Tag: Healthy

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10 Tips on Living a Healthy Life


10 Tips For A Healthy Lifestyle

Living a healthy life is indeed one way of loving yourself. It allows you to enjoy the things you want and live a happy and fulfilling life. It can also help you achieve your greatest potentials and make you feel good about yourself. You can start with this list of tips to start living a healthy life.
 
1) Allot 30 minutes everyday to exercise. If you are serious about getting fit and healthy, give time. Walking is a very good exercise you can do every morning. You can even take the stairs, do the household chores, mow the lawn or just keep your body moving.
 
2) Attend yoga classes or practice meditation at home. Getting into yoga classes or meditation can do wonders in your health. Overcoming illnesses, diseases and simply getting rid of stress are just some of the benefits of yoga and meditation.
 
3) Resist the fast food temptation. Trans fat, calories, sodium, sugar – fast food tends to have high content on one or all of these. Although we cannot really completely avoid them at once if we are used to the convenience of fast food, slowly take control of the urge and gradually overcome it like a bad habit. Eat healthy and increase fruit and vegetables in your diet.
 
4) Don’t starve yourself to lose weight. Starving yourself to lose weight is not the road to a sexier you. It can be deadly!
 
5) Have a vacation. Go to your dream destination. Having a vacation twice, thrice or four times a year is a good way of living a healthy life. Stress at work and in our lives can be very detrimental to our health. Do not wait to be a burnt-out man before thinking about going to the beach and read your favorite novel or just basking on the tropical sun.
 
6) Get active. Engage into sports. If you hate the gym, you have the option to engage into sports. Tennis, badminton or swimming – they are all good cardio exercises that you can enjoy and help you get in shape.
 
7) Say no to drugs, smoking and alcohol. Heard it over and over again? The constant reminders are proofs of how dangerous these three can become to your body and to your life.
 
8) Make friends. Friends are good life support. Having good relationships with friends indeed makes your life longer and healthier. You can find support from good friends in dealing with problems in life and you can provide support in return. Good friendships always make all things light and happy.
 
9) Practice good hygiene. From keeping your body clean to making sure you are at least presentable and worthy for a good hug, it can be a great deal in living a healthy life and in making good relationships as well.
 
10) Be happy. Get rid of negative feelings. Most illnesses and diseases sometimes come from the worries, the stress, the many negative feelings we have kept for a long time. Let go of hurts and bad feelings, try to look at the positive things in life. This will surely give you more years in your life, makes you feel and look younger as well. A genuine smile on your face can make good wonders in living a healthy life.

Carolyn Anderson is a freelance author who loves to enjoy a good life. To learn about applying the law of attraction into your life, check out The Absolute Secret. Also check out Mind Zoom, a software to help you develop a positive outlook in life and help live a good life by getting the negativities out of it.

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Practical Healthy Eating Plan


Healthy Lifestyle Tips For Adults

Eat foods low in saturated-and trans-fats such as rice, fish and vegetables.

Remember the analogy of the human body as a car; our bodies are no different really. In order for us to function at our optimal best we need to add fats to our diet and they actually assist in weight loss. By adding the good fats to your ‘tank’ is not all that difficult providing you know what to look for.

There are four different types of fats and they are:polyunsaturated – which is liquid at room temperature, and are found in foods such as corn oil, sunflower oil, sesame oil and seeds and flax seed oil. There are a whole host of reasons why to add this fat to your diet from controlling blood sugar, preventing blood clots and assisting with the body’s water by maintaining equilibrium. Monosaturated – are excellent sources of the healthy fats and are known to reduce the risks of heart disease. Foods containing these good fats are nuts, sesame and pumpkin seeds, olives and avocados and it can also be found in oils such as Olive oil and canola oil. Mediterranean countries have used these types of fats and oils for centuries and have recorded a lower incidence of cholesterol, breast cancer and other types of cancer including bowel cancer. If you want your hair, skin and nails to look healthy and strong, it’s also an antioxidant rich in vitamin E. Aim to have more of this in your diet.

