Everything we do today affects us in some way, shape, or form in the future. I think we learned that when we discovered how bad smoking is for us, or when we discovered what carcinogens are, but what about our other choices?
We choose to drink too much alcohol, eat too much sugar, and fill our grocery cart with processed junk. We also choose to sit at a desk all day, then sit in a car, and sit on our couch, and we avoid movement. What price will we pay for not exercising or for making poor food choices?
Think about this for a second, we are animals who are made to move and feed off the land. Yet we still drink soda and participate in activities that cause harm to our bodies for enjoyment. The worst part is that we DON’T EVER STOP TO THINK ABOUT THE FUTURE.
One day these choices will catch up to us- saving money to buy the big bag of chips because they are on sale (this is just one simple example) that will cost you in the long run. What will that cost be? Your Health.
This is the cost of all our medical bills, pain, immobility, and independence that could be a result of our current poor choices. In case you didn’t know a trip to the doctor is EXPENSIVE and not having a good quality of life is depressing, to say the least. Who doesn’t want to be able to play with the grandkids (or great-grandkids) or be able to take care of themselves?
The great news is that you CAN CHANGE this outcome!! You have CONTROL over your current habits and research shows by following a few guidelines you can lead a much healthier lifestyle- leading to a better quality of life. Here are the simple steps to being more healthy:
- Maintain a healthy diet- this means eating as little processed foods as possible and focusing mostly on whole foods (think the perimeter of the grocery store)
- Maintain consistent physical activity- this means working out at least 3x per week and trying to attain a goal of 10,000 steps per day (at least 8,000 for those who feel that’s too much)
- Reduce sugar intake! Men shouldn’t consume more than about 36g per day and women should limit it to around 25g per day according to the American Heart Association.
- Not smoking
- Moderate Alcohol intake- this means limiting your intake to an average of ONE beverage per day!! (I don’t mean one of your pours of wine or vodka- we mean the actual serving size)
The hard part is making sure you actually stick to these basic guidelines. Our society is full of bad influences from the people we hang around to the commercials we watch, so living a healthy lifestyle when we are full of influences and busy schedules can be difficult to do on your own. We recommend that you find an accountability buddy and ask them to help keep you accountable.
If you can’t find one- we are here to help! It is our goal to empower YOU to be able to set the habits in place to do this on your own!! All you have to do is get started by booking a Free Intro HERE!
Check out this awesome article from Harvard University HERE.