5 Amazing Ways to Improve Your Health Today
Have you been interested in improving your health lately? It can become an overwhelming goal to achieve with what feels like information overload at times. These 5 Amazing Ways to Improve Your Health are simple and easy to apply to your lifestyle. This tips make achieving improved health attainable for any one.
5 Amazing Ways to Improve Your Health
- Consume adequate vitamin D
- Increase your water intake
- Increase your exercise
- Prepare for success in your diet
- Make every meal count
Let us go into each one of these tips in more detail with you now!
Get your Vitamin D
Most of us don’t realize we are not getting in enough vitamin D3. In fact, it is estimated that over 1 billion people worldwide are deficient in Vitamin D3.1 Common side effects of low vitamin D levels include fatigue, back pain, hair loss and it is even linked to certain cancers when levels are consistently low.2 To find out if you are low in Vitamin D3 you can request this test at your doctor’s, as it is not a routine lab. If levels are below 30 ng/ml of serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D then starting a Vitamin D3 supplement can help to increase vitamin D3 levels. Vitamin D3 food sources can also be found in wild caught salmon, herring, sardines, mushrooms and fortified milk substitutes, including soy milk.
Carry a water bottle with you
Getting in enough water is one of the most simple yet vitally important things you can do for your health. Did you know that your body is made up of almost 60% water? Getting in enough water ensures that our organs are functioning at their peak performance. Without enough water we wouldn’t be able to digest our food properly, have protection for our joints or be able to make hormones for our body to function.3 Most women should aim for 2.2 liters per day, and 3 liters for most men. This can be achieved through a combination of water and food, and one of the best reminders to get in enough water is to carry a water bottle with you!
Aim for 30 minutes of exercise
Whatever exercise you enjoy doing, do it! One of the easiest forms of exercise is walking, as this can be easily added to your day. The American Heart Association recommends incorporating 150 minutes of moderate intensity exercise a week.4 It can seem daunting to add more to our list of to-do’s but if we start small we can easily incorporate a ten minute walk to our lunch break, an evening stroll with our furry friend or an extra lap around the grocery store. Exercise is one of the frontrunners of good health because it not only benefits our bodies (cardiovascular system,etc.) but has the added benefit of boosting our mood by increasing our “feel good hormones,” also called endorphins.
Meal Prep
One of the biggest saboteurs to our diet is not planning ahead. How often have you made an unhealthy food choice because you were hungry and had no healthy food options around? This can be easily fixed! By setting some time aside each week to plan ahead for the next week of meals and snacks we can eliminate the temptation to buy fast food or that afternoon candy bar that can send us on a tailspin of unhealthy food choices. Plan on setting aside time each week to choose meals and healthy snacks to have on hand,then shop and prep your meals/snacks and keep the snacks easily accessible to prevent noshing on unhealthy foods.
Eat Regular Meals
Do you regularly skip breakfast? Lunch? Did you know that if you skip meals regularly then you are more likely to make unhealthy meal choices for your next meal? Our bodies are hard-wired to crave sugar and fat when we are running on empty. To keep these cravings at bay, aim to include three meals and 1-2 snacks daily. By eating healthy foods at regular intervals we can keep cravings under control and prevent overeating later in the day. Along with regular eating, try stopping when you’re 80% full instead of 100% which will help control urges to overeat.
We hope these 5 Ways to Improve Your Health help you in making the adjustments needed in your own lifestyle to becoming the healthiest YOU!
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1 Vitamin D Deficiency - StatPearls - NCBI Bookshelf (nih.gov)
2 Vitamin D: Benefits, deficiency, sources, and dosage (medicalnewstoday.com)