KULLIYYAH OF INFORMATION AND COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGY

CCFM 2052 FAMILY MANAGEMENT AND PARENTING

HEALTH REPORT


SEMESTER 1 (2013/2014)

Section: 49





MUHAMMAD TAUFIQ BIN ABDUL KADIR 1129803






Supervised by
Dr. Azizah Bt Mohd

Introduction
How healthy are you? Do you have a healthy diet? Do you exercise regularly? Do you drink at
least 8 glasses of water a day? Do you get enough sleep every day?
Our body is our temple, and we need to take care of it to have a healthy life. Do you know that
a shocking over 30% of Malaysians is either obese or overweight? Thats insane! Think of your
body as your physical shell to take you through life. If you repeatedly abuse it with unhealthy
food, your shell will wear out quickly. While you may look okay on the outside, on the inside,
your arteries are getting clogged up with cholesterol and arterial plaque. Thats not a pretty
sight!
Life is beautiful and you dont want to bog yourself down with unnecessary health problems.
Today, your vital organs (kidney, heart, lungs, gall bladder, liver, stomach, intestines, etc) may
be working well, but they may not be tomorrow. Dont take your good health today for granted.
Take proper care of your body.
Good health isnt just about healthy eating and exercise it also includes having a positive
mental health, healthy self-image and a healthy lifestyle. In this article, Ill share with you 45
tips to live a healthier life. Bookmark this article and save the tips, because they are going to be
vital in living a healthier life.

Drink more water. Most of us actually dont drink enough water every day. Water is
essential for our body to function Do you know over 60% of our body is made up of water?
Water is needed to carry out our body functions, remove waste and carry nutrients and oxygen
around our body. Since we lose water every day through urine, bowel movements, perspiration
and breathing, we need to replenish our water intake. Furthermore, drinking more water alone
actually aids in losing weight. A Health.com study carried out among overweight/obese people
showed that water drinkers lose 4.5 more pounds than a control group. The researchers believe
that its because drinking more water helps fill your stomach, making you less hungry and less
likely to overeat. I agree with that, and I have an added take that your body tries to retain
whatever water you take when you dont take in enough water, leading to increase in weight.
Whereas when you regularly drink water, your body knows that its going to get its supply of
fluids, so it doesnt try to retain more water.
The amount of water we need is dependent on various factors such as the humidity, our
physical activity, and your weight, but generally we need 2.7-3.7 litres of water intake! Since
food intake contributes about 20% of our fluid intake, that means we need to drink about 2.0-
3.0 litres of water, or about 8-10 glasses (now you know how the 8 glasses recommendation
came about!). One way to tell if youre hydrated your urine should be colourless or slightly
yellow. If its not, youre not getting enough water! Other signs include: Dry lips, dry mouth and
little urination.
Get enough sleep. When you dont rest well, you compensate by eating more. Usually
its junk food. Get enough rest and you dont need to snack to stay awake. Also, lack of sleep
causes premature aging, and you wouldnt want that. Sleep is how your body restores itself.
When you dont get enough, your memory, concentration, and appearance suffer. Sleep-
deprived people are more likely to get sick, have accidents, gain weight, or become depressed.
Aim for 8 hours a night, even if it means sometimes saying no to other things.
Exercise. Not just a few times a week, but every day. Movement is life. Research has
shown that exercising daily brings tremendous benefits to our health, including increase of life
span, lowering of risk of diseases, higher bone density and weight loss. Increase activity in your
life. Choose walking over transport for close distances. Climb the stairs instead of taking the lift.
Join some aerobics classes. Take up a sport of your liking. When you enjoy the sports, youll
naturally want to do them. Exercise isnt about suffering and pushing you; its about being
healthy and having fun at the same time. Adding variation in your exercises will keep them
interesting. Work out different parts of your body. Do not just do cardio exercises (such as
jogging). Give your full body a proper work out. The easiest way is to engage in sports, since
they work out different muscle groups. Popular sports include basketball, football, swimming,
tennis, squash, badminton, Frisbee, and more.
Eat more fruits. Fruits are a plethora of vitamins and minerals. Do you know that
oranges offer more health benefits than Vitamin C pills? Taking in synthetic supplements are
not the same as consuming the foods direct from nature. Fill your palate with these 10 most
nutritious fruits: Watermelon, Apricots, Avocado, Apple, Cantaloupe, Grapefruit, Kiwi, Guava,
Papaya, Strawberries. Eat more vegetables. Like fruits, vegetables are important for the well
being of our health. Experts suggest that we should have 5-9 servings of fruits/vegetables, and
unfortunately most people dont even have at least 5 servings! Some of my favourite
vegetables include: Kidney beans, black beans, asparagus, long beans, French beans, sprouts,
button mushrooms and carrots. What are your favourite vegetables and how can you include
more of them in your diet today?
Pick bright colour foods. Fruits and vegetables with bright colours are usually high in
anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are good for health because they remove free radicals in our body
that damage our cells. So get your fill of fruits/vegetables of different colours: White (Bananas,
Mushroom), Yellow (Pineapples, Mango), Orange (Orange, Papaya), Red (Apple, Strawberries,
Tomatoes, Watermelon), Green (Guava, Avocados, Cucumber, Lettuce, Celery), Purple/Blue
(Blackberries, Eggplant, Prunes). Heres a full list under the colour wheel.
Cut down on processed food. Processed foods are not good because first most
nutritional value is lost and second the preservatives added are bad for our health. Many
processed foods contain a high amount of salt content, which leads to higher blood pressure
and heart disease. Processed foods are anything that is not in their raw form. In general, most
of the food in supermarket are processed the more the ingredients on the label (especially
the ones ending with ite or ate), the more processed they are. Watch out for those with
salt/sugar as the first 5 ingredients and go for natural foods as much as possible.
Purge negative people from your life. Positive mental health is an important part of a
healthy life. You dont need toxic people in your life. If you feel that a friend is overly critical or
negative, let him/her go. Purge negativity from yourself. You dont need negativity from
yourself either. Listen in on the thoughts that come up in your mind and get rid of the negative
thoughts you hear. A lot of eating happens because one feels unhappy, so by staying in a
positive, up state by yourself, you cut out that unhealthy dependence on food to be happy.
Journal out unhappy thoughts. One great way to purge negativity from within is to do brain
dumping exercises whenever you feel frustrated. This is something I do with my 1-1 clients as
well, where I ask them to journal out their deepest thoughts so we can address them. Dont
keep these thoughts pent up inside of you its not healthy.