Now for the bad news – saturated. These fats come from animal sources and are solid at room temperature, for example – butter. Saturated fats should be avoided and should be restricted to less than 10grams per day. Foods that contain saturated fats are found in a variety of other dairy products too, so always check the labels before purchasing. It can also be found in lard, some meats, (here again, always look for the heart tick selections when shopping, as these are the ones that have been approved by the National Heart Foundation), and the humble egg. While saturated fat is unhealthy, the worst offender is the hydrogenated or transient fats which are usually found in things like margarine and some take away foods, particularly if they are fried and deep fried. A good example of this type of food is deep fried fish and chips. These are considered to be very bad for us because of the impact to our hearts and circulatory system in that they are one of the contributing factors to clogging of arteries called Atherosclerosis. This is the accumulation of fatty deposits inside the artery walls, particularly those leading to and from the heart. Blood clots can also form if the plaque or build up of these fatty deposits becomes too high and breaks off – and is often the cause of heart attacks.So again always check the labels before buying and if it has a listing for it then you know what to do with it – put it back! Or just steer clear of them altogether.

Dean Piazza is the resident personal trainer @ http://www.homegymequipment.com.au. – Australia’s Biggest range of Home Gym Equipment at Cheap prices. Dean Is the expert personal trainer on NineMsn, Australia’s largest website portal and regularly appears in magazines with his training tips, weight loss comments and fitness equipment reviews.

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Health Supplements for Healthy living


Daily Healthy Living Tips

Health supplements are referred to as a preparation of essential nutritive elements intended to fulfill the energy requirements of the body. Human body requires a variety of nutrients everyday like vitamins, minerals, fiber, amino acids in specific quantities. Health or dietary supplements contain fixed amount of these nutritional elements which when consumed in accurate proportions result in good health of an individual.

Different countries have different definition of dietary supplements. United States defines dietary supplement as a product that aims to supplement the diet and contain dietary ingredients like vitamins, minerals, amino acids etc. Due to the hectic and stressful lifestyle of modern times, people fail to take care of their body needs of appropriate nutrition.

Choosing a right dietary supplement can be tough job for any of us. Today, the market is flooded with a variety of dietary supplement providers. Whether it is about nutritional supplements for specific diseases or deficiencies one can get a suitable nutritional supplement according to the person’s requirement. There are supplements available for beauty maintenance, for weight loss and even for certain congenital diseases.

Omega 3 is an important constituent of our everyday diet. It is an essential nutritive element to maintain over all good health. Unfortunately, the essential fatty acid, also known as fish oil is not produced within the body. Body has to fulfill the nutritional requirement of this fatty oil from outside. We can obtain this valuable nutritive element primarily through the consumption of fish, but can also derive it from certain kind of nuts and vegetable oils.

Many doctors and health experts around the globe suggest that elder people or senior citizens or kids or women should keep on taking nutritional supplements as nutritional supplements fulfill the deficiency of body. One can get relief from all sort of disorders by taking the right nutritional supplements.

So, don’t hesitate and start consuming nutritional supplements so that you can have a strong body at the later stages of life. Eat healthy Omega-3 supplements and feel great.

Daisy Wilson is well known author and written articles on healthcare products, Healthy heart, skin care products, fish oil, cardiac care, diabetes treatment, Nutrition India and many more services in India.

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A Tip For Healthy Skin Care


Healthy Lifestyle Tips For Adults

If you are reading this article you are more than likely interested in healthy skin care. In most cases having the healthiest skin means a younger looking, smooth complexion. Wouldn’t you agree that all of us desire that?

I believe healthy skin care starts with natural ingredients, instead of lotions, creams or gels full of harsh toxic chemicals. Toxins are bad for your health and won’t give you the glowing complexion you need to feel good about yourself.

The best way to achieve health for our skin is to stay away from products with chemical substances in them like acrylamide, dioxane, DEA, MEA, TEA, PEG, phenol carbolic acid. There are others – to find the entire list check out my web site listed a little later in this article. I have the dangerous ones all listed under ingredients to avoid when buying skincare products.

Desiring to have the healthiest skin you can have is a great goal, and one you should follow all your life, no matter what age you find yourself in. I’m middle age and I have just recently realized health pertains to my skin as well as the rest of my body. I sure wish I had practiced what I know now, twenty and thirty years ago.

