What are your healthy lifestyle habits?
 

I keep seeing references to having a "Healthy Lifestyle". What exactly does that mean? For most folks it is a vague sort of eat right, exercise, manage stress kind of thing. I know things that I have done in my own life and am interested in hearing what other people have done or are thinking about doing that they would think of in that broad category. What does it mean to you?

I'm not talking about weight loss or the latest 3 day cleanse. But more along the lines of what shifts in thinking have led you to what actions, and what results they have produced in your life.

These could be anything from starting meditation, to changing what kinds of foods you put in your body, to learning a new hobby to enhance your daily life. What are you doing now? What do you want to incorporate in the future and why?

I'm hoping to foster discussion that will lead people to learn from each other and be able to ask questions and get resources. If you have a great resource, article, paper or site; please include a link to the original source material so that others can investigate on their own if it is something they (or I) would like to pursue.

Something I decided a couple of years ago was that I had become too sedentary. I decided I wanted to start incorporating at least an hour a day of whole body motion into my life. Not a fancy or complicated workout, just moving my body, as designed, for a while each day to combat all the other hours I was not moving around.

I simply started walking everyday, I wanted to be outdoors and I live near a beach. The benefits of that decision have been pretty amazing. This one action is now the highlight of my day, everyday. Being by the water and breathing fresh air do remarkable things for my mental wellbeing, and just that bit of low key exercise helps keep everything in my body moving. It has grown a life of its own, and now I am an avid Nordic walker for much longer than that each day. The thing is, that if I had not taken that one action of deciding to get off the couch for a while each day, this never would have happened.

I now consider this to be a healthy lifestyle habit for me.

I walk every morning before doing anything else for at least a 1/2 hr I also do rarely eat things with refined sugar and rarely eat read meat
I do not drink alcohol, smoke or do drugs of any kind
I generally avoid caffeine
I go to bed before 11pm and wake before 7am
I am very balanced
I laugh alot alot
I learn daily....from others and life
I still enjoy little silly things just like I did as a child
I think its also important to say I meditate and talk to the source daily
I am of service to others daily and I feel my feelings when they come up and diligently make choices (although at times very difficult) to express those feelings in a healthy and productive way
All combined to create WHOLE HEALTH...

A completely new life!
 

The lifestyle changes I've made are almost too numerous to list!
About 2 years ago, I was living the total "foodie" life, which meant I was a fairly indiscriminate and adventurous eater. I was about 50 lbs overweight, and I started getting really strange symptoms that made me realize something wasn't quite right. I was under an extreme amount of stress at my job that severely exacerbated an auto-immune disorder (caused by diet) I didn't even know I had, and elevated my blood-pressure to an extremely worrisome level, even though I was exercising over an hour a day. I quit my job, and decided to make changes that would move me in a direction of health and wellness, and not one that was digging me an early grave.
After several failed attempts in doctors trying to diagnose me, (one just told me it was all in my head, but still gave me a prescription for steroids?!) So, I took my health and my future into my own hands. As a former scientist, I took it upon myself to do my due diligence and LOTS of reading to figure out what was wrong with me. I put myself on a plant-based whole food diet. I no longer eat anything I haven't prepared myself. No processed foods, no gluten, 100% GMO-free and organic produce. 99% of my diet is now vegetables, fruits, seeds, nuts and beans. And the response in my body has been nothing short of remarkable!
Now, instead of working myself to death in a biotech lab, I have plans to get involved in organic agriculture and winemaking and have plans to buy my own small farm/homestead somewhere on the West Coast, where I have lived on and off for about a decade.
I'm thrilled with the direction my life is heading now. I've never felt better!

For myself, it includes a lot of self-care physically, emotionally and spiritually. I try to balance "work" with hands on activity. I love travelling and exploring outdoors. Camping, backpacking, cooking simple and wholesome food etc. I live for eating fresh organic food bought from farmers markets or food which I have grown myself, by friends or community gardens.

I love herbal teas and I always drink water. I do enjoy treating myself once in awhile but I try not to let those indulgences guilt me.

I believe that self care is a sacred ritual. Whether it's a bubble bath, making yourself feel better by dressing up, reading a good book, taking a break from your busy schedule, sleeping in/going to bed a little early, meditation, yoga, resleasing stress through music or simply taking a walk. It's important to make time to appreciate yourself and your surroundings.

I am usually keeping busy with a variety of projects that make me smile and oddly enough it relaxes me. I find my peace many ways - all alone doing nothing, in the company of others , learning and engaging in conversation or multi tasking.

I also found that laughter and just choosing to be free and happy makes a world of difference. I love exploring different cultures and seeing how different people create and embrace their own little sacred practices and healthy living habits. Simply put, love what you do and do everything with love.

It is hard for me to break it down to a daily level because of course we all know sometimes life throws things in the way of a set "routine" .

