Showing posts with label Nutrition. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Nutrition. Show all posts

Thursday, 9 February 2012

Introduction about Healthy Lifestyle

English: Exercising outdoors is healthier than...
food sources of magnesium: bran muffins, pumpk...
A healthier, happier and more successful you.

You can become a healthier, happier and more successful person by making a few simple changes to your lifestyle. You will have to make changes to the overall you, not just change the amount of exercise you do or your diet. The secret to achieving happiness and a healthier you is to balance your body and mind in harmony, it is only when we are balanced in physical health, mental and spiritual that we are truly healthy.

If we are healthy then we are happier and can reach success more easily in life, here are some ways you can bring back harmony and balance to your life

Exercise is an essential part, it helps to tone our body, keep our heart and lungs healthy and detoxifies. Exercise can be anything from more vigorous routines such as aerobics to simply walking, pick your favorite activity and set aside a specific time of day and commit yourself to devoting a half-hour per day towards getting your body back into shape.

Eating right is the next essential step to maintaining a well-balanced life; our bodies need the right amount of vitamins, nutrients and minerals to work at its best. Making changes to our diet is easy, keep away from fast foods which contain a lot of saturated fats and sugar and start including more whole grains, chicken, fish, plenty of green vegetables and try to eat fresh fruit instead of juice when available.

Along with making changes to your diet you should include supplements such as vitamins, nutrients and minerals. Modern farming methods strip many of our foods of the minerals our bodies require and now just provide us with the basic nutrients. Due to this we might be lacking in certain minerals and vitamins, by supplementing your diet with vitamin and mineral supplements we can ensure we still get all the vital minerals, nutrients and vitamins we need in our daily diet.

Reducing the amount of stress we have in our life plays an important part in how we are able to cope with it. Stress can do much damage to our body and mind and has been linked with “burnout”, fatigue, sleep problems, depression and it lowers our immune system. Learning techniques on how to cope with stress and worry are essential to keeping yourself balanced and full of energy. There are a wide variety of techniques from simple breathing exercises which can be done anywhere, at any time, to yoga which is a full system for relaxation and De-stressing to meditation. There are many books, DVDS and CDS available on the subject or there are courses you can attend.
Lastly but by no means the least important is keeping life fun, doing something which you enjoy doing and makes you feel relaxed and happy each day. No you are not being selfish by taking time out each day just for yourself, this time is essential. It is just as important as exercising, eating right and reducing stress, your time could be spent doing a hobby or pastime that you enjoy, sitting quietly and reading, taking a hot bubble bath while listening to your favorite music or spending quality time with your family or friends. It can be anything as long as it’s something you like to do and enjoying doing. 
 
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12 Tips for better health

English:

The biggest step to aiming towards better health is admitting the fact that you need to make changes towards becoming healthier and fitter. Here are some tips to help you improve your health and help you to reach a new and improved you.


  1. Make it a life goal to obtain a healthier outlook on life which will undoubtedly lead to a healthier you, if you are determined to reach a better state of health, making it a reality will be so much easier.
  2. Support your new way of thinking by learning everything you can about ways of reaching better health and living a healthier lifestyle. You can use the internet, books, DVDS, clubs, gyms and support groups to your benefit, knowing all you can about healthy living gives you a great base to work from.
  3. You have to start somewhere so start by taking a look at your kitchen and reorganizing in preparation for your new way of life. Reorganize your kitchen cabinets, cupboards and refrigerator to ensure that there are no signs of the old you and all the signs of the things that will help you in your new lifestyle.
  4. Replace old food with your new healthier choice and don’t forget to purchase any small appliances which you will need to support your healthier way of eating, such as blenders and food weighing scales.
  5. Get a large planner calendar, pin it up in your kitchen and mark the day when you choose to begin your new lifestyle and stick to it no matter what.
  6. From day one keep a journal, this can either be a traditional one or use your computer. You should include all thoughts and feelings about your new ways along with all the changes you see about yourself. This is essential to look back on to see the positive changes that are occurring due to your positive outlook and changes you have made.
  7. Positive thoughts and self talk or affirmations are a necessity; they will give you confidence at the beginning and will continue to take you through the tough times which will often occur during the early changes.
  8. Along with changes to your diet you will also have to make changes to the amount of exercise you do per day, while good healthy food is essential, exercise is also just as important to help ward off the onset of diseases such as heart disease, as well as helping us to firm up our body or lose a few pounds.
  9. Give up any bad habits such as smoking or drinking, you will never reach your optimal peak of health while you are puffing away on cigarettes or drinking on a regular basis.
  10. Make sure that you get the recommended 5 portions of fruit and veggies per day on your new regime, fruit and veggies are packed full of essential vitamins.
  11. Make sure you learn ways to eliminate as much stress from your lifestyle as you possibly can, there are many ways to do this with one of them sure to be suitable for your situation.
  12. Cut out excess salt, sugar and fatty foods from your diet, this will effectively lower your cholesterol and blood pressure.

