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Healthy Lifestyle Tips

WHAT IS A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE?

A healthy lifestyle is one which helps to

keep and improve your health and well-
being. There are many di!erent things
that you can do to live a healthy lifestyle,
such as eating healthy, being physically
active, maintaining a healthy weigh, and
managing your stress. However, a healthy
lifestyle isn’t just about healthy eating
and exercise, it also about taking care of
the “whole you” – your physical, mental,
emotional, and spiritual well-being. And,
that means taking care of you from the
inside out.

HOW TO LIVE A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE

Even though there are many common

ways to live a healthy lifestyle, actually
doing it looks di!erent for everyone, and
means something di!erent from one
person to the next. Regardless of what
you choose to do, living a healthy lifestyle
is a key component to disease
prevention, wellness, and longevity.

Being mindful of your diet, physical

activity and stress levels allows you to
e!ectively balance all aspects of your life
and the “whole you”. Below are 10
important things you can do to live a
healthy lifestyle:

Drink more water.

Most of us don’t
drink enough water
every day. Water is
essential for our
body to function.
Did you know that
over 60% of our
body is made up of water? Water is needed to
carry out 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. Since food intake contributes
about 20% of our "uid intake, that means we
need to drink about 8-10 glasses a day to stay
hydrated.

One way to tell if you’re hydrated — your urine

should be colorless or slightly yellow. If it’s
not, you’re not getting enough water! Other
signs include: Dry lips, dry mouth, and little
urination.

Get enough sleep. Lack of sleep may lead to

a host of health problems including obesity,
diabetes, and even heart disease. Continued
lack of sleep can a!ect your immune system
and make you less able to fend o! colds and
the "u. So, it’s important go get a good night’s
sleep.

You can do things to help you sleep better at

night. You can avoid stimulants such as
ca!eine and nicotine close to bedtime. Also,
while alcohol is well-known to help you fall
asleep faster, too much close to bedtime can
disrupt sleep in the second half of the night as
the body begins to process the alcohol.

Exercise can also help you sleep better at

night. As little as 10 minutes of aerobic
exercise, such as walking or cycling, can
drastically improve nighttime sleep quality but
please avoid strenuous workouts close to
bedtime.

Meditate often.
Meditation quietens
your mind and
calms your soul. It
can also help you
deal with and
manage the stress
in your life. If you
don’t know how to meditate, you can learn
how to meditate in 5 simple steps.

Exercise regularly. If you can exercise don’t

just a few times a week, but every day.
Movement is key to a healthy life. Exercising
daily can improve your health in many ways. It
can help increase your life span, lower your
risk of diseases, help you develop higher bone
density, and lose weight.

One simple thing you can do is, especially for

close distances, choose walking over riding,
driving or taking transportation. You can climb
the stairs instead of taking the elevator. You
can pick exercises that are easy to do at home
or outside that you enjoy. When you enjoy the
physically activities you choose for yourself,
most likely you’ll enjoy them and naturally
want to do them. Exercise is about being
healthy and having fun at the same time. Also,
mixing up your exercises will keep them
interesting.

Eat more fruits and

vegetables. Fruits
contain lots of
vitamins and
minerals. As much
as possible, you
should consume
your vitamins and
minerals via your daily diet. Satisfy your palate
with these nutritious fruits: Watermelon,
Apricots, Avocado (yes, avocado is technically
a fruit!), Apple, Cantaloupe, Grapefruit, Kiwi,
Guava, Papaya, Strawberries.

Like fruits, vegetables are important for good

health. Experts suggest 5-9 servings of
fruits/vegetables a day, but unfortunately it
may be di#cult at times. However, when you
can, include foods like kidney beans, black
beans, asparagus, long beans, green beans,
and carrots. Think about your favorite
vegetables and how you can include more of
them in your diet every day, and pick bright-
colored foods. Fruits and vegetables with
bright colors are good for health because they
remove the things in our body that damage
our cells. So, get your $ll of fruits/vegetables
of di!erent colors: 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).

Cut down on processed food. Processed

foods are not good because (1) most
nutritional value is lost in the making of these
foods and (2) the added preservatives 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 its
raw form. In general, most food in
supermarkets are processed — the more
ingredients it has on the label (especially the
ones ending with ‘ite’ or ‘ate’), the more
processed they are. Watch out for those with
salt/sugar in the $rst 5 ingredients and go for
unprocessed food as much as possible.

Breathe deeply on purpose. Oxygen is a vital

source of life. You may know how to breathe,
but are you breathing properly? Most of us
don’t breathe properly — we take only shallow
breaths and breathe to 1/3 of our lung
capacity. A full breath is one where your lungs
are completely $lled, your abdomen expands,
and there’s minimum movement in your
shoulders. There are many bene$ts of deep
breathingwhich include a reduction in stress
and blood pressure, strengthening of
abdominal and intestinal muscles and relief of
general body aches and pains. Deep
breathing also helps with better blood "ow,
releasing toxins from the body, and aids
in getting a better night’s sleep.

Go for brown carbs vs. white carbs. White

carbsare re$ned grains like white rice, pasta,
white bread, crackers, noodles, tortillas,
wraps, anything with white "our and breading.
The nutrients have been removed in the
production process, leaving them rich in
calories but low in nutrients. They also cause
unhealthy spikes in our sugar levels. Go for
brown carbs (unre$ned complex carbs)
instead, like brown rice, whole grain, oats,
oatmeal (not the instant kind), and legumes.
These come with nutrients and vitamins intact.

Cut down on oily and sugary food, soda and

ca!eine. If possible, reduce your intake of fast
food, French fries, doughnuts, chips, wedges,
and deep-fried food. Not only are they very
fattening (1 tablespoon of oil is 120 calories),
deep fried food contains acrylamide, a
potential cancer-causing chemical. There are
better alternatives, such as grilled, steamed,
stir-fried, or even raw food.

Cutting down on sugary food is better for your

health as well. These are things such as candy
bars, pastries, chocolate, cookies, cakes, and
jelly donuts. Not only do they not $ll you up,
they cause you to want to eat more due to the
sugar rush. Go for healthy snacks instead like
fruits, salads, pure juices, and unprocessed
foods.

Drinks with ca!eine are diuretics, meaning

they speed up the rate of urine production.
This means they don’t hydrate you as well as
plain water can. Also, soda is unhealthy,
causes weight gain, and is an arti$cial
stimulant. Replace your soda with water or
vegetable juices instead. Learn more at 5
Reasons To Quit Soda (And How to Do It)

Stop smoking and/or avoid passive smoking.

Smoking can severely increase your risk of
lung cancer, kidney cancer, esophageal
cancer, heart attack, and more. Smoking “light”
cigarettes do not decrease health risks either.
If you do smoke, stop now and do it not only
for yourself but also your family and friends.

Second hand smoking (breathing in air from

smokers) can cause many of the same long-
term diseases as direct smoking. There is no
risk-free level of passive smoking; even brief
exposure can be harmful to your health. If
possible, stay away from smokers and avoid
cigarette smoke where you can.

PHYSICAL ACTIVITY

Coming soon.

NUTRITION

Foods that Fight Cancer

Healthy Recipes

HEART HEALTH

Eight Simple Steps to Improve Your Heart

Health

Exercise to Strengthen Your Heart

LIFESTYLE MANAGEMENT

Understanding the stress connection

c/o Coalition of Orange County Community

Health Centers
515 N. Cabrillo Park Drive
Suite 250
Santa Ana, CA 92701
(714) 352-5990, ext. 226

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