10 Healthy Living Facts to Help you Improve your Life.

During my training as an energy healer, we covered nutrition and how processed food affects your health and energy levels. This post will cover a little about nutrition, straightforward ways to move more during the lockdown, and help your physical body. We will also cover ways to help your mind and spirit.

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Healthy Eating,

Most of us know sugary and processed foods are not the best choices for a healthy diet. Processed foods are any that have added ingredients. Try to eat at least 80% of fresh food.

Vegetables are packed with the nutrients our body needs; they should be a major part of your healthy diet. Try experimenting with different recipes, finding ones you like, and use them in your lunches and dinners.
Eating proper meals and healthy snacks. Snacking all day makes us think we are not eating much, but we miss out on essential nutrients and eat wasted calories. Eating healthy fats and proteins in complete meals helps to fill us up. If you need a snack, the following are more nutritional and keep you fuller longer, hardboiled egg, a portion of cheese, avocado, apple or other fruit, nuts, and red pepper with guacamole, cucumber slices with hummus, dried unsweetened coconut, and olives.
What we drink, there is no nutritional benefit to alcohol, fizzy drinks, or fruit squashes. The caffeine acts as a diuretic, we, therefore, need to drink more fluids to replace those lost through drinking drinks high in caffeine. Opting for green tea, herbal tea, or black coffee (keeping our coffee intake to no more than two cups a day, preferably cutting it out altogether). The best fluid to drink is pure plain water, there are no calories or additives to worry about. Drinking a glass of water before every meal will make you feel less hungry, and you will be drinking three glasses a day.

Exercise

We all know exercise is good for our bodies, however, it is so easy to sit and watch telly with a snack instead.

1.Walk More

Regular movement is key to so many health benefits. Aim for at least 10,000steps a day. Start easy, with these smallways to walk more and be healthier!

Decide to only take the stairs if you are walking less than six floors.
Park further away from supermarket entrance when you go shopping.
Walk during your work breaks.
Plan a walking meeting, or take your phone call while you walk.
Get up ten minutes earlier in the morning and take a short brisk walk before the chaos of the day.
Walk your kids to or from school, walk to work if it is close.
Take a family walk with the kids after dinner.
Schedule a once a week walk with a friend.

2. Short Workouts

Long workouts are not necessary to be healthy. For most of us, trying to fit in more than 20 minutes is a challenge. We can try running on the spot or doing some squats while waiting for the kettle to boil or any other time we have a spare five minutes. We can do several basic exercises at home, squats, lunges, push-ups, tricep dips, plank, wall sits, burpees, and mountain climbers, these all get our muscles working again. There is lots of information on how to do these on the internet if you have never done them. You may want to get a professional to show you, though. Build on this slowly over time, if we have been sedentary for a while, it will take several weeks to get our bodies moving again.

Healthy Mind

This is a balanced mental and emotional state. Where you are productive, feel confident, face your fears, and learn from your mistakes. To keep our minds healthy, we need to exercise and eat healthy as I have already discussed above and get enough sleep and stay mentally active. Your brain is similar to a muscle and needs to be used like any other muscle in your body.

Sleep, getting seven to eight hours of sound sleep, should be our aim. Tracking your sleep with a Fitbit or similar helps you see how well you are sleeping. In a deep sleep is where tissue growth and repair take place. If we are not getting enough deep sleep, we will not feel as refreshed in the morning. Download my tips for a Good Nights Sleep.
Mental Activity. Things to keep your brain healthy include mental activity, crossword puzzles, sudoku, reading, playing cards, and doing jigsaw puzzles. These all help train your brain. There are electronic games for brain training available too. Watching television does nothing to stimulate the brain as it is a passive activity.
Stress has a significant impact on our minds and can contribute to memory loss. Therefore it is important to try to reduce your stress levels. Exercise, relaxation, good sleep, many of the things already mentioned will help reduce stress. Social interaction also helps our stress levels look for ways to connect with loved ones, friends, and others, especially if you live alone. Brain atrophy has been linked to solitary confinement, making the recent periods of lockdown hard for many. Therefore, it is important to stay socially active via the many online means during this time until we can meet face to face again.

Healthy Spirit

The spiritual part of our wellness is the most personal and overlooked piece of living a healthy life. We all would like to live with meaning and purpose, when this is met, we have harmony in our life. Here are some tips for spiritual wellness.

Your spiritual core. By working with a group or therapist exploring your spiritual centre, you will ask yourself deep questions about who you are and your meaning. You may meditate on Who am I? What is my purpose? What do I value most?. Doing this will help you think deeply about yourself and help you achieve fulfilment in your life, possibly clearing energy blocks that are holding you back.
Meditation this is a healthy spiritual practise, where you connect to yourself. Meditation has many benefits for your health. Start slowly, if you are not used to the practice start with clearing your mind of thoughts and focusing on your breath for 3 to 5 minutes each morning before you get up and evening before you go to sleep. Once you have mastered 5 minutes increase to 10, gradually increase by 5 minutes until you can do 20 minutes.

Benefits:- (for more information on these benefits read my post “About Meditation and the Benefits)