Basic tips to achieve leading a healthy lifestyle

I am absolutely sure that EVERYONE would love to have a healthy lifestyle. But how many actually achieve it? Definitely very few.

When I refer to the subject I like to use as an example the life of an athlete. A responsible athlete must have control over his actions 24/7 to make sure that the sport performance is maintained to the top and the rivals won’t take advantage. Is this the reason why Costa Rican athletes have such a hard time standing out? Are there failures in their lifestyles that don’t allow them to achieve a better performance?

Experts in the field always talk about many aspects of physical care to achieve a healthy lifestyle, but very little has been inferred to the mental side other than managing stress. This has led me to wonder why it is that very few people are able to lead a healthy lifestyle, and for me the answer is clear: I will hardly be able to take care of my body without first preparing my mind to achieve it.

For this reason I have defined 10 basic rules (composed of 5 mental and 5 physical aspects) that in my opinion every person must meet to achieve a healthy lifestyle. Let's review them:

MENTAL CARE

-Train your Willpower

To me, this is the most important thing and it wouldn’t not be surprising to know that more than 90% of people fail in this aspect. If you don’t believe me, make a mental review of how many people you have heard saying, “I can not get up early to exercise...”, “when I see something sweet in front of me I just can’t avoid eating it...”, “I just can not turn off the phone at night to sleep...”,”I find really difficult to go to a party and not drink some beers... “, among many other examples. That my dear friends, it is called a WEAK willpower.

The first thing that is required to lead a healthy lifestyle is to have control over the impulses and emotions. And even if you do not believe it, the will CAN BE TRAINED (See post about how to train your willpower).

-Get to think positive

Take the time to analyze your thoughts and comments, speak positive to yourself. It is extremely important that you change the common pattern of “CANTs” and replace them with “CANs.” Positive thinking creates a winning mind.

-Surround yourself with successful people

Do you remember the saying of “tell me who you walk with and I'll tell you who you are”? Well it isn’t completely false. Surrounding ourselves with successful people impels us to overcome ourselves and stay focused on essential aspects for a healthy personal, social and economic growth.

By the way, a successful person is not someone with the bank account full of dollars. Don’t be mistaken. A successful person has integrity and good principles, is someone who loves his life and those around, is someone who helps others, who has charisma, who is not envious, who has financial health, who has life projects in progress and who always brings out the best in every situation.

-Reduce stress

This is the new disease that people suffer from basically having their heads everywhere and feeling that they can’t control everything. The best way to deal with this is to internalize that there are things that are just ALWAYS going to be out of our control, but what is under our control at a 100% is how we react to this type of situations. Remember that no matter what, life will always continue.

-Have clear and defined goals

This aspect is fundamental to achieving any of the above points and those of the body care that come next. Athletes who have clear and defined goals are more likely to lead a better lifestyle than those who do not. It's all about how focused the person is toward that goal (see post about the importance of having sport goals)

BODY CARE

-Eat healthy

This means having a BALANCED diet according to YOUR needs, so the generic "diets" you get on the internet are NOT the best option.

Some basic elements that apply to all are:

1. Avoid fast foods and all that sugary garbage that the market offers. What sometimes we find more juicy and tasty in the mouth is not necessarily the best thing for the body.

2. Always add vegetables, legumes and fruits into your daily diet. The fruit of our land is irreplaceable.

3. The popular belief that 3 meals a day should be made is a thing of the past. Snacks are also a key part of “healthy eating”.

4. Establish a fixed schedule for your meals.

5. If it is possible for you to visit a dietitian, do it. And of course follow the recommendations prescribed.

-Hydrate properly

Hydrating is not just about drinking water. Athletes lose different fluids through sweat, which is composed of water (98%), vitamin C, mineral salts and other substances. So it is important to follow a proper protocol of hydration (see post about hydration during exercise).

A very important aspect is that you MUST NOT wait until you are thirsty to hydrate. Hydration must be constant, so taking a small bottle with you is not to much to ask.

-Exercise regularly

Regardless of the sport you perform, make a training schedule. Have at least 3 or 4 sessions per week and take into account that each session can last about 1 hour.

It is very important to define specific schedules to train, this gives greater importance to that time of the day and generates commitment to sport and our health.

-Stay away from bad habits

This involves all kinds of addictive substances such as tobacco, alcohol and licit and illicit drugs.

Did you know that SUGAR is 80 times more addictive than cocaine? Soon I'm going to dedicate a post exclusively to sugar, for now I can say that it would be good to avoid excessive consumption because that could be a trigger for overweight and diabetes. Begin to reduce consumption of bottled soft drinks and desserts, changes in a month may be noticeable.

-Sleep enough time

If you are one of those that can only sleep 6 hours a day and works well, do not panic.

It is proven that on average sleep is about 6 to 9 hours a day, depending on each person. The popular belief that you should sleep 8 hours a day is a thing of the past.

I will not lie to you, incorporating a healthy lifestyle requires physical and monetary sacrifices, but if your willpower is large enough to follow these points you’ll have already 80% of the road. The rest is about being constant until your body generates the habit. It is said that a change in habit can be fully incorporated after 21 days of implementation of the new practice.

Remember that success comes from "CANs", not from "cants".

#english