The ingredients I know trust my complexion to are from a company in New Zealand. They make all natural healthy products. Their products work with your skin, instead of against you.

Substances like natural vitamin E for a preservative instead of parabens that are suspected to cause breast cancer in women. Why anyone would want to use parabens, when there is a healthy choice readily available is beyond my comprehension.

When I am in my local drug store I look at labels, and notice parabens listed on almost every skin care product I pick up. I say leave those products in the store. I’ll keep what I use and appreciate companies that care enough about my health to manufacturer products that are safe.

Check out my skin anti aging web site. You’ll find a lot of great information there for. It’s not hard to look good and use nourishing products on your complexion. You’ll find the entire list of healthy skin care products I use.

Elizabeth Ruby is passionate about good health and using healthy products on her skin. She does extensive research on the best products to use and what products to avoid. Visit her website at http://www.skinantiagingsite.com/ to find out what products she recommends.

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Healthy Weight Loss Tips – Live Happy, Live Healthy


Daily Healthy Living Tips

Healthy Weight Loss should be the only weight loss you take on.

Fad Diets, Weight Loss Pills, and other Fast Weight Loss deals could just plain and simply hurt you in the long run. Some of the things may even work, but not forever. To achieve healthy weight loss you must make a life time commitment.

Healthy Weight Loss is achieved through a mindset shift, in accepting a new healthier life style you can conquer your internal walls. It does even have to be hard!

When you make the transition into healthy eating and a healthy life style you will automatically become more and more conscious of how you eat. But before you can achieve anything you must first expect it of yourself! Carbohydrates are not evil, Proteins are not the miracle weight loss food group, and fats will not kill you (Well some of them).

The way you must look at healthy weight loss is with a conscious mind and common sense approach. The food pyramid and being told to eat your veggies as a kid were not things said and created just for fun.

The key to a healthy mind, body, and soul is a balanced approach. Out of balance even seemingly “good for you things” will become negative just as to much of any “bad for you things”.

Life is about balance in all areas and even so in your approach towards healthy weight loss.

Check this out. The following are recommended sources that you should get from each food group each day or at least achieve a balance by the end of the week.

*Keep in mind the lower side of the servings is relating towards someone with a 1600 cal daily need where are the highest serving portions are targeted for someone around the 2600 cal needs.
Breads, Grains, Oats: You should strive to get 6-11 servings from this group each day. This food group can be anything from rice, bread, and pasta to cold cereals, oatmeal, and cream of wheat.
Fruits: Fruits contain many valuable vitamins like vitamin C and A. Making sure to get 2-4 servings a day can be very helpful in boosting immunities and vitality of your body. Plus most fruits vary from quick releasing sugars like Banana’s to slow releasing sugars like Apples. Use fruit in place of candy bars to get you through a tough time, between meals, or when you need a little boost.
Veggies: Like fruits your veggies will give you valuable and very necessary vitamins + minerals to help your body rebuild, stay disease free, and balanced. You can also get many antioxidants from eating a variety of raw to lightly cooked veggies. Look to get about 2-5 servings a day and very your veggies. Think of it like this. How many colors of veggies did you eat today? The idea is to get a variety of different colors in there because each may provide an array of different but vital vitamins and minerals.
Dairy: OK so some people here develop something know as lactose intolerance which occurs when the body stops producing enough or any lactase which is the protein enzyme capable of breaking down the milk sugar known as lactose. But the idea in drinking dairy is to get a variety of vitamins and minerals like vitamin D and the mineral Calcium. Plus milk is rich in protein which is beneficial to your muscular growth. Also dairy products like cottage cheese and yogurt with active live cultures promote a healthy and balanced digestive system. These live cultures help balance the good bacteria within your intestines which in turn helps digest and break down foods. Try to get 2-3 servings of dairy a day.
Meat: Meats supply you with many vital minerals and is the best food group for iron absorption. Also, meats supply complete amino acids which help muscle repair, growth, and enzyme production. Eating meats low in fat like chicken and fish is a better approach than eating a 12 oz steak every night. Also, the portions of meat should be around 3oz each, nothing huge but just the right amount of proteins and minerals. 2-3 Servings a day around 3 oz each is appropriate.
Fats: This group is one to be taken sparingly. Now the truth is you need fat in your body. Your brain alone consists of about 60% fatty tissue so wouldn’t it only make sense that your body needs fat to assist brain functions? But which fats? The idea is to supply yourself with fatty acids in the polyunsaturated and monounsaturated area but avoid saturated and trans fats (oxidized fats with no nutritional value) You could live your entire healthy life without ever consuming Saturated fats, you don’t need them. But, you absolutely without a doubt need fats from nuts, fish, and oils like olive oil, flax seed oil, and sunflower oils. These beneficial fats will supply you with crucial omega fatty acids which your body can use for repair and function. I am sure you have seen labels with “essential Omega 3’s and Omega 6’s” Those are the good guys. Saturated and Trans fats are unnecessary and could be avoided altogether, though with that said, with moderation they certainly won’t kill you!

