink juice that you can buy in every store? It has a picture of an apple so it must be good for your health? Wrong! Read the label on it, all of them contain some amount of added refined sugar. In addition to this fact, in beautifully packed food which you can buy everywhere, you can also find other additives, artificial colours and aromas, and preservatives (read more here - http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/002435.htm). Although many of these products cause serious health illnesses, they can be bought in every store, moreover, industries continue to produce and advertise them. If you regularly buy processed meat products, such as bacon, sausages, hot dogs, frozen meals with meat, you are strongly advised to stop! Most of them contain additives, such as sodium nitrite and monosodium glutamate, which cause cancer. Therefore, always read the label with ingredients!

Nutrition Related Illnesses

It is important to mention some of the disorders that could develop due to lack of nutrients in your diet. Such as high cholesterol and high blood-pressure which could lead to heart diseases, elevated levels of blood sugar which could lead to diabetes, moreover, different types of digestive disorders, chronic fatigue, anaemia, disorders of the nervous system and also weakening of the immune system, which could make your body susceptible to viral and bacterial infections. It is a long list of harmful effects that some types of food can cause. Those types of food are all around us and we all eat them everyday in smaller or higher amounts. Other enemies to our bodies are, of course, tobacco and excessive use of alcohol and caffeine. These are addictive and detrimental to health, which is widely known.

The Fresher the Better

So if you question the nutritional value and effects of the foods you regularly eat, then you should choose to eat more of non-processed foods. Those include fresh foods, fruit and vegetables, eggs, fish and meat that you can bake, grill or boil. As for the bread and pasta made of white flour, and also white rice, these products should be avoided! Refined grains, like wheat, rice, and all products made of refined grains lose a high amount of essential vitamins, minerals and fibre, which makes them full of calories with almost non-existent nutritional value! It is always a better choice to eat whole grains, whole wheat cereals, oats, brown rice, moreover, bread and pasta made of whole grains. These are essentials when it comes to nutrition! Make your own juices from fresh fruits and vegetables that you love eating, make salads using olive oil, eat fresh or partly cooked vegetables, make soups, choose to eat fish at least once a week, eat chicken meat more often than pork. Dairy product should be carefully chosen, as they are also refined. If you have a sweet tooth, you should start eating more fruits (read more - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/29/fruit-sugar-versus-white-sugar_n_3497795.html, as they contain a healthier type of sugar than that found in sweets, moreover, use honey to sweeten your drinks. It would be wrong to force yourself to eat something you hate just because somebody said it is great. Your own diet should be based on a variety of healthy foods that you enjoy eating combined with some type of physical activity that fits your personal daily routine.

Fluids

Sometimes, when you feel hungry but you have recently eaten, you might actually be thirsty and your body might need water. Fluids are important, as they are essential for proper functioning of the whole body. It is also useful to drink herbal teas because of numerous positive effects on the body. Some of them are green tea, ginger tea, chamomile tea and peppermint tea.

Supplements

Supplements are important, especially if you don’t eat regularly or don’t eat enough. You shouldn’t use them excessively, as the body can absorb and use just a certain amount. Vitamin and mineral deficiencies can cause numerous disorders in the body. Therefore, some type of vitamin and mineral supplement is recommended. Omega-3 fatty acids are a good type of fat, which our bodies cannot produce, so they must be taken through food. Many types of fish contain omega-3 but you can also take it in the form of supplements. These fatty acids are necessary for normal functioning of heart and especially brain, moreover, the lack of it can lead to fatigue, heart problems, reduced cognitive function and emotional instability. Vitamins B deficiency can seriously affect your health as well, so if you suffer from digestive problems, fatigue, heart problems, insomnia, irritability, then you need more of these vitamins. An important mineral magnesium, influences many bodily functions. It can be used in the form of oil, which is used externally on the skin. In this way, it relieves pain, increase energy, regulates blood sugar levels and blood pressure, improves cognitive functions, moreover, it protects heart and brain.

Walk, Run, Exercise and Enjoy Nature

Have you ever spent hours in front of the TV or computer, doing nothing important? It feels great to relax for a while during the day, but often many people make this a daily routine, moreover, when you take some chips and sweets, this equals disaster for your health as well as physical appearance and the way you feel. It is easy to become a coach potato whereas it is hard to change your lifestyle, which requires discipline every single day. Do not start exercising more than you can handle, it will exhaust you and you will feel really bad, the key is to find the type of exercise you enjoy and which makes you feel more energetic, not exhausted. You could walk every day for fifteen minutes minimum, which will have great benefits, especially for your cardiovascular system, and it will also make you feel better and improve your cognitive functions. Yoga, when practised regularly, is great for people who spend a lot of time sitting or feel stressed out, as it improves circulation, stretches tense muscles and leads to overall well-being. All types of exercises should be increased gradually, especially those harder exercises. Food variety is important and so is moderation. The benefits from eating healthy and exercising are numerous therefore, improving your health and the health of your loved ones should be your long-term goal, because it is the most precious thing each of us has got.