The Importance of Living a Healthy Lifestyle

The importance of living a healthy lifestyle for maintaining general good health and preventing chronic diseases has been well established. A healthy lifestyle is quite simple to achieve – one does not need to take special supplements or do anything “crazy” to adopt a healthy lifestyle. I will say that a certain amount of independent thinking is required to separate truth from fiction in most modern health advice currently being delivered.

The most important thing you can do is eat well. Avoid toxins in your food as much as possible and consume plenty of fresh fruit, veggies and whole grains; exercise moderately a few times per week; avoid smoking, including secondhand smoke; and avoid gaining too much weight (which should come naturally if you eat right and exercise). Ideally, you should also avoid environmental toxins as much as you can.

If you are already taking steps to improve your lifestyle, I cannot recommend Nourishing Traditions enough – a 700 page health manual and cookbook that blasts most health advice and diets out there. It’s a great dose of common sense! It will not only show you what to eat, but HOW to prepare it in a way that you benefit from all the available nutrients. It is the only cookbook I recommend nowadays as it has totally transformed my concept of what is healthy and what is not. Always learning….I have made numerous changes to our lives since reading the book, even though many would consider our healthy lifestyle quite an accomplishment already. Seriously, get the book, it will transform you.

Our modern lifestyle is very convenient – but it is also extremely unhealthy. Most of us eat too many processed foods and too few fruit and veggies; we rarely exercise; and when we develop chronic conditions such as diabetes, we rely on conventional medications to make us feel better – but these medications often have devastating side effects. Instead of accepting the importance of living a healthy lifestyle for us and for future generations, we continue with our bad habits – then take potent, toxic medication to treat our inevitable symptoms.

Of course, not all aspects of living a healthy lifestyle are in our control. We are going to be exposed to certain environmental toxins whether we like it or not. But many of these factors are absolutely in our control. Whenever we can, we should be responsible and make the right choices.

Living a healthy lifestyle, free as much as possible of toxins (in our environment and in our food) and of stress, is important to us – but it’s also important for future generations. The results of years of living an unhealthy lifestyle are obvious. We are currently faced with a sharp increase in chronic illnesses such as diabetes and heart disease, with an obesity rate so high it’s considered an epidemic, and with growing rates of infertility. The number of children diagnosed with autism, Asperger’s syndrome or ADHD is alarmingly high. Something is very wrong with our lifestyle – yet we are doing very little as a society to change it.

Adopting a healthy lifestyle is not just for us – although it would certainly make us feel much better – it’s also for future generations.

Scientists are also now discovering the impact nutrition has on our DNA! Healthy trees bear healthy fruit. A continued lifestyle of sickness will have a lasting effect on future generations and on our planet.This is major stuff to consider, especially if we look ahead at the human race 100 years from now. Read about the scientific discoveries Weston A Price made while he analyzed healthy societies from around the globe.

We should also remember that our children carefully watch us and emulate us. If they see us act responsibly now, they will likely adopt a similar approach of taking care of themselves and of the planet when they become adults.

We must each ask ourselves if we are modeling the importance of living a healthy lifestyle to our children. If we do not show them how to care for themselves, they will likely turn to the food corporations instead.How will they know the difference between real food, “food like substances” and the growing concern over who has control of our food supply if we do not lead the way. Sadly, when parents to not take the lead in modeling a healthy lifestyle, poor habits are often repeated from generation to generation resulting in chronic health conditions later in life.

I suggest the following ways to help model a positive approach to food:

• Young children especially learn about the world through imitation. How do you feel each day as you prepare your family’s meals? Are you hurried, frustrated, and disconnected? We can show our children that eating healthy is important by the way we approach our meal times. If we are happy and engaged in making a meal, and then take pleasure in eating together we affirm that food is more than something to fill the hole but is a necessary part of a happy and healthy family life. In short, your children will imitate what they see so make sure you are placing a positive value around the activities involving healthy living.

• Involve your children in meal preparation, even once or twice a week. By discussing how good certain foods taste and by letting them help you cook you will show that it’s important to take the time to prepare a healthy meal instead of throwing something in the microwave. You never know, you may inspire a future chef!

• Make a plan to eat together as often as possible. By each decision you make to eat together, you are casting a value judgment on the importance of  healthy living and that it involves more than just eating a few more vegetables.

We can and should make an effort to change our habits and accept the importance of living a healthy lifestyle. If society won’t make changes, then we as individuals need to make them. After all, if we leave our health to someone else guess what they have planned for you? Not much.

Tagged as: Healthy Lifestyle