With a journey for healthy weight loss goals are great but what’s best is knowing what your goals are, reminding yourself every day, and doing what it takes in the moment to make the long term adjustment.
Some days move slower than others, some days temptation is greater and in some cases you may even indulge. But remember, it’s only right now that you have control over what your actions are. Keep in a conscious state of mind and realize your goals.

The idea here is not to deprive yourself of anything you love but to transition into a variety of things you can enjoy. The better your health, the better you will feel, the more you will want to stick with healthy weight loss.

Before you can achieve any of this, you must first give yourself permission to do what it takes.

A healthy weight loss goal should be 1-2 pounds a week. You can achieve this by figuring out your current calorie needs and then reducing your daily caloric intake to 500-700 less than what you need. In doing so you will create a “calorie deficit” and your body will be forced to use fat tissue as energy but you will not be starving or avoiding things you love.

It is important to note that 1 pound of fat is equal to about 3500 calories, so by reducing your calorie intake by 500 less than your maintenance needs daily, you will create a total deficit of 3500 calories a week and therefore burn 1 pound a week.

Of course by adding fitness you can easily increase calories burned each day while increasing the calorie deficit to advance results.

With a life style approach you will find balance in everything you eat and so even “bad for you things” will not be so bad. You can still enjoy the pleasures of cuisine but eat healthy, fresh fruits, and raw to lightly cooked veggies, more often than sugary sweet and late night take out.

Learn more about Exercise Programs and how you can add one into your healthy weight loss goals.

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How To Live A Healthy Lifestyle


10 Tips For A Healthy Lifestyle

Living a healthy lifestyle is easier said than done. There are more and more harmful influences to our bodies these days and many people are finding it difficult to live a lifestyle consistent with a long healthy life. This article is going to discuss some of the most important facets of living well.

First of all you need to watch what you eat. The grocery stores are full of items that are not the best for you and will add pounds to the waist over time. If you would like to start eating better then you should start shopping at an organic grocery store or at least look for organic items at your local grocery store.

One of the most common ingredients in food today is sugar. This is in virtually all foods. The reason is that it makes food taste a lot better. The downside is that sugar has numerous bad effects on the body which don’t appear immediately. Rather, they take hold slowly over the years. Sugar in the diet is the number one cause of tooth decay and one of the biggest causes of many diseases.

Another majorly important facet of a healthy lifestyle is a regular exercise routine. This is important because nearly every major study which has ever been performed has shown that those who will exercise at least one hour a day, live longer, have reduced chance of certain illness and have a better general quality of life. The benefits of exercise are immense. Of you have never had an exercise routine then read the following guide on how to start one.

The biggest thing to keep in mind is to take it slow. There are a lot of people who are too ambitious and try to do too much too fast. This will only make your body ache and de-motivate you. The key really is to start out slow and do only what your body can handle there is definitely a time to start stressing yourself but your goal at the beginning should just be to establish the habit and get to know your way around whatever activity you are doing.

When choosing an exercise routine don’t be fooled by the latest exercise fad on cable TV. These are expensive and don’t achieve any better results than just doing things on your own in your home. Often a ten minute jog around the neighborhood can do more than these TV routines.

