Simple Steps to Optimal Health

Written by Lovelyn on June 23, 2009 – 1:32 pm -

Everyone wants to be healthy. I sure do. The steps to achieving optimal health aren’t as difficult to manage as they might seem. Breaking down what needs to be done and trying to make those changes in your life over time will help you feel and look great. Let’s look at what you need to do to achieve optimal health. Remember you don’t have to do all these things at once. Changing your life one piece at a time will bring better results because you won’t have the stress of trying to do too much at once.

Diet

The first thing you must accomplish is eating a healthy diet. This can seem overwhelming to some, but if you follow a few simple rules, it’s not that difficult to pull off. Here it is in the simplest terms. Eat real food. I’ve beaten this drum so much you’re probably really tired of it, but I want to make sure everyone gets the message and understands it.

Stay away from processed prepackaged foods. What are these food? That’s easy to explain. Any pre-made meals that you just pop in the microwave, chips and bagged or boxed snack items, most cereals, breakfast bars, energy bars and whatever other kind of bar you can think of, and most store bought drinks including sodas and most juices are all processed foods.

If you’re in doubt read the label. If you see anything on the label that you don’t recognize, don’t buy it. It’s that simple. When you’re buying real food, you’ll find that most of your food won’t have a label to read because it will come from the produce section. This brings me to my next point.

Eat a lot of fresh vegetable. If they’re organic that’s even better, but we’ll take things one step at a time. If you’re unaccustomed to eating vegetables you’ll have to take things even slower. Think of one vegetable you like. I know a lot of people who don’t eat vegetables and they usually have one vegetable they’ll eat. Look up a recipe for that vegetable online and learn how to cook it. Learn how to cook that vegetable in as many different ways as you can.

Once you feel comfortable with that vegetable and cooking it go to the produce section of your store and select a random vegetable that you’ve never eaten before. Buy it and then do the same thing that you did with the vegetable you originally liked. Learn how to cook it in as many ways as you can. Try all the vegetables in the produce department like this. As you sample different vegetables you’ll find things you like and things you don’t like. Remember to keep an open mind.

When buying dairy, meat and eggs you need to make sure you’re buying free range organic. This is important because of all the hormones that are given to livestock. You don’t want to eat those hormones yourself. Buying free range organic will help you get the best quality meat available to you.

Don’t forget about beans and grains. These are inexpensive additions to your healthy diet. Eat whole grains. Choose brown rice over white rice. I recommend using dried beans instead of buying canned beans. Always soak your beans overnight and rinse them well before cooking. I also soak my grains for five to ten minutes and rinse them before cooking. Don’t eat undercooked beans and grains. Beans and grains contain chemicals that make it difficult for you to absorb nutrients. Soaking, rinsing and properly cooking them helps get rid of these chemicals.

You don’t have to start doing these things all at once. Take it one step at a time. Baby steps will eventually get you there too.

Exercise

Exercise is a key ingredient for achieving optimal health. Getting regular exercise is good for your body and mind. Combining cardio with strength training will help you get the best benefits from your exercise.

Cardio is exercise that gets your heart rate up. It helps strengthen your heart and lungs. It’s recommended that you get at least 20 minutes of cardio 3 times a week.

Weight and resistance training will help build your muscles. If you don’t have weights you can do push ups, squats, lunges, and other exercises that use your own body weight as resistence.

Getting enough exercise will improve you bone health, tone your muscles and increase you metabolism.

Here are some posts I’ve written about exercise in the past:

10 Simple Ways to Increase the Amount of Exercise You Get Everyday

The Health Benefits of Yoga

Exercise for a Healthy Brain

Are You Stretching Correctly?

Strength Training for Improved Health

Rest

I cannot even begin to emphasize how important it is to get the right amount of sleep. Most adults need about 8 hours sleep. This can vary according to the person so try out different amounts of time to see what feels best to you.

You should sleep in a room that is completely dark. A dark room helps with melatonin production and helps your body get good quality sleep. Your bedroom should be so dark at night that you can’t see anything, not even your hand if you wave it in front of your face. You can get black out shades to block out all the light. My flat came with thick navy blue velvet curtains in the bedroom. They sure are ugly, but they do a great job of keeping out the light so I’m not complaining.

Go to bed early and wake up early. If you’re a night owl like me that’s a hard one to pull off, but it’s important. Your body has a natural rhythm. Doing most of your sleeping when it’s dark and waking up when it’s light out helps with your production of melatonin and helps you get a better quality sleep.

If you want more info about sleep check out this post.

The Importance of Sleep

Hydration

Drink plenty of water. Water helps hydrate the tissue in your body. It helps keep muscles and tendons healthy and keeps your skin looking great.

I’d recommend getting a good water filter. If you live in an area where the water is fluoridated you need to get a filter that will remove the fluoride from your water. Reverse osmosis filtration systems are expensive but effective. You can also look into activated alumina defluoridation filters or distillation filtration systems.

Drinking Water is Good for Your Health

Stress

Cutting stress out of your life will decrease stress hormones that wear your body out and make you feel much better. Taking time to relax and enjoy a hobby, exercise, meditate, and spend time with family and friends will all help. I also believe that having a sense of spirituality helps relieve stress. Calming the mind helps calm the body and provides you with optimal health.

Photo by kevindooley

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