Good Health Habits

[Jamini]

Filter your source of drinking water.

Our water supplies are contaminated with various chemicals, while chlorine and fluoride are also carcinogens. Distilled or Reverse Osmosis would be ideal. If you can't afford those, a simple ceramic carbon filter is better than nothing.

Drink more water

Water is critical to good health. Our bodies are over 80% water! Water carries out many functions in the body -- it lubricates, carries nutrients, flushes toxins, cools, etc. Many diseases have been linked to dehydration or lack of water. Sodas, coffee, alcohol etc do not count; in fact, these are harmful beverages which actually dehydrate your body. Freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices as well as herbal teas are good. This is perhaps THE most important of this list of good health habits.

Go vegan

There are different schools of thought as to whether humans are meant to eat meat, and whether going vegan would result in any nutritional deficiencies. Personally, I believe that we do not need meat -- after all, there are millions of healthy and strong vegetarians in the world .

Eat a variety of whole and natural foods

Whole foods have many health benefits. For example, they contain more nutrients and fiber than processed foods. The nutrients in whole foods are also better assimilated by the body. By eating a variety of whole foods, we would thus be getting all the different nutrients which we need; try to have a colorful diet - i.e. fruits, vegetables, beans, etc of different colors. Processed foods, on the other hand, are unnatural and often contain a load of chemical additives and preservatives. Our modern day diets are a disastrous combination of too much processed foods and very little whole foods.

Hey yuman, Your post is really nice one and also agree with your comment's that drinking excess water on daily base is much helpful and good for health...... Also fresh veggies are more helpful in health and fitness connection's.....

[Hamlin]

Hi,

Most important is your eating habit and its really better to eat two times a day....

Also try to eat your major meal in your breakfast...

Thanks

[bushido_man96]

I thought the more common thing research showed now was to eat more like 5 or 6 small meals throughout the day, as it helped to maintain the metabolism better.

[ignace]

According to me, there are lots of good habits for good health. Few of that such as drink more water, eat fruits and vegetables, eat fresh foods, drink fruit juice and do regular exercise and yoga.

[still kicking]

It is true that there are lots of habits for good health, many or most of them common sense, but the problem is that there is so much conflicting information out there that it can be overwhelming. A lot of it is common sense, such as getting enough sleep and exercise, drinking plenty of water, and managing stress, but when it comes to diet, it's not so easy. What I strive for is to eat lots of fruits and veggies, whole grains, beans, low fat dairy, fish and occasionally meat, and to avoid refined sugar and fried and processed foods. Also to avoid too much caffeine and alcohol. How well I succeed with that varies, and what constitutes "too much" is obviously a matter of opinion. I do think that eating 5 or 6 small meals a day is good, for the sake of maintaining steady metabolism and blood sugar, but the problem with that is defining "small". It is all too easy to eat 5 or 6 regular size or large meals a day, then you get fat!

[Orgo]

One thing that cannot be stressed more is to drink water, as every other person on this thread have stated, it is very good practice to drink water regularly. I would state that, also worthy of note, is to drink tea; at least once or twice daily. Not black tea with milk and two sugars or similar ilk, but herbal teas; green and jasmine teas have many antioxidants and also vitamins A and C, for healthy immune system and skin health.

As for not eating meat, I would have to disagree. Although being vegetarian or vegan is certainly a perfectly viable option, there are some immediately beneficial reasons to eat meats.

Red meats are a very good source of iron, which can be hard to maintain without supplements for some people. Lean red meat is obviously preferred, and I'd recommend eating it once or twice a week.

While I'd say that red meat should only be eaten once or twice a week, healthier lean meats like chicken or fish can easily be eaten throughout the week without too much worry of too high a fat content.

Eat nuts, not just a bag of salted peanuts or whatnot, but there is great benefit in eating a good selection of mixed nuts, which have many beneficial minerals, and also healthy fatty acids that are important for energy and muscle repair and growth.

When eating meals, listen to your body. While I'd not recommend eating less than three meals a day, with regular exercise it is not uncommon to eat 6+ large meals a day. Try your best not to skip meals, especially breakfast. Eating regularly is very important for a healthy metabolism. When eating a meal, eat until you are no longer hungry, there is no point in limiting your bodies intake because you are afraid of getting fat, just as there is no point in overeating. Even if your are eating 6 large meals a day, it will be unlikely to gain weight if you are always eating healthily, and doing regular exercise.

[JusticeZero]

Coming from a people whose neighbors spent generations living on a plant-free diet with no ill effects, I find the vegetarian claims to be somewhat one-sided.

That said, American meat is generally garbage; McDonalds is responsible for a dramatic raise in the quality of most American meat up to the standards that they require, and those standards are not particularly inspiring. We eat corn-fed beef all the time - from cows that cannot digest corn. We eat chickens that are raised under ridiculous conditions, again, fed massively adulterated things they can't eat in order to fatten them more quickly. We don't really know exactly what that does to the meat, but it seems to make it less healthy to eat, and it has some rather strange properties compared to more normal meats.

Also, there is the energy crisis argument. That's the one I generally lean toward - essentially, meat requires 27 times the energy to produce an equal amount of nutrition than plant foods do. As the third world lifts itself out of poverty, they are demanding more meat in their diet, which ratchets up the energy demands in the food sector.

This energy is created with a blend of geographical surface area for sunlight and oil. People are driving their cars out and putting houses with big pointless yards on our prime farmland, and we're running short on oil production.

That much can be seen by fuel prices - though it's going to get a LOT worse, and it's unlikely to get any better! Most people are unaware that most of the fertilizers that we use, and other huge parts of our farming process, are made from petroleum though. We're eating our oil and driving our food.

Without some changes, we are going to lose the ability to feed everyone steak without creating some big wars first. We might be able to ease off on that if we can convince people that eating bugs is trendy and cool, and find some different ways to produce produce in quantity.

Certainly most people in America eat more meat than they need to, along with far too much sugar and salt. Always interesting watching people reflexively sprinkle salt on a dish, then complain that it's too salty, especially when a lot of the ingredients had lots of salt in it to start with. Then they brag about their food being "Low-Fat" - which is code for "We replaced the fat with sugar".

[JusticeZero]

My main health habit was to give my car away, years ago. Every time I have to use a car for a few days, my health goes downhill fast.

My main problem is amount cooked. I have a hard time forcing myself to throw half or more of the food I cooked into the garbage, and I try hard not to make too much. However, recipes are typically made around creating a 4 serving meal, with larger portions than before, and all the ingredients in the 4 portion dish read "Use the smallest can you can buy of this, good, now use one of a vegetable you are lucky to find sold in a bundle of less than a dozen.." Cut it down to two servings and i'm using half-cans, third-cans, half-fruits, and so on.

[Ashley]

I drink a lot of water but I think going vegan is not right... Humans always were flesh eaters, our stomachs differ much from herbivores. But eating healthy food is very important.

[Groinstrike]

Moderation with any food is the key.

Everthing in moderation, even moderation.