Niman Ranch provides some of the world’s best flavored natural meat. They are a traditional favorite in American households. (http://www.nimanranch.com)

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Gateway to a Healthy and Active Lifestyle


Healthy Lifestyle Tips For Adults

What is the perfect approach to take for healthy weight loss? What kind of lifestyle should be followed in order to achieve the perfect body and mind? For someone who is new to a healthy lifestyle concept, he/she would definitely want start with a balanced healthy diet.

What exactly is a balanced diet? It’s one that’s full of optimum nutrients that the body needs in order to function energetically and keep you healthy and free from life-threatening diseases. Another important thing in a weight loss plan is any form of cardio exercise or weight training. A healthy diet and exercise go hand in hand. You can’t just eat a balanced diet and lead a sedentary lifestyle and expect to burn calories or lose weight. This works both ways; if you keep on doing your cardio and weight training but also gorge on calorie-rich foods, you won’t see results. If you eat unhealthy foods, even burning insane amounts of calories will give you few results.

The following are some tips to help you maintain a healthy and active lifestyle:

Healthy Lifestyle Tips

If you are conscious about maintaining your overall health and fitness and also want a fit mind with a fit body, living a healthy lifestyle can be one of the best things that you can do for your overall well-being. You can start with a healthy weight loss plan and combine it with proper exercises that burn extra calories in your body. Here are some basic and easy-to-follow tips that will guide you towards achieving a healthy lifestyle.

• Start your day early: Waking up early helps you start each day with a fresh beginning. Enjoying the sunrise and the sound of birds chirping first thing in the morning gives you a healthy and pleasant start.

• Exercise: Depending on your preferences, you can choose to do a set of exercises that reinforce your healthy weight loss plan. Ideally, you should combine some form of cardiovascular exercise (walking, swimming, jogging etc.) with weight training. For a healthy lifestyle, another crucial thing is to achieve a healthy mind, which can be achieved by doing yoga and meditating. There are some excellent yoga postures for overall body fitness and some that are specifically designed for weight help. If you are more inclined towards achieving mental peace, then you can start by meditating first thing in the morning. This would help you start your day with a fresh, clear mind, and keep you that way throughout the entire day.

• Eat a balanced healthy diet: If you plan your balanced diet to include 5 meals throughout the day, you should eat less at each meal, but enough to keep you balanced and focused. You need not starve yourself to achieve healthy weight loss.

To achieve a truly healthy lifestyle, one has to be balanced in every part of his or her life. The basis for success with any healthy weight loss plan is to do what’s required and tweak it to your preferences. The final key: don’t give up!

For fast weight loss solutions visit our in-depth guide, for a more active lifestyle visit our blog.

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Optometrist and Healthy Lifestyle for Good Vision


Daily Healthy Living Tips

A lot of adults do have healthy eyesight and to enjoy it further you need to be able to adapt a healthy lifestyle as well as have a regular eye check up with optometrist in Austin. While some do enjoy healthy vision other adult suffer from eye problems mostly brought by stress and eye injuries primarily due to their mode of work. Yet if you are making sure that you have the right lifestyle and keep it healthy as well as taking measures to protect your eyes from any injury then you can enjoy having good eyesight for long years to come.

For someone approaching adulthood and beginning their careers or just about to go to a university then knowing the right way to take care of your eyes can ensure that you will have no vision problems not while you are at your prime anyway. By having regular eye examination first of all can help you avoid eye and vision concerns at an early age.

The next thing to do is to make sure that you are eating a healthy diet. It is recommended that you have at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables daily. This does not only promote a healthy eyesight but overall a healthy body as well. Those green and leafy vegetable full of antioxidants are best for your vision. Next is to do regular exercises as well. If you are exercising frequently, you promote good and healthy circulation which in turn helps bring much needed oxygen to your eyes and most of all it aids in getting rid of toxins in your body.

When you go out the best way to care for your vision is to use sunglasses. This will help guard your eyes from the harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun. to protect your eyes effectively, use sunglasses that have UVA and UVB protection to ensure that your eyes are equally protected from both types of ultraviolet rays. All these can help avoid the development of vision problems but never discard the importance of having eye check ups even if you are not experiencing any problems this is because a lot of these concerns can go undetected unless given a thorough and regular examination.

