You're Too Young to Feel Old!
How well you age is under your control. Nutrition and exercise is 80 percent of the battle to attaining a healthier life. By changing your eating habits, you will not only be able to reach your weight loss goals, you will also purge your body of harmful toxins and chemicals. By adding exercise to your daily regimen, you will also feel better physically while improving your clarity of thought. The following are a few simple steps to leading a healthier lifestyle:
Get rid of the junk
Simply eliminate junk food from your diet. Replace highly processed foods, such as pasta and white bread, with items higher in nutritional value and fiber (i.e. wheat bread, oatmeal and brown rice). All sodas fall into the “junk†category. Soda contains ingredients that alter your body chemistry even if they contain no calories. Some research also indicates that carbonation in soda encourages cravings for starchy and salty items, so while you may think that drinking soda reduces your sugar cravings, but it may actually drive you to eat more chips.
Stay hydrated
Besides quenching your thirst, water helps to flush toxins and cellular wastes from the body, hydrates cells, aids in digestion and maintains healthy skin, hair and nails. Water can help alleviate hunger by making you feel full. Drink at least 6 to 8 glasses per day. Drink two glasses of water for every cup of coffee to make up for the negative dehydrating effects of caffeine.
Eat smaller portions
The easiest way to do this is to take your daily meals, split them in half, and have four to six small meals and/or snacks a day instead of two or three large meals. This ongoing supply of food and calories will keep your blood sugar and energy levels even all day while alleviating food cravings.
Purify
If you can’t pronounce an ingredient in a particular food, don’t eat it. Just about everything contains additives and preservatives. Try your hardest to eat plain, unaltered whole foods such as fruit, raw or steamed vegetables, lean meats and poultry, natural grain rice, and poached eggs.
Eat your veggies
A vegetarian diet can reduce your risk of heart disease and cancer, and research shows that it may extend your life. For many people, it is hard to stick to a vegetarian diet every day. But you don’t have to: By going without meat most of the time, you will reap many of the benefits of being vegetarian. Aim for four or more veggie meals a week; fill up on beans, whole grains, fruits and vegetables. Substitute salmon for meat.
Add color
All tomatoes contain lycopene, an antioxidant that may protect against heart disease and cancer in women. But cherry tomatoes contain the most flavonols, a particularly potent class of antioxidants, according to a recent study.
Antioxidant-packed blueberries may enhance memory and coordination and might even protect against Alzheimer’s disease.
Making healthful changes like these will have a big impact on your life - breathe deeply and appreciate every moment!
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References: Journal of Sports Science, Journal of the American College of Nutrition, National Institute on Aging
René Burton, nationally certified Arthritis Foundation Exercise Program
Senior Fitness
credentialed in Adaptive Physical
studied
Adjunct Faculty,Emeritus program
She can reached at (714) 969-9967 or visit