-By Favour C. Nrabulu
As a woman, it’s important to make smart lifestyle and health choices so you can live a healthy life and also be there for your loved ones for as long as possible.
Some natural phenomena like how long we will live are out of our control but there are things we can control to enable us to live fulfilled lives; amongst these are living a healthy lifestyle, that is why this topic is crucial. We will be looking at some ways to achieve good and vital health.
1. Try as much as possible to eat a healthy diet. As the saying goes; “You are what You eat”. Eat as close to a natural foods diet as you can. This means you should eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables and fewer processed foods. Avoid foods and beverages that are high in calories, sugar, salt, and fat. Healthy eating will help you maintain a proper weight and will not put too much pressure on your organs; this is important because being overweight can lead to a number of illnesses.
If you’re looking for healthy snacks to snack on, try some raw vegetables, such as celery, carrots, broccoli, cucumber and groundnut, garden egg and groundnut, dates, etc. A lot of our foods contain carbohydrates and starch so try to inculcate proteins like eggs, fish, beans and the likes into your diet. Vitamins are also important so if you’re not getting enough vitamins and nutrients in your diet, you might want to take supplements to replace the nutrients you’re lacking. Overall, make sure you’re maintaining good health. What we put into our bodies is what we will see outwardly so do your part and try to eat right and you’ll see your health improving drastically.
2. Exercise. Exercise can help keep your heart and the rest of your body healthy. You want to exercise at least 30 minutes a day, five days a week, if not every day. Aerobic exercises like walking, swimming, jogging, bicycling, dancing are good for women’s health in general and especially for your heart.
The goal is not to do exercises that will tire you out and discourage you into stopping entirely. Start with simple things like walking for some minutes a day, then gradually increase it as you progress. You can also do enjoyable exercises like swimming on the weekends, 30 minutes of dancing a day, playing volleyball on the weekends, etc. Find something physically exerting you enjoy doing and take it up as an exercise routine. The goal is to keep the heart as actively healthy as you can and chase sickness as far away from you as possible.
3. Regular Checkups. Go to the hospital for check-ups regularly. Early detection of a disease or sickness will lead to early treatment, thereby saving you a lot of future stress. Some illnesses do not show symptoms in early stages, this is where a regular check-up will be able to detect whatever is wrong that isn’t visible yet.
4. Reduce Stress. It’s easier said than done but as we’ve seen in our previous discussions (be sure to get our September and October editions if you haven’t done that yet and read up on how to balance out your life as a woman), it is indeed doable. Set a few minutes aside every day to do something enjoyable. You can read a few chapters of your favourite book/novel, listen to music or watch your favourite show for 30 minutes, after all, “all work and no play makes Jill a dull girl”.