Habits that will make you strong, healthy, and happy
These are tips to improve your life, which focus on food and the saying "you are what you eat", is not far from reality.
Do you want to be happy, healthy, and physically strong? Well, four actions can help you achieve these goals: exercise, have a healthy diet, seek mental and emotional well-being and sleep all your hours.
To have physical, mental, and social well-being, elements such as proper nutrition, relationship with food, emotions, self-esteem, social life, healthy relationships, physical activity, and hours of sleep have a fundamental role. Health is mental, personal, and interpersonal well-being. Our diet plays a fundamental role in this, it changes how we feel, how we look.
Premature aging and obesity can generate risk factors in people and cause different diseases such as alterations of fertility, neurodegenerative diseases, cognitive impairment, moderate or severe complications with Covid-19, type 2 diabetes, cancer, cardiovascular diseases, pulmonary diseases, insulin resistance, atherosclerosis, dyslipidemias, liver diseases, and aging. A good diet could prevent these diseases, but other actions add up to a healthier and longer-lasting life.
Don't eat products with ingredients you can't pronounce
To have a healthier life you need willpower and follow certain strategies that lead to goals, these goals should be achieved or set to generate short-term and achievable results.
Avoid or gradually reduce the consumption of sugary beverages such as juice, soda, and sports/energy drinks and consume 1.5 liters of plain water, accompany meals with the same liquid.
Increase your intake of fiber from fruits and vegetables. Consume variety, as each fruit and vegetable is rich in various minerals and vitamins.
At mealtime, it is recommended that your plate be composed mostly of vegetables, a quarter of protein, and a quarter of grains and cereals such as tortillas.
Dairy products are an important source of calcium, which strengthens bones, so it is important to consume them.
Limit consumption of ultra-processed foods. Foods that have more than 5 ingredients or whose compounds are difficult to pronounce, since they are products that contain chemicals.
Be aware of and take care of your eating behavior. Emotions and how we eat are linked. These impact how and how much you eat, food can also affect how you feel and it becomes a vicious cycle, we eat poorly (inadequately) and we feel bad. Our feelings can even prevent us from eating.
There are emotional eaters, people who use eating or food as a dysfunctional mechanism to cope with emotions. When eating it is advisable to have or promote a healthy environment, with family or company.
Exercise. This helps us feel strong and healthy. It is recommended to do 150 minutes of physical activity per week.
Everything is social networks. Social networks refer to the connections we make with people, the set of personal relationships that each individual maintains creates security, happiness and helps their development.
Social life is the connections we make that provide us with information, affection, assistance, and diverse resources. We must be aware of how we perform in our work because it is one of the places where we perform for more than 8 hours a day and 6 (or more) days a week.
Sleep hygiene
It is maintaining optimal sleep health or "sleeping all your hours". Sleep helps our body and mind in many ways, keeping us mentally and physically healthy.
According to the National Sleep Foundation, children ages 5 to 10 should get 10 to 11 hours of sleep. Teens 11 to 17 years old 8.5 to 9.5 hours and adults 7 to 9 hours. If you do not sleep well you may be at risk for hypertension, obesity, diabetes, or depression.
Take care of and improve the health of your intestine. Our intestine is an organ to which we pay little attention and its function is as fundamental as the stomach, the heart, or the lungs.
The intestine helps to fight diseases thanks to the accumulation of good microorganisms it contains. To take care of it we must avoid stress, poor diet (with high consumption of sugars), and inadequate use of antibiotics.
Its neglect can cause colon cancer. Dermatitis, constipation, irritability, and obesity are signs of alterations in our intestinal health, which causes irritable bowel syndrome, decreases the immune system, increases the gases due to putrefaction and proliferation of pathological batteries. Take care!