Yes, that oh-so vague term "healthy". Lately, the more I learn about what's really good for your body, the more the usage of that word irks me, especially when it's used to market foods to people that contain artificial sweeteners, GMO-corn and MSG, like this one recent breakfast cereal commercial I saw yesterday (which shall remain nameless).

"Healthy" has become a subjective term, in my opinion. For some, a skinless chicken breast, turkey sausage breakfast sandwich and low fat cottage cheese are considered "healthy" options, while those are three things I can't ever imagine myself wanting to eat again!

I just ate an apple.

Every Sunday night I cook ridiculous amounts of food and use it for my lunches all week.

I always feel calm and go into a mood that would even qualify as "happy" when I do this. I saute ginger and red onions, then add red cabbage, beets, carrots, mushrooms, all kinds of stuff. In another pan, I saute tilapia. In a big pot, I make a lot of quinoa. In another pot, I make oatmeal with apple and cinnamon (I adore cold oatmeal). I love all these foods, and assemble my lunches with them all week.

Another thing I do that is healthy, is work out a few times a week. I love my gym and go into a quiet, focused state when I'm there. I'm sort of proud of how much weight I apply on the machines.

I don't always accomplish this goal, but I try to get enough sleep, which makes a huge difference for me.

Having something to look forward to is very effective for improving my mental health. I try to go to a movie many Friday nights. Building ritual into my life is comforting.

And music helps a lot.

These are really good ideas, I am impressed.

Like Sweet2th and KC butch, I also did a pretty complete overhaul of my physical life. It has prompted me to continue to wanting to seek more changes along these lines which is why I am getting ideas from folks here.

Agreeing with MerryFairy on the importance of self care, and with Hollylane's suggestion for a nature break at regular intervals.

IslandScout, I do the exact same thing with food preparation. Even though I cook for one, you would think it was for ten. I love being able to open the fridge at anytime and know that there will be several very tasty and good for me choices available. It really reinforces healthy choices. I also like making big batches of soup and freezing the extra. That way even if I don't have the time to shop for a while I know it is there and always have a backup plan.

Corkey, knowing yourself is probably one of the healthiest things a person can do for themselves.

Brock, kudos on the apple. :cheesy:

I too have been following this thread, and getting good ideas. I never thought of self-care as a sacred ritual; it's always after work/cleaning/kids/everything and everyone else that my time comes.

I feel at the core of self-care has to be a conviction that we deserve it, need it, and that it's very UNselfish of us to put our own needs first. That's tough to do!

I (as of Monday) dusted off my Weight Watchers subscription and began tracking and following the health guidelines. This time, my attitude isn't that I'm "on a diet", which presumes that one day I'll be off of it. I like how I feel when I'm following it, and making it a way of life. Not everyone is fluffy like me, but there are good tips just for maintaining (and I like the smiley faces when I fulfill a guideline :)).

I was also thinking that I need to bring back my morning ritual of swimming laps at the gym until my arms fall off, then sitting in the hot tub. While I swam, I imagined my problems falling like bricks to the bottom of the pool, making me lighter. By the time I'd finished, maybe I hadn't solved all of them, but neither did they burden me.

I've always been more able to meditate and clear my mind if I'm doing heavy physical exercise.

I have just recently replaced my 60 ounces of coffee with water.

I am reducing my use of NSAIDS by 50% by using a heating pad, gentle stretching, and long showers.

I am aiming for 30 minutes of activity daily.

I moisterize my face and hands.

I use aromatherapy to reduce my stress at work. its actually helping.

I have a night time routine, and I go to bed and wake up around the same time, even on days off. My circadian rythms are pleased.

I am practicing forgiveness of self when I dont meet my aims.

Another thing I've done is to increase the amount of sleep I get each night. This was a tricky one because I didn't want to take any supplements or anything. I had been getting along for quite a few years on 6 hours a night, but after doing a bit of research, decided I could use more. I wanted to reduce the levels of cortisol in my system. I read up on what is referred to as sleep hygiene and implemented some of those ideas. Setting up and using a fan for white noise, making it as dark as possible, and making it cooler at night all helped. Just not enough.

Over some time, maybe a month or two, I put together a ritual to go through right before I go to sleep and faithfully followed it everyday. Nothing special, just closing up the place, checking pet needs, and as the last item I made sure to have a hot bath or shower right before getting into bed. By following the same exact routine each night, my body started learning that when x,y,z, were complete, it was time to go to sleep.

It like a reflex, or muscle memory, and works like a charm for me 98% of the time. Even if I am stressed or all wired up, the motions seem to put in place the result.

"... what shifts in thinking have led you to what actions, and what results they have produced in your life."

Long story - which I'll make as short as possible. A year ago, following a 6 year recovery from a serious injury, I was told that I was diabetic, hypertensive, overweight (like I didn't know that), and heading for a stroke at age 47. That seemed like a bad path, so I chose a new one.