Breathe deeply. Oxygen is a vital source of life. You may know how to breathe, but are
you breathing properly? Most of us dont breathe properly we take only shallow breathes and
breathe to 1/3 of our lung capacity. Athletes are coached proper breathing techniques to get
their best performance. A full breath is one where your lungs are completely filled, your
abdomen expands and theres minimum movement in your shoulders.
Say no to oily food. Reduce your intake of fast food, fries, doughnuts, chips, wedges,
and foods that have been deep fried. Not only are they very fattening (1 tablespoon of oil is 120
calories), deep fried food contains acryl amide, a potential cancer-causing chemical. According
to a BBC report, an ordinary bag of crisps may contain up to 500 times more of the substance
than the top level allowed in drinking water by the World Health Organisation (WHO). I
personally find that when I consume oily foods, I feel sluggish. There are better alternatives,
such as grilled, steamed, stir-fried or even raw food.
Go organic. Organic foods are foods produced without synthetic inputs such as
pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not
processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives. The organic
movement is slowly catching on, with more supermarkets, especially in Malaysia, offering
organic options. Organic food tends to cost more, but hey would you rather save some money
and feed your body with pesticides or pay a few extra dollars for a cleaner, healthier body?
Prepare your meals. Lately Im beginning to appreciate the value of preparing my own
meals. When you prepare your meals, you control what goes into them. No more being in a
dilemma between eating healthy and choosing between the sub-optimal food choices. Get
some quality kitchen equipment these will be your best investments ever. My mother bought
a blender 3 years ago and its been such a breeze making my own fruit juices!
Bring a water bottle when you go out. That way, you can replenish your fluids
whenever you want to. It saves you money as well and you dont need to subject yourself to
poor alternatives like soda, which increases your fluid outtake instead.
Stop smoking. It has been extensively proven that smoking is detrimental to health,
severely increasing the risk of lung cancer, kidney cancer, oesophageal cancer (of our gullet),
heart attack, and more. Smoking light cigarettes does not decrease health risks. Bottom line
if youre a smoker, quit for better health of not just yourself, but also your family and friends. If
you dont smoke, stay that way and dont start. Avoid passive smoking. Second hand smoking
(breathing in air from smokers) causes many of the same long-term diseases as direct smoking.
Get away from smokers and avoid cigarette smoke where you can.

Get out more often. If you have a regular 9-5 job, chances are you spend most of your
times holed up in the office and not a lot of time going out and having fun. During weekends,
youre probably busy with work or running errands. Make it a point to go out with friends at
least once a week. Get some sunlight. Go out and have a change in environment. Itll be great
for your body and your soul.
Feel Comfortable With Yourself. This is one of the most important ways to live a
healthy life. Learn to love your body and who you have become. You are attractive in your own
right and should feel comfortable being yourself. Dont let others put you down because
everyone sees things differently and what someone one may consider garbage, another may
consider it a treasure. Many people prefer their partner to feel attractive and comfortable with
themselves rather than worrying about what other people think. So be yourself and be happy
that you are who you are! If you are unhappy with the person you have become and cannot
feel comfortable with yourself, work on changing the things you think you can improve on.
Enjoy What Life Has to Offer. Last but not least is to have fun. Life is too short to
constantly be worrying about things and to think about what could have been. Live life to the
max and have as much fun as you can. Enjoy what you do and spend time with the people you
love and care about. Dont dwell on what happened in the past, move on and look forward to
what the future has to offer.
Living a healthy lifestyle takes a combination of the above and a little effort. However,
the effort you put in will be greatly rewarded. Living healthily doesnt have to be taxing but it
does take some effort, as do most things in life.