So start and care for your eyes and vision before it is too late. Vision problems may occur to anyone and can affect any age group. When you do all these tips then you at least are making sure that eye problems when they come can be properly diagnosed and treated.

The eyes are the mirror of the soul, take care of your eyes visit Optometrist Austin for a clearer vision.

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Powerful Tips to Live a Healthy Life


10 Tips For A Healthy Lifestyle

I want to live to be a healthy elderly lady who can dance and do yoga at 90. I think most of us want to live to be a healthy older person. Until there are new medical or scientific breakthroughs our life span in the US is approximately 78 years for men and 80 years for women. However we have all seen people older than 80 living a fulfilling active life. What are the secrets to it? I believe that we need to look at our body, mind and spirit together to know what keeps us living longer and healthy. Take a look at what some studies have shown us about living a longer and healthy life.

1. I call this point the 3 Ps. The P stands for positive thinking, purpose and passion. Almost every study done on centurions shows us that people who have a purpose or passion is life fare better than someone who does not. This does not mean that if you were an engineer and retired you cannot have a purpose any longer. Maybe the retired engineer gets into teaching or writing. If you lose your job and are down about the economy you could volunteer at a homeless shelter. Do you see what I am saying? Everyone’s purpose in life is different and can change at different times in your life. The point is it makes you feel fulfilled and anxious to start the day.

As well, almost every research study shows that people who practice optimism live a longer life. Possibly negativity has direct biological effects on our bodies, causing changes in our immune system.

As a side note it also appears as if people who are conscientious tend to have better life-spans and healthier lives. There has been some generalizations that these types of people promote a good and healthy lifestyle based on their personality type.

2. The next point to tell you about is action. There have been numerous studies showing that people who are active cut their risk for age related diseases, such as diabetes, heart disease and muscular problems. A study that compared over 9,000 sets of twins found that the active twin lived better lives than the sedentary twin and that there were some changes in the cellular level of the twin that was sedentary. Furthermore, if adults in their 50s and 60s are regularly active they are 35% less likely to die in the next 8 years than sedentary people. For those with underlying risk factors for heart disease they had a 45% reduction is health problems. Activity can be walking, gardening, dancing or a formal program. The activity though, should be regular and often.

3. Obesity is at an epidemic level in our country. If you are overweight you run an increased risk for heart disease, diabetes type 2, cancers, hypertension, stroke, liver and gallbladder disease, sleep apnea and mobility problems. Losing weight is a hot topic. It is too long to go into for this article but you should be knowledgeable about your food intake, calories, and nutrients. Anti-oxidants should be part of your diet as they kill the free-radicals in our body (which we get from the environment) which increase our aging process.

4. Managing our stress has become very important in our lives today. It is a fact that if you suffer from chronic stress your levels of Cortisol (a hormone) in your body increase which can weaken your immune system. When your immune system is weakened you are more prone to getting diseases that could compromise your health. Many corporate employers and wellness programs have stress management classes seeing the need for stress reduction.

Meditation is one way to relieve your stress. If you meditate for 15 minutes per day it has shown to be more effective than 1 hour of sleep.
Other relaxation techniques may be yoga, imagery, music or biofeedback.
Laughter also reduces stress hormones like adrenalin and cortisol. Laughter also works as a natural pain killer.

If you have a pet you have a natural stress reducer at your feet. Pets trigger a relaxation response which decrease your levels of Cortisol. Patients who are recovering from a major illness are 6 times likely to heal faster and better if they have a pet.

5. Sex is good for us. It gives us a feeling of connection, being appreciated and loved as well as reducing our stress and making us feel relaxed.

5. Learn and practice going with the flow of life’s ups and downs. We all have them and are tested many times in our lives. People who have some sense of spirituality or a belief in something higher, or outside of life forces in this universe sometimes handle this point a little better. But if you have a good support system that can make a big difference as well.

I think it is not as important as to what you have been given in life, as much as what you do with it. We have resources to help us live to a ripe healthy old age. Medical technology has made remarkable progress in the last 100 years and maybe the best is coming. As you can see, I am an optimist.

