Practical tips to lead a healthy life
Always consume a healthy diet To give your body all the essential nutrients, it is important that a healthy mix of various foods is consumed on a regular basis. This includes eating seasonal fruits and vegetables, legumes as well as grains. The recommended quantity of food that an adult should consume is at least 400grams of fruit and vegetables every day. By eating a healthy mix of foods, you can not only decrease the risk of malnutrition to your body but also bring down the risk of developing diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, cancer and heart attacks.
Cut down intake of Salt and Sugar If you consume more salt, it would mean that you are taking more quantities of sodium than what would be medically recommended. This can put you at risk of developing high blood pressure, and eventually increases the risk of heart diseases and heart attacks. In order to avoid such health risks, it is imperative that you cut down your salt intake to not more than 5 grams or about one teaspoon per day. Similarly, consuming a high quantity of sugar can also cause health risks such as weight gain and tooth decay. For adults and children alike, the ideal quantity of sugar that could be consumed in a day is about 50 grams or 12 teaspoons.
Stay away from consuming harmful fats When indulging in fats, it is important that you take proper care to consume only unsaturated fats and avoid all saturated fats and trans-fats in your diet. Moreover, your fat intake should also be less than 30% of your total energy intake, if you don’t want to deal with unwanted weight gain and the non communicable diseases that come along with it. For unsaturated fats, you could indulge in fish, nuts, avocado, and sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils.
Maintain an active lifestyle Maintaining an active lifestyle is also very important, which will go a long way in keeping you healthy and happy in life. This could involve taking regular morning and evening walks without fail and other physical activities that are done while completing daily office or household chores. The amount of physical activity undertaken by an adult should be around 150 minutes in a day, and the same should be continued without any break throughout the week. This will not only help in keeping your digestion working properly, but also tone up your body muscles to maintain strength in your body.
Keep regular tabs on your blood pressure Hypertension, which is also called high blood pressure, is a silent killer that kills more people every year than any other disease. If left unchecked, hypertension can lead to several ailments related to heart, brain and kidney. That is why, it is absolutely imperative that you keep a close eye on your BP levels by going for regular testing.
Take all vaccinations as advised Vaccination as we all know is definitely the most effective way to prevent a number of diseases. Today there are vaccines available to build your body’s own protection mechanism against diseases such as diphtheria, hepatitis B, cholera, influenza, mumps, measles, polio, rabies, rubella, pneumonia, tetanus, yellow fever, typhoid and even cervical cancer. From childhood to becoming an adult, there are a number of vaccinations available that must be taken as advised by the health authorities, which would help you in keeping a number of life threatening ailments at bay.
Always indulge in safe sex Indulging in safe sex is another precaution that you should never forget to take, if you want to keep life endangering ailments like HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases like gonorrhea and syphilis at bay. This is also crucial for maintaining a healthy sex life, and enjoying great relationships with the opposite sex.
Avoid being bitten by mosquitoes Mosquito bites are another area of concern, which should never be taken lightly at all. Since mosquitoes are known to spread some of the deadliest diseases like Dengue, Malaria, Chikungunya and Elephantiasis, using effective mosquito repellents and mosquito nets might not be a bad idea to avoid deadly mosquito bites. Though most houses have screens installed on doors and windows to keep mosquitoes away, but it becomes extremely crucial to use repellents while you are moving outdoors. You could also wear light colored, full-sleeve shirts and full length pants to protect your skin from mosquito bites. Outside your home, you should also ensure that there are no pools of stationary water, which are an ideal breeding ground for mosquitoes.
Consume only safe drinking water You should also avoid indulging in unsafe water drinking, because it can lead to several water-borne diseases like diarrhea, cholera, hepatitis A, polio and typhoid. Getting a water purification system installed at home is probably the best move that would protect you from a number of life threatening water borne ailments. When traveling outside, you can make sure that you only consume purified bottled water. And if that too is not available, then you should boil your water for at least a minute before consuming it. This will kill any harmful bacteria or virus that might be present in the water.