Healthy Living

How to form healthy habits

When you want to start eating better or exercising more, it can be sometimes tough to get started and difficult to keep going at other times. Fortunately there are some helpful tips that can assist you with forming and keeping healthy habits.

Focusing on pleasure is a very helpful tip. We often try to form healthier habits with a somewhat grudging and reluctant attitude but this is never a good idea. Rather than subjecting yourself to foods you may not like such as cottage cheese or rice cakes, try to find foods that you actually enjoy eating that also happen to be healthy. Having a moderate amount of the food that you normally enjoy is also a better way to try to lose weight than cutting it out altogether, which tends to be doomed to failure.

You also need to associate the small decisions you make with the long-term view. When we try to form healthy habits we often ignore the small choices that have to be made to achieve our goals, such as refusing to sacrifice a small bag of chips or a morning cup of coffee. Ignoring small choices allows us to give into temptation.

Heart health tips

Even if heart disease runs in your family it is still surprisingly easy to dramatically reduce the risks by pursuing a heart healthy lifestyle. More than 800,000 Americans died as a result of heart attacks and other cardiac illnesses in 2012 but the great majority was preventable.

 

Eating a heart healthy diet is not as complicated as you might think. You should pursue a diet that is rich in vegetables, whole grains, fiber and fruits, eat fish at least twice a week and put a limit on the amount of cholesterol, trans fat and saturated fat that you consume. Choose low-fat, one percent or no-fat dairy products and reduce your intake of foods that contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils in order to reduce the amount of trans fat you eat. You should also limit your salt intake.

 

You should also avoid fad diets, as studies have shown that almost all of them will actually see you gain weight after a year or so.

Start losing weight now with these simple tips

For most of us, losing weight is a struggle. The good news is that now is always a good time to start. Here are some tips for getting rid of a few (or more) unwanted pounds:

 

• Analyze your eating habits. Pay attention to what you eat, and try to identify habits that are undercutting your efforts to lose weight. Do you overindulge on junk food? Eat more when you’re depressed? Target the negative food behaviors that cause unwanted weight gain. Plan meals and snacks ahead of time so you’re less likely to grab something unhealthy when you’re hungry.

 

• Rely on fruits and vegetables. Nutritious food can fill you up just as well as French fries and cupcakes. Keep them handy for snacks, and try to fill at least half your plate with fruits and/or vegetables at every meal to avoid overdoing it on unhealthy fare.

 

• Watch what you drink. Sodas and sugary drinks can pack a lot of calories. Stick to unsweetened coffee or tea and plain water. They’ll quench your thirst, keep you hydrated, and won’t add unwanted sugar and calories to your daily intake.

 

Stay in balance all life long

Staying in shape as you grow older is important to your overall good health. One area that’s sometimes overlooked is balance. You don’t want to injure yourself by falling over at any age, but as you grow older, your risk of a broken or fractured bone becomes greater, with more serious consequences.

 

Start working on maintaining your balance now with these simple exercises:

 

• Stand on one foot. Holding on to a chair or nearby wall if necessary, stand on one foot for 10 seconds. Then switch to the other foot. Do this 10 times.

 

• Walk heel to toe. Stride in a straight line for 20 steps, heel to toe, as if you’re taking a sobriety test.

 

• Swing your legs. Standing with your arms at your sides, lift one leg to about 45 degrees in front of you and then slowly swing it back. Try this 10 times, then switch to your other leg.

 

Important: Check with your doctor if you find that your balance is severely impaired. It could be the result of an ear infection or some other medical condition.