Whether it is summer, winter, autumn or spring, the best thing to do is to be true to yourself and exercise some tough love if necessary. One of the best quotes I really like is”…that a year give everyone 365 opportunities…” and unfortunately not a lot of these daily opportunities can be transferred to the next day if left unexplored.
On the other hand, a lot can be said about the kind of factors that affect us in fully exploring this opportunities e.g. our environment, seasons, resources, behavior, time, ability, belief etc. The list goes on and on with valid factors and useless excuses as you can imagine however let us channel our focus concerning these daily opportunity to our health which plays a pivotal role in balancing the areas of our wellness.
My challenge to all of us is that we individually draft a two columned list, true to ourselves titled, what I HAVE CONTROL OVER and what I DON’T HAVE OVER with regards to your own health and as parents, the health of our children. To give you a head start, some few simple questions you can answer while drafting your list are as follows:
- Is your health your responsibility or that of the government?
- Do you have a say in how you and your family eat?
- Do you encourage frying, boiling, steaming or baking of the food you eat?
- What kind of bodily benefits do you look for in a meal?
- Do you encourage and initiate healthy eating as well as physical exercise in your family?
- Do you have an understanding of what lifestyle illnesses are?
- How often do you consulting health practitioners/promoters e.g. health coaches, nutritionist, physician, nurses, fitness clubs?
- On a scale from 1-10 with 10 being very healthy, how healthy is you kitchen?
- Do you monitor the sugar, fat and salt consumption of your family
- Are you comfortable with the knowledge you and your family have with regards to a healthy active lifestyle?
As a health Coach, I sometime simplify breaking a bad eating habit to my client by literally symbolizes our actions to that of a withdrawal or a deposit and whether your month end health statements say due to you or due by you. You would normally here health promoters saying that your health is your wealth and this becomes true when with every daily opportunity you make an investment toward your health by eating healthy and taking part in some moderate physical exercise. If you have a bank account you are well aware that you become happier with a deposit into your account as opposed to a withdrawal, so do the right thing and make yourself happy.
Healthy active lifestyle is not about depriving yourself of the foods you love and strict dietary limitation nor is it about long hours of strainers exercise. The same can also be said about looking in shape, it’s definitely not about looking super skinny and unnourished. Healthy lifestyle is about being healthy, having more energy, stabilizing hormones production, having a good quality of life and feeling great about life.
A good balance diet is one that includes all food groups ranging from Protein, Complex and Simple Carbohydrates, Healthy Fats, Vitamin and Minerals, Water, Exercise and Laughter. The body needs all of this food groups for better digestion and absorption within the body to enhanced circulation of nutrients and improve basic bodily function of the body.
Good routine exercise is important merely because if you follow a wrong routine you will sustain injuries and this will stress and overwhelm the body’s immunity and in return mess-up your body composition. Overall, adequate knowledge and understanding of food types and their bodily function including long term benefits thereof will serve as motivation for the change of mind set within society to act now and practice good eating habits.
The best way to starting on your healthy active lifestyle is by taking baby step such as, having at least 6-8 hours of sleep, eating a balance healthy breakfast, drink water frequently , occasionally having a body evaluation conducted and reading up on basic food types.
