5 simple ways for a healthy routine

1. Lets go for a walk

           I don't view walking as an exercise at all but rather as an essential movement that we all require. The older you get the more important it becomes. You can be very athletically fit, but if you are sitting all day with minimal walking or movement, your health will most definitely suffer. Taking 10,000 steps a day is a basic requirement for optimal health, like drinking adequate amounts of water each day.

Here are few ways where you can walk a bit.

• Walking to someone else’s desk rather than sending an e-mail.
• Parking furthest from the building and walking in.
• Taking the stairs more often.
• Taking the dog for a walk.
• Cycling with the kids instead of watching TV.

2. Stand more often
        We spend our lives sitting – at our desks, in front of the TV, in a meeting or on the phone. New research is emerging highlighting the potential risk to health from all our sitting behaviour. So break your sitting time by standing for five minutes and reap the health benefits.

3. Healthy eating
       When it comes to healthy eating, there is an overwhelming array of theories, diet books and online information about what to eat – which is often conflicting. Although the research is still ongoing and developing, what the experts all agree on is that our diets are too high in sugar, our portions are too big and we should eat a variety of whole natural foods.

4. Avoid sugar 

        From sugary drinks to breakfast cereal, it’s hard to get away from sugary foods. Often the sugar is hidden in canned goods or pre-packaged foods, or even in foods we think are healthy for us, such as fruit juice. The average person takes in about 22 teaspoons of added sugar each day. According to the American Heart Association the daily target should be no more than six level teaspoons for women, and nine for men—that’s for both food and beverages combined.
The easiest way to limit your sugar intake with one small change is to cut out sugary fizzy drinks. This alone can help you to lose or maintain a healthy weight, which in turn will reduce your risk of heart disease, obesity and diabetes.

Ways to avoid sugar from diet

• Stop Buying Processed Foods.
• Choose Whole, Fresh Fruit Over Juice, Dehydrated, or Other Fruit Products.
• Avoid Flavored Yogurt.
• Give Yourself Rules About Dessert.
• Don’t Keep Treats In The House.
• Avoid Mixed Alcohol Drinks.
• Cut Out Soda

5. Avoid smoking / alcohol 

       There is nothing more damaging to a long, healthy life than smoking, which is estimated as the reason for death or disability in half the people who smoke. The dangers of smoking tobacco are so significant that it is the most important public health problem in the world, which ironically, is largely avoidable.

Smoking not only cuts your lifespan by affecting your internal organs, but it also ages you on the outside by causing skin damage. Tobacco smoking can give you wrinkles, create pucker lines around your mouth, stain your teeth and fingers, rob your skin of nutrients, break down youth-enhancing collagen and make your skin look grey. It makes you wonder how smoking is often marketed as glamorous and attractive.

It takes courage to quit smoking, as it’s not an easy journey – but it’s a brave and sensible choice. Some of the positive changes will happen quickly, while others will be more gradual, but all the changes will benefit your health and well-being.

         Alcohol abuse affects your heart, liver, and brain. Over time your heart muscles weaken and sag from the strain that alcohol places on it. A weakened heart cannot adequately pump the blood required to flow to other vital organs in the body; impeded blood flow can lead to varying types of chronic illness in addition to high blood pressure, blood clots, irregular heart beat, and stroke.

The liver is usually the most affected organ, since this is where alcohol is metabolized. Drinking alcohol heavily can force the liver to build up fat, a condition most closely associated with cirrhosis and alcoholism, but which can also be caused by binge drinking. Drinking alcohol can also lead to hepatitis, a condition that if severe enough may require dialysis or even an organ transplant.