All of us know that being healthy is the most important point in our life. However, why are we so
careless and negligent on our body? How can we be so ignorant and unkind to our body?
I have 5 females close to me, 3 of my sisters, my 67 year old mother and my 13 year old niece. I can proudly announce that they have started caring their own body and health after so many years of my relentless nagging. I am very happy for them and hope that they will continue their efforts on being healthy.
I am fit and healthy. I do not take my body as granted. I exercise regularly and put my efforts on keeping a healthy life style as I respect my body and mind. I believe healthy body and mind are essential conditions to happiness in life. I feel very healthy and fit and so, I would like to share my thoughts and attitudes on having a fitter and healthier life and hope I am able to assist anyone who is willing to be healthy and happy.
1. Love your own body; Love and cherish your own body. Your body came here with you and stay with you until you leave. Isn’t it enough reason to love and take care of your own body? This is the first step to live fit and healthy. If you don’t love and feel comfortable with your body, it is time to find the reasons and work on them. If you don’t love and nurture your body, your life cannot be happy as your health will be affected by neglected body conditions sooner or later. Please remember when you love and look after your body, your body will be fit and healthy and it will make your life happier.
2. Know about your body; One of my favourite Chinese proverbs is “You need to know about your enemy first to win the battle”. If you want to make yourself fit and healthy, you need to know your body first. Be brave and measure yourself. It can be stressful (I hate it, too) but when you know how heavy you are, how much body fat you need to lose, you can set an actual goal/plan instead of a dream goal which unlikely achieved. Find out your BMI (Body Mass Index). BMI is based on your weight and height and is an easy way to find out whether your weight is in the healthy range. Although there is no correct ideal weight for your height, the BMI gives you a good idea as to your healthy weight range. Hereunder is the formula to get the BMI and your weight categories based on the BMI.
careless and negligent on our body? How can we be so ignorant and unkind to our body?
I have 5 females close to me, 3 of my sisters, my 67 year old mother and my 13 year old niece. I can proudly announce that they have started caring their own body and health after so many years of my relentless nagging. I am very happy for them and hope that they will continue their efforts on being healthy.
I am fit and healthy. I do not take my body as granted. I exercise regularly and put my efforts on keeping a healthy life style as I respect my body and mind. I believe healthy body and mind are essential conditions to happiness in life. I feel very healthy and fit and so, I would like to share my thoughts and attitudes on having a fitter and healthier life and hope I am able to assist anyone who is willing to be healthy and happy.
1. Love your own body; Love and cherish your own body. Your body came here with you and stay with you until you leave. Isn’t it enough reason to love and take care of your own body? This is the first step to live fit and healthy. If you don’t love and feel comfortable with your body, it is time to find the reasons and work on them. If you don’t love and nurture your body, your life cannot be happy as your health will be affected by neglected body conditions sooner or later. Please remember when you love and look after your body, your body will be fit and healthy and it will make your life happier.
2. Know about your body; One of my favourite Chinese proverbs is “You need to know about your enemy first to win the battle”. If you want to make yourself fit and healthy, you need to know your body first. Be brave and measure yourself. It can be stressful (I hate it, too) but when you know how heavy you are, how much body fat you need to lose, you can set an actual goal/plan instead of a dream goal which unlikely achieved. Find out your BMI (Body Mass Index). BMI is based on your weight and height and is an easy way to find out whether your weight is in the healthy range. Although there is no correct ideal weight for your height, the BMI gives you a good idea as to your healthy weight range. Hereunder is the formula to get the BMI and your weight categories based on the BMI.
| Category | BMI range – kg/m2 | BMI Prime |
|---|---|---|
| Very severely underweight | less than 15 | less than 0.60 |
| Severely underweight | from 15.0 to 16.0 | from 0.60 to 0.64 |
| Underweight | from 16.0 to 18.5 | from 0.64 to 0.74 |
| Normal (healthy weight) | from 18.5 to 25 | from 0.74 to 1.0 |
| Overweight | from 25 to 30 | from 1.0 to 1.2 |
| Obese Class I (Moderately obese) | from 30 to 35 | from 1.2 to 1.4 |
| Obese Class II (Severely obese) | from 35 to 40 | from 1.4 to 1.6 |
| Obese Class III (Very severely obese) | over 40 | over 1.6 |
3. Set your goal; When you know where you are, you need to find out how to get to your destination. Set the SMART goal. “I will try to lose weight one day. “ is not good enough. You need to set Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely goal to achieve the goal. For instance, losing 10 kg for a week cannot be realistic for normal people. If your goal is not SMART, it will be most unlikely to achieve. Set up a goal based on your circumstances so you actually can manage to put your efforts into it. But a goal needs to stretch you so you feel you need to push yourself and it will need a real commitment from you. “I will lose 10 kg for 10 weeks which means 1kg per week. How? I will do work out 3 times a week and no carb for 3 nights per week and use stairs instead of lift every day....” I believe this commitment sounds bit more achievable. When you set up a goal, start as soon as possible. TODAY is better than tomorrow and NOW is far more promising than later.
