Tips for Living a Long and Healthy Life
Follow these tips daily to live a long and healthy life:
- Wake up early in the morning and after finishing your daily routines, practice Pranayama or deep breathing technique for at least 5 minutes of Yoga and/or light to moderate exercise for at least 10-15 minutes. This will ensure that it fills your lungs up with enough oxygen to keep you fresh for an entire day.
- Dental hygiene is very vital to keep you free from most illnesses since the mouth is an easy breeding ground for disease-causing germs. Pay special attention to brushing and flossing your teeth. Remember to brush your teeth after every meal. Gargle with warm saline water as well.
- Breakfast should be your best meal of the day. We should pack it with enough nutrients to keep you going until dinner. Dinner should be the lightest meal of the day.
- Do not forget to include plenty of fiber in your diet-there are two types of fibers-insoluble and soluble. The insoluble fiber helps keep constipation at bay, while soluble fiber helps you to control your blood sugar.
- Avoid carbonated soft drinks and junk food-instead have natural fruit juices, tender coconut water, and home-cooked food.
- Replace white rice with brown rice and white bread with brown bread-this will help you control your blood sugar and also restrict intake of extra calories.
- Avoid red meat-replace it with fish, seafood, and occasionally white meat like chicken. Fishes like mackerel, salmon, sardines have added benefits as they contain omega fatty acids which benefit your cardiovascular system. Restrict eggs to one or two a day.
- Avoid fried food. It’s healthier to bake or roast your fish and meat rather than frying, as it helps to keep your “bad cholesterol” in check.
Include a lot of vegetables in your diet for the following benefits:
- Red group (Tomatoes, Beet): provides powerful natural antioxidants. Lycopene in tomatoes helps in protecting cell damage.
- Orange group (carrot): Beta carotene in carrots helps in maintaining healthy vision and a healthy immune system.
- Green group (Spinach, Celery, Lettuce, Parsley, etc): Provides natural vitamins and minerals.
- Stop smoking and restrict intake of alcohol. Wine taken in moderation can be beneficial to health, but excessive consumption of alcohol can adversely affect both mental and physical health.
- Have plenty of sex (with one partner only) sex is a natural stress buster and also stimulates the release of ‘feel-good’ hormones.
- Like any other organ, the brain also needs to be kept healthy to live a long and healthy life. Indulge in games where you need to use your Brain like chess or solving crossword puzzles.
- Exercise daily for one hour at least. Depending upon your age and fitness level, it could be anything from brisk walking, jogging, cycling, playing indoor/outdoor games, swimming to weight training, etc.
