Health awareness was a project visualized many years ago and today I am happy to say that I am writing the last post in this series – The post shares with you the FINAL CONNECT– A PROMINENT aspect of Nutrition – one that many of us often overlook.
I personally believe that eating HEALTHY isn’t limited to merely sourcing the nutrient knowledge, it also encompasses how these nutrients are combined and cooked as MEALS so that we savor the taste, cherish the flavors, appreciate the nutrients and gift ourselves a profitable DEAL with respect to HEALTH.
Time for some NEW LEARNINGS… ❤
We all want to live a HEALTHY LIFE…One that is bubbling with energy and excitement and we are ready to incorporate any changes that will lead us to this kind of a lifestyle. Then why are any modifications in our lifestyle so short lived? Why do we keep going back to our old patterns that we want to break? What is that secret that can help us to stay on track? The questions keep bothering us and, in the end, we get frustrated and tangled.
Very often I come across similar questions during my counseling sessions to which my answer is – “Anchor Yourself”. Just like a ship is anchored to the shore least it would sail away into the ocean, we need to keep our selves anchored to our mission of staying healthy and fit. We need to keep recapping our goals and targets and stay focused.
Now the big question arises how do we ANCHOR ourselves to HEALTH. To start with let us ask ourselves 2 simple questions…the answers to which will keep us on track FOREVER.
- Do we all know what does BEING HEALTHY imply?
- Is Health just a simple word or does it have any underlying meaning to itself?
To live a HEALTHY LIFESTYLE, one must follow some strategies that can help achieve the DREAM of being HEALTHY – Sharing with you some snippets that can bring about a profound effect in our lives.
HAVE A BALANCED DIET ❤
We need to eat well-balanced meals in order to boost our energy levels. Make sure you are having a BALANCED MEAL and including a variety of foods from all five of the main food groups. These are fruits and veggies, carbohydrates, proteins, dairy, fats and sugars.
Let’s be realistic, if you eat junk, you’ll feel terrible…simple as that. So, if you’re really serious about improving your health, you need to start eating a BALANCED DIET.
The key to eating well is to enjoy a variety of nutritive foods from each of the Five Food Groups. Here the foods have been classified according to the predominant nutrients they contain. The Five Food Groups are:
1. Protein Foods
- Milk and milk products (Milk, yoghurt, cheese)
- Pulses, legumes and tofu
- Oilseeds and nuts (except coconut)
- Lean meats and poultry, fish, eggs
2. Protective Foods
- Vitamin A rich foods (Leafy vegetables, orange and yellow vegetable and fruits)
- Vitamin C rich foods (citrus fruits Guava and Indian Gooseberry or amla)
3. Roots & Tubers & other Fruits & Vegetables
These include vegetables like gourds, beans, brinjal, cauliflower, cabbage, cucumber, yam and colocasia; and fruits like apple, pineapple, strawberries and many more.
4. Cereals, Millets & their Products
- Wheat, semolina, vermicelli, Couscous
- Rice, rice flakes, puffed rice
- Pearl millet/bajra
- Sorghum/Jowar
- Finger millet/Ragi
- Quinoa
5. Energy Foods
- Fats and oils (45 calories /tsp or 5 grams)
- Sugars and jaggery (20 calories/tsp or 5 grams)
To meet the nutrient requirements essential for good health, we need to eat a variety from each of the five food groups daily, in the recommended amounts.
EAT NUTRITIOUS FOOD ❤
Eating NUTRITIOUS FOOD is about eating the RIGHT QUANTITY of QUALITY FOOD at the RIGHT TIME to have a wonderful life.
There is a definite connection between WHAT WE EAT & HOW WE PERFORM when it comes to sports and studies or for that matter any activity that we do during the day.
With the right kind of food intake at the right time one is able to think better and therefore perform better. Without proper nutrition, one does not have enough energy to make it through the day. Also, health declines without proper nutrition, making one more susceptible to illness and disease.
Nutrition is an important part of a healthy lifestyle. It is indeed a vital aspect of our overall health and hence should not be neglected at any cost.
EXERCISE REGULARLY ❤
Regular exercise is a must when we are aiming towards a healthy lifestyle. Exercise helps you to control weight, boost energy, promotes better sleep, pump oxygen to the cells efficiently, and this is in turn keeps you healthy.
Exercising at the gym or a brisk walk in the nearby garden definitely relaxes you. This is because exercise helps in releasing a chemical called SEROTONIN. Serotonin is known to improve your mood and makes you feel happier and less stressed.
One should target for at least 30 minutes of vigorous exercise 5 times per week.
LEAVE LAZINESS BEHIND ❤
We all know that the key to being healthy is to have a well – balanced diet and exercise regularly. But with deadlines becoming deadlier and time falling short for basically everything, be it our personal or professional lives, exercise and diet have unwillingly taken a back seat! And then laziness sets in.
When it comes to eating right and exercising, there is no “I’ll start tomorrow.”
Tomorrow is a disease. We should first cure ourselves of this disease and start right away. Let us start the treatment at this very minute. Give me an opportunity to familiarize you with the Secret of 21.
To break this pattern of laziness all we need is WILLPOWER. The willpower is to develop a new pattern and nurture it with enthusiasm and dedication for a whole of 21 days. Three weeks of continuity and then there is no looking back.
You must be wondering why precisely I mentioned 3 weeks. This is for the simple reason because a new pattern takes 3 weeks to turn into a habit.
TAKE REGULAR CHECK-UPS ❤
Regular health checkups are a must as they help you to keep a track of your health status and they aim at increasing your lifespan by improving your health and preventing it from deteriorating.
Such routine checks are designed to check if you are on the RIGHT HEALTH TRACK. The basic goal of a health checkup is to find the hidden disease in your body, prevent it from building, and lower its effect on your body.
An excellent gift that you can give yourself on your Birthday is a complete health checkup. Knowing and getting certified that you are HEALTHY is a perfect start to a new year of your life.
HAVE A WONDERFUL LIFE ❤
The type of food we eat has both immediate and long-term effect on us, at all three levels – the body, the mind and the spirit. Beyond a doubt, the words hold TRUE that “We are what we EAT” so let us be mindful of our CHOICES and always make a conscious effort to fill our Plates with HEALTH…and as the plates get filled, may we always reminisce the advice concealed in the words of Hippocrates for following it is the way to make our life wonderful.
“If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we would have found the safest way to health.”
These few reminders in your daily life will do the trick and then there is no one who can stop you from living the life of your dreams. Let us now “Connects the Dots” and decipher the hidden message in the word HEALTH
H – HAVE A BALANCED DIET
E – EAT NUTRITIOUS FOOD
A – AND EXERCISE REGULARLY
L – LEAVE LAZINESS BEHIND
T – TAKE REGULAR CHECK-UPS
H – HAVE A WONDERFUL LIFE
To anchor yourself to “HEALTH” I bring to you a poster that I have designed with the help of my daughters – Please take a moment to read it out. The poster is sure to serve you as a constant reminder of your mission.
Go and get a print out of this poster and keep yourself motivated at all times. Now you have the SECRET to your GOOD HEALTH right within your reach.
52 weeks of exploring the SECRETS to HEALTH has been a Marvelous Journey for ME …I hope you have been enjoying the JOURNEY as much as I have been enjoying the wondrous trails of learning & sharing – Until we meet again, here’s the FINAL CONNECT 🙂
Hold on to awareness 🙂
It will help you stay Positively inspired on your Journey of Healthy Living
Journeys & Reflections 