Leading a healthier lifestyle doesn’t always require drastic changes to your diet or workout routine. Making a few minor adjustments can lead to significant results in a short timeframe.
Incorporating these changes into your life can improve your health and lifestyle.
Living Healthier – 5 Simple Changes
Eat more whole foods
Whole foods should make up the vast majority of your overall diet. Aim for at least 80% of the foods you consume to come from unprocessed, whole food sources such as lean meats, vegetables, eggs, and whole grains.
According to research, people with the highest life expectancies base their diets on fresh, unprocessed foods. Whole foods are also more filling and satisfying than processed foods.
Drink more water
The National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM) recommends that sedentary women drink 2.2 liters of water per day and sedentary men drink 3.0 liters of water per day. However, active individuals should aim to drink one ounce of water per pound of body weight or more.
Water is not only crucial for survival, but it also helps us digest our food and makes the body feel more satiated. Drinking a glass of water before eating a meal will help prevent overeating and binging while dieting.
Increase physical activity
It is essential to stay active and participate in physical activity most days. On days when you are not working out at the gym, you can still stay active by doing things like stretching and moderate cardio.
Cultures that stay in motion tend to live longer, healthier lives as opposed to cultures with sedentary lifestyles. Resistance training is one of the best forms of physical activity because it helps increase muscle mass. The higher muscle-to-fat ratio will improve metabolism and allow you to consume more calories.
Sleep more
Sleeping is an essential part of muscle growth and recovery. The body repairs and builds muscle tissue during rest periods, so getting enough sleep every night is necessary.
Strive for seven to eight hours of sleep per night.
Set goals
Setting goals is essential to ensure they are achievable, realistic, and measurable. Often, people make their goals too general or unrealistic, leading to disappointment and frustration. An excellent example of an attainable, practical, and measurable goal would be increasing your deadlift by 50 pounds in a year or losing 10 pounds in 3 months.
Setting goals such as eating healthier or working out more provides no set variables and no way of measuring success. Only by creating specific and measurable goals can you fully succeed in achieving the desired results.
Healthier Live
Creating a plan of action is the best way to reach goals. However, large changes are not always necessary for optimum success. We can see significant results in the end by implementing small changes.
The New Year is a time to focus on making positive changes, one day at a time. This approach is more sustainable and leads to more desirable outcomes.
