You exercise regularly, eat a healthy diet and typically get enough sleep. Good for you! But as we age, our bodies and minds need more attention. Nutrition and lifestyle experts suggest seven easy steps to maintaining a healthier you.
1. Drink More Water – Water is essential to health because it removes waste, and carries nutrients and oxygen around the body. But we lose water daily through urination, perspiration, and just plain breathing, so do drink at least eight glasses daily.
2. Eat the Rainbow – Fruits and vegetables contain a load of needed vitamins and minerals. Satisfy your eyes, your palate and your nutritional needs by eating a colorful variety of nutritious fruits and veggies.
3. Eat Intact Grains – They contain all the essential parts of the grain seed, providing a richer nutritional profile of antioxidants, vitamins, and minerals than refined grains. Choose steel cut oats, barley, brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat, and millet rather than white rice, white flour, and white pasta.
4. Breathe Deeply – Oxygen is vital, but most of us aren’t breathing properly. We take shallow breaths and breathe to 1/3 of our lung capacity. A full breath is one where your lungs are filled, your abdomen expands, and there’s minimum shoulder movement.
5. Purge Negative People – Feeling good about ourselves is necessary for maximum health. Ditch the people in your life who are constantly critical and/or share negative feelings and fill your life with positive energy.
6. Live Purposefully – Among the shared characteristics of people who live the longest is living a life of purpose – whatever that means to you. Keep learning. Share knowledge. Help others. Volunteer to work for a charitable organization.
7. Get Regular Check-Ups – Some diseases don’t show up as symptoms until it is too late. Get regular blood tests for blood sugar, vitamins, and minerals, and urine tests. Mammograms and PAP smears should be done at the recommended intervals.
