A healthy lifestyle is not a New Years resolution, it is a discipline.

A healthy lifestyle from the beginning will decide what you will be like in your middle age and beyond. However, it won’t happen unless you make the right decisions. Exercise, eat healthy, get a good night’s sleep, and you’ll be on your way to success. After age 40, most people have reached biological adulthood, which is a nicer way of saying that they have boarded the slow train to their inevitable mortality. You will begin to notice the slow and gradual decline in your response to bodily activities and the resulting resistance in your bodily functions.

Eating unhealthy processed foods, an irregular sleeping pattern, and inactivity create a low-level inflammatory response in your body. This inflammation gradually increases over time, directly contributing to the germination of all the major diseases that affect humanity: obesity, diabetes, heart disease, fatty liver disease, just to name a few.

The first and foremost thing to focus on is nutrition – what you eat. Add plenty of green leafy vegetables, whole grains, organic poultry, dairy products, and fruits to your daily diet. Keep your body hydrated. Drink plenty of water and raw fruit juice, as fluids help keep your body temperature down and remove toxins through perspiration (sweat) and excretion (urine). Maintain a balanced ratio of carbohydrates, protein, good fats, and minerals. These small changes to your diet will contribute to your overall well-being. Slowly cut down on unhealthy fats from your diet and try to stop consuming them altogether. Unhealthy fats include: dark chicken meat, poultry skin, fatty cuts of pork, beef, and lamb, and high-fat dairy includes whole milk, butter, and cheese. Common ways to reduce unhealthy fats are listed below:

• Instead of frying the meat, bake / grill / broil. Be sure to remove the skin before cooking chicken or turkey.

• Instead of butter and cheese on bread, use low-fat spreads or tomato slices to enhance the flavor.

• Instead of scrambled eggs, eat boiled / soft-boiled eggs. Garnish with a pinch of salt and black pepper for the best flavor.

• Instead of using sugar in pastries and desserts, use organic honey to satisfy your sweet heart and stay healthy.

When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, the importance of sleep is worth discussing. Get enough sleep, because internal healing and tissue repair happens only when you sleep. Sleep deficiency contributes to an increased risk of cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, brain damage, etc. Lack of sleep reduces your body’s metabolic rate, which is linked to weight gain. Studies show that sleep-deprived people have higher levels of ghrelin, the hormone that stimulates appetite, and lower levels of leptin, the hormone that suppresses appetite. Therefore, people who sleep well tend to eat fewer calories.

Last, but definitely not least, is the importance of regular exercise when it comes to a healthy and active lifestyle. Regardless of your age group, it is advisable and prudent to include a minimum of 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise / physical activity, such as running, brisk walking on most if not every day of the week. As human beings, we spend too much time in our synthetic environment, disconnected from the outside world. This disconnect poses a serious threat to our overall health and well-being. Think of your body as a complex machine, housing equally complex parts (bones) and subsystems (organs) within it. If you leave it idle, parts and subsystems will lose their ability to move and eventually rust. Some tips for incorporating exercise into your daily routine:

• Prioritize physical activity

• Make it fun

• Get a partner

• Keep a record of the results

• Set milestones

All of these factors together will bring about noticeable changes in your lifestyle and well-being. Some changes will happen quickly, others will be gradual. But overall, you will feel the positive change in your health – mind, body, and soul.

Cheers for a healthy lifestyle!