Health is wealth

Hello!

Yesterday was the day, full of life lessons about health. If you know me than you know that I’m all about healthy and active lifestyle, in every meaning of the word. I love to workout, I love making and eating healthy foods, especially healthy desserts. And what I love the most is that I can help other people as well. Seeing other people happy, because you helped them, is priceless. Even if their achievement is ‘only’ drinking more water, that can mean a life-changing thing for somebody. And in this blog post I want to talk more about health in general, because most people don’t take it as serious as they actually should. Hope you enjoy it!

First things first, yesterday I attended one really good seminar about student’s eating habits. It was all about why students don’t eat healthy, what are their eating habits and then (what I’ve found very interesting) the speaker told us more about different segments of food – sugars, salt, fats, etc. Yes, I’ve already heard a lot about different nutrients, especially because I’ve read a lot about them, but any additional information is only an advantage for me. I really enjoy listening to experts in this area and I try to include some things into my everyday routine as well. Of course I don’t put everything in a practice, but I try to include as much as possible. Why? Because health is important to me. Because healthy and active lifestyle is important to me. Because my well-being is important to me. Why is health so important to me? If you’ve read any of two more serious blog posts of mine (if not, read it here and here) than you know that I’ve had quiet a stormy past with my eating habits. From eating a lot and being overweighted for 19 years to being almost anorexic. I’m not using my eating habits to drag any attention to me, I just want to tell you from my own experience, how bad it can get if you are not paying any attention to you and your health. I’ve had a lot of troubles with my stomach, I lost a period (which was quiet scary to me and I can’t tell you how happy I actually was, when I got it back), I was losing my hair (which was as scary as losing my period) and I just didn’t have any energy. I just wanted to sleep all day. Yes, it was stupid of me that it came so far, but once you get in that circle of not eating enough and exercising too much, you just don’t realize what you’re doing to yourself.

Because of all that bad eating habits and decisions I’ve made, I’ve had troubles even after I recovered. Yes, believe it or not, my stomach hurt even 2 years after full recovery, my period came back after 6 months and I’ve had real troubles with eating certain foods. It’s not as easy and innocent as it seems. And that’s why I appreciate my health so much now. I’ve took it for granted for years and now I really want to be healthy and as stupid as it sounds to some of you, health is important. Health truly is wealth. This also reminded me of one video I’ve watched yesterday. A girl was talking about her health issues at the moment and then she added: “It makes me think about all the times I didn’t take care of my body.” And she started crying. We take our health for granted so much. We really do. It’s crazy that we only think about our health, our bodies and our eating habits when it’s too late. When we become ill or something else happens. Why don’t we take care of our bodies before something happens? Why not? Are we really so ‘stupid’ that we literally play with our lives? Maybe I understand this area more, because I’ve been through a lot, but that’s not the excuse to take our health for granted.

Is it really so hard to just take better choices for our bodies and ourselves in general? I will give you just a few general directions how to live healthier and more active lifestyle and then you can tell me what is your excuse. Eat at least 5 small meals per day – breakfast, snack, lunch, snack and dinner. Eat foods that are full of nutrients, such as vegetables, fruits, wholegrain pasta/bread, fish, nuts, etc. Try to limit meat intake, dairy products and fast food, full of unnecessary fats and salt. Drink enough water or tea (without added sugars) – at least 2 litres per day. Try to avoid foods, full of sugar, and sugary drinks. Try to get at least 30 minutes of exercise per day and choose a workout that you’ll enjoy doing. Get enough sleep in a day – at least 6 to 8 hours of it per night. And most importantly, don’t restrict yourself, don’t count calories, don’t eliminate certain food group from your diet. If you’ll limit yourself too much, you’ll crave certain foods and there is a bigger chance that you’ll ‘cheat’ on those foods later in a day. Don’t complicate your meals, just eat simple and healthy meals.

Those are just some of my recommendations for healthier and more active lifestyle. I could’ve written the whole blog post about it (and I can, if you want me to), but I just wanted to show you that you can live healthier with some simple changes and healthier options. It all depends on you, but please don’t take your health for granted. If you eat really badly, make some changes – your body will be forever grateful to you for those decisions. But most importantly, you will look and feel better. “Health is like money. We never have a true idea of its value until we lose it.” This quote from Josh Billings is everything I’ve wanted to tell you today. Health is something you should pay more of your attention to and believe me or not, you’ll thank yourself later. I hope I gave you something to think about and I hope you’ll really try to include some changes in your every day.