Notes on Nutrition

The best place to begin taking notes about nutrition is with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The USDA offers recommendations about what they find to be healthy eating-related habits for the general public. And their information covers these main areas of focus: nutrition pyramid, needed nutrients, weight management, physical fitness and food safety.
Nutrition Pyramid
The USDA has revised dietary guidelines and lists a food pyramid with color scheme to help people eat in a healthy manner.
Needed Nutrients

The USDA advises people to drink and eat a wide variety of nutrient-dense beverages and foods from the basic food groups they note in their nutrition pyramid. They also suggest limiting alcohol, salt, added sugars, cholesterol, saturated and trans fats. And they recommend following plans like the Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension (DASH) Eating Plan or their USDA Food Guide.

Weight Management

The general weight focus of the USDA stresses that people strive to maintain body weight in a healthy range, balancing calories from beverages and foods with those expended. And to help manage weight control as aging occurs, people are to gradually decrease the amounts of foods and beverages consumed and increase physical fitness.

Physical Fitness

The USDA desires people to regularly partake in physical activity while decreasing sedentary activities in order to promote not only healthy bodies but overall general health and psychological well-being. Optimum activity is targeted at around 30 -90 minutes minimum a day of moderate to intense physical, depending upon weight status, age and eating habits. For even more health benefits, a combination of either more intense activity and / or longer periods of activity is advised for most persons instead of just 30 minutes, checking with healthcare providers first for approval.


Key areas of focus for physical fitness are stretching exercises for increased flexibility, cardiovascular conditioning and calisthenics or resistance exercises to improve endurance and muscles.

Food Safety

The USDA recommends that people avoid microbial food borne illnesses by thoroughly washing hands, surfaces where food is handled and vegetables and fruits. They also advise against washing meats and poultry; however, separate raw foods from those that are already cooked or ready to eat when shopping, handling and storing foods.

They also recommend that foods need to be cooked at temperatures safe enough to destroy microorganisms and promptly stored in refrigeration or freezers if perishable.
And they advise people to avoid:

  • Raw or unpasteurized milk
  • Products created from unpasteurized milk
  • raw or partially cooked eggs
  • Foods containing raw eggs
  • Raw or undercooked poultry and meats
  • Unpasteurized juices
  • Raw sprouts.

Look Good, Feel Better

Issues in Mental Health Nursing

 How we look on the outside very often reflects how we feel on the inside, if we know we look good on the outside and are getting praise and compliments this automatically gives us a boost and makes us feel good on the inside. Ways to looking better on the outside and ultimately feeling better on the inside include dieting, eating a well balanced diet, exercising, and taking general care of your body and also taking care of your mental health.


Staying active

Keeping active by exercising not only helps you to lose those few extra pounds but also tones your muscles leaving you looking better but also feeling healthier by helping to ward off diseases. There are many forms of exercise and it doesn’t have to be expensive, you can buy cheap basic gym equipment to use in your own home or even take up a form of great exercise which doesn’t cost a penny, walking. In order to maintain the peak of health you should aim to exercise for at least 30 minutes per day every day of the week while maintaining a healthy balanced diet.

Eating right

A well balanced diet consists of eating at the right times without snacking in-between and eating plenty of fresh fruit and veg, which are rich in vitamins and minerals. If you are trying to lose a few pounds then it is essential that you don’t eat more calories per day than you are burning off and cutting down on foods rich in salt, fats and carbohydrates is essential to maintaining a healthy body. A well balanced diet is considered to be one that includes bread, cereals, fish, lean meat, chicken, potatoes, and dairy products, this along with exercise not only makes you look better but can help to counteract the onset of many health related problems.

Taking general care of your body includes numerous small things which go towards making you look good, for example having a make over by way of changing your old hairstyle, getting it cut and dyed can make a huge difference to how you feel and give you a much needed boost. Paying a visit to a manicurist or pedicurist will give your hands and nails a treat, having your teeth whitened at the dentist can give you good reason to smile more. It’s all the little things that can come together to make a big difference that you have to take into account when looking for ways to make you feel better on the outside.

Mental health is important too

Your mental health, your feelings and thoughts can also make a huge difference to how you feel on the outside and inside. If you have negative thoughts and feelings on the whole then your outlook will be one of negativity that leads to low self-confidence and low self-image. Daily affirmations can help you to change your pattern of thinking and help you gain self-confidence and are an enormous confidence booster.

All of the above when combined together can lead to a healthier and happier person who not only looks good on the outside and oozes self-confidence, but is also healthier and fitter on the inside with a better outlook on life in general and so is better able to cope with life.