4. Be active; As we all know, our current life/work style make us move/use our body less than supposed to do. Sitting all day long in front of computer or staying inside cannot be helpful to achieve our goal, getting fit and healthy. Simply we need to move and do more physical activities. As we are exposed more food than previous generations, we need to be more active to get balanced, as our bodies have still not evolved a lot from the past where we had to hunt for our food. Unfortunately, we move less and less and eat more and more. Go out for a walk with colleagues or family at lunch time or after dinner. It will get you healthier and more active body and also healthier relationship with them (I know because I do.). Do exercise regularly. Recommended exercise level is ‘Adults should do a minimum of 30 minutes moderate-intensity physical activity, five days a week.’ to avoid obesity, heart disease and other life-limiting conditions (by BBC). People mistakenly think that exercise is only optional which they can choose to do or not to do. Doing physical activities need to be recognised same as eating or sleeping. No one would question why they have to eat or sleep. Our body is born to be moved and used so if you are indolent on physical activities, your body will be deteriorated. Active persons are more energetic and positive so let’s be active!
5. Free yourself from the bad habits ; Do you realise the bad habits we have created without our awareness can damage and threaten our health? I don’t think there is any need to talk about smoking and drinking alcohol as we all know how bad impact they can influence to our health. How about eating junk food and drinking soft drinks? A 12-oz. can of Coca-Cola contains 10 table spoons (40 grams) of sugar and 40 grams is the MAXIMUM amount recommended for non-diabetic people. It clearly shows how dangerous to drink soft drinks without attentiveness of serious impact on our health. Taking a car for a walkable distance, playing games or browsing on Internet excessively, eating without any thought while watching the TV, consuming high calorie, fatty, salty and sugary food without consideration of optional healthy food with various excuses…. These countless bad habits can invade your life without your awareness and they can threaten your healthy life. Be ready to change and get rid of them as soon as possible. You brought them into your life but if you do not control properly, they will rule your life.
6. Watch your food ; here again food. It is simply impossible to have healthy life without control/manage what you eat. You need to know clearly what to eat and what not to, and how much you can eat. Our previous generation did not need to worry about food intake this much as they had limited access to food and more physical activities. But it does not apply to us. Plenty of food everywhere you can reach and you can afford to have anything you like to have. However, your body is not made for this. Various studies show who intakes less food (only 80% of what they need) are highly likely live longer and healthier. Some people can argue that they want to enjoy their life with eating whatever they want. I do not agree with this that I think it is a very narrow vision of life. How can you enjoy life when you need to carry 20-30kg bag of potatoes on each step you walk? How can you enjoy your life when you are fighting with heart diseases, diabetes and life-limiting sickness? You can enjoy life ONLY when you are healthy and fit. So you must watch what you eat.
7. Keep your mind healthy ; When I experienced depression and anxiety from work, years ago
and left it for a long time that I incorrectly expected time will be only cure, one day I learned that my hands were shaking and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Very often our mind controls our physical health. The mind and body need to be well harmonised and balanced. Without healthy mind and body, our healthy life can be threatened so take care of your mind. Nurture and cherish your mind constantly and try to be positive. People often tend to spend unnecessary amount of energy and efforts to solve the problems which are beyond their control. If you cannot change, let it go. Do not feel shy to get professional help if you need. Do not leave it too long to affect your physical health. Remember that your mind needs to be the first. As per my personal experiences, regular meditation, yoga, hypnosis helped me a lot beside of professional supports. Having a break from your daily routines can also help you. Try to find out the best way to nurture your mind.
8. Be persistent; To become fitter and healthier is not a short term goal. Do not expect an instant result and do not expect one day you can/will stop trying. It can be harder at the beginning to get rid of the poor eating habits and acquire a healthy life style but once it lives within you, it will become easier and life will be more satisfactory. So do not stop trying. We all have responsibilities to live healthy and happy life. While you are trying to create better life, you will feel enormous achievement and self-confidence. Getting healthy life is life long journey so be patient and enjoy the process.
7. Keep your mind healthy ; When I experienced depression and anxiety from work, years ago
and left it for a long time that I incorrectly expected time will be only cure, one day I learned that my hands were shaking and I couldn’t concentrate on anything. Very often our mind controls our physical health. The mind and body need to be well harmonised and balanced. Without healthy mind and body, our healthy life can be threatened so take care of your mind. Nurture and cherish your mind constantly and try to be positive. People often tend to spend unnecessary amount of energy and efforts to solve the problems which are beyond their control. If you cannot change, let it go. Do not feel shy to get professional help if you need. Do not leave it too long to affect your physical health. Remember that your mind needs to be the first. As per my personal experiences, regular meditation, yoga, hypnosis helped me a lot beside of professional supports. Having a break from your daily routines can also help you. Try to find out the best way to nurture your mind.
8. Be persistent; To become fitter and healthier is not a short term goal. Do not expect an instant result and do not expect one day you can/will stop trying. It can be harder at the beginning to get rid of the poor eating habits and acquire a healthy life style but once it lives within you, it will become easier and life will be more satisfactory. So do not stop trying. We all have responsibilities to live healthy and happy life. While you are trying to create better life, you will feel enormous achievement and self-confidence. Getting healthy life is life long journey so be patient and enjoy the process.
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