Kat is a health coach, life design advisor, author, speaker and RN. With over 20 years in her field she is an expert in teaching wellness and fitness incorporating non-traditional health theories with traditional or Western medicine. She is an advocate for patients and ioffers wellness programs which can be modified for each person and their specific needs. She believes in incorporating the mind, body and spirit in her teaching.
To start making healthy changes in your life, claim your free e-book at: http://www.healthy-changes-for-you.com

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Modeling a Healthy Lifestyle for Your Child


Healthy Living Lifestyle

According to research, kids tend to model their parents’ behavior as they grow and throughout adulthood.  This means that if you practice healthy habits and a balanced lifestyle, you child is more likely to do so as well.  This means that if your child sees you exercising, eating right, reading, rather than watching television, and engaging in other healthy habits, he will probably model his behaviors accordingly.

Healthy Eating

Mealtimes and the food choices associated with them represent just one of the many opportunities parents have to model healthy eating habits for their children.  Parents should never skip breakfast.  Not only is this meal important for adults, studies show that kids who eat breakfast are more alert and perform better in school.  This may mean going to bed a bit earlier to make time for breakfast for you and your child.

According to the director of the Optimal Weight for Life program at Children’s Hospital Boston, David Ludwig, M.D., Ph.D., parents must start early to teach good nutrition habits and avoid future issues.  Ludwig says that children learn their habits, both good and bad, from those who love them.  Parents should not only teach kids about nutritious choices, but make these choices themselves so their children see the behavior modeled by a loved one.  If you’re just learning about nutrition yourself, talk to your pediatrician about nutritious choices and eating habits for children.

Fight the Good Fight

Parents, interested in teaching their children nutritious eating habits, are competing against powerful messages from the media, targeting children.  These messages rarely promote healthy eating habits.

Serve Kid-Friendly Foods – Make fresh fruit smoothies and serve them with cut, raw vegetables alongside a yogurt dip.  Kids love fruit salads with low-fat yogurt dressing and grilled vegetable kabobs.  Add some grilled lean meat in between the vegetables on the kabobs for protein and iron.
Teach Your Child About Quality – Invite your child to go grocery shopping with you and challenge him to help make healthy selections.  Show him how to read nutrition labels and spot hidden fat and sugars.
Grow Your Own – Whether it’s in the back yard, or inside an apartment on a sunny sill, children love the idea of growing their own vegetables and herbs.  Kids may venture to try eating a tomato grown in their own backyards before they would agree to try a store bought one.
Try a Kid-Oriented Cookbook – Cookbooks especially for children or that have a wide variety of kid friendly recipes abound in bookstores and online.  Try the newest cookbook by chef Emeril Lagasse called, There’s a Chef in My World.

Exercise Daily

Get out and exercise everyday with your child — whether it’s taking a stroll around the park, playing tag outside, or a game of hide-and-seek indoors, kids benefit from daily physical activity.  Playing together allows time for social and emotional growth as well as physical fitness.  Your child’s pediatrician can tell you whether you child is overweight and what types of exercise, and how much, are appropriate.  Parents who regularly engage in physical activity that are too strenuous in length and intensity should consider including their children in the warm-up or cool down portions of their routines.  For example, include your child in stretching exercises before taking off on a five mile run.  Or allow him to take a walk through the neighborhood with you afterward for a cool-down routine you can do together.

Set Goals and Limits

Set goals and limits for yourself and your child.  Write your goals on a whiteboard or large notepad for the whole family to see.  Goals might include things like getting one hour of exercise everyday or playing outside together for 30 minutes five times per week.  Put limits on the amount of time allowed for television viewing.  Limit yourself as well so your child sees and begins to model your self control.

A Healthy Lifestyle Contributes to Healthy Relationships

You and your child will bond and grow in your relationship as you engage in healthy habits together.  If you need reassurance about whether your exercise schedule or nutrition plan is right for your child, discuss your goals for yourself and your child with your pediatrician on your next visit.

Samantha Gluck is a writer who specializes in various topics including pediatric healthcare, OB/GYN healthcare, business and much more.