I describe myself as "Practically Primal" now... sort of my version of the Paleo/Primal/Whole Food/Real Food/ movement that's gaining major ground, thankfully! I am now grain-free, sugar-free, legume-free, and consume very limited amounts of dairy (half/half & some cheese).

Within 90 days of making this change, I had lost 30 pounds, returned to normal blood pressure and blood sugar (without meds) and the pain in my joints which had kept me from dancing (my favorite exercise) was almost entirely gone.

I now dance (a lot) each week, feel better than I have in years and want to share the 'right' information with everyone!

Some of my favorite sources are Dr. Lustig (author of Fat Chance), www.slimpalate.com, www.marksdailyapple.com, The Blood Sugar Solution, The Primal Blueprint and this awesome Canadian....

http://www.sarahramsden.com/banana-almond-pancakes/

I love to dance! I don't do it enough. Maybe I will start doing living room ballet or tango while I clean. I could always try belly dance. Thanks for the links, Kitten!

CSR's
 

((((holly))))) Bless you for doing this job. When much younger..I did this kind of work and it is extremely stressful, thankless and well..One of the toughest there is IMHO. You have to have one tough spine to handle this day in and day out. I'm so glad you are finding ways to unplug on a daily basis..You NEED to!!!

Thank you Hollylane for talking about stress relievers. "Unplug" I have never heard it that way before but that will now stick in my mind as well.
I have been so very stressed as well with work and life changes and realized as you did it is time to unplug. I get a 30 minute lunch break so I walk out the door to the lake accross the street and walk around it for 15 minutes. I also jam out to my favorite tunes. My CD player doesn't work in my car anymore so I put my mp3 player on and my ear buds in and jam out to anything that will get me singing in the car. This relieves my stress so much. I also do five laps around the track four times a week that is close to home. Eating right and drinking lots of water has always been a big part of my life. It is the stress I think that hurts me the most. Trying to stay away from people and things that stress us out is not easy but I do try.

In 2002, I was so sick I thought I was dying. My hair was falling out, I was down to 90 pounds, I had horrible anxiety, fatigue, pain, etc. Desperate, I went to a naturopath who took one look at me and said, "Food is killing you." He put on an elimination diet and that's how I found out I had gluten intolerance. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I didn't know a day without pain until I cut all gluten products from my diet.

Fast forward 11 years later and I've educated myself through research about not only how unhealthy gluten is to those who cannot digest it but how food affects the body in general. In 2006 I read, "Natural Cures THEY Don't Want You to Know About" by Kevin Trudeau and was astonished to discover how much food really isn't that at all. It's all chemicals.

Since then, I've been trying to eat as healthy as possible. Organic whenever I'm able and as few additives as possible. I exercise regularly and meditate here and there. Just relaxing with a good book or spacing out while creating houses and people on 'The Sims' is healthy for me too. I run my own business during the week and I love and need plenty of quiet down-time. It's refreshing and necessary for sanity and good health.

I too was gravely ill for years my intestines were so inflamed I could not even touch my stomach it hurt so bad - Found out I was Gluten intolerant also-
I keep an enzyme with me at all times called glutenzyme which is the missing agent in the system that prevents gluten from being processed - I take it if for any reason I suspect i may have encountered Gluten...
I am glad you are felling better

Healthy
 

I stay active,drink lots of water,try to get enough sleep,creative projects,read alot and follow a spiritual path.

I'm always looking to incorporate health into my life and find it of the utmost importance. It's very rewarding and an exciting journey.

Without BB knowing it, hy helped me tremendously in becoming healthier (Other relationships led me in the other direction.). Hy convinced me to get a job that didn't consume my life (I switched from a psych hospital with horrible management to an elementary school that I love.). And hy convinced me to move from a rent-controlled hellhole to a livable dwelling. Both actions felt like risks, and I was taught in my family to cling to what one has instead of ever taking a risk for something better. Wow, what a difference taking those risks made. Both paid off so much in regard to my health. I was able to sleep better, relax more, cook more, feel happier, and have a happier partner too. I think if one is partnered, the partner really has a lot of influence on one's health. I look at photos of myself when I was with a previous unhealthy partner, and I'm amazed at how I allowed myself to sink into unhealthiness: mentally, physically, and emotionally. I've also learned from the changes I described (living, work, a mature partner) that one can fool around with typical, surface changes in health, but without a solid base they just don't stick.

I like to find new exercises that feel intense and that I can hone my skills in. For instance, lately I've gotten very into stair climbing, not at the gym but stairs around the city. I found that there is a whole culture of people into climbing stairs (by googling, of course). I like to count my steps up and sometimes go up fifteen long flights. It's symbolic and positive for me. On pretty days I also sometimes walk over the Brooklyn Bridge home from work. It's an hour commute that I have by subway and three to four hours walking. It's exciting to walk through different communities and, again, the symbolism of making that long journey home feels really good. I always have interesting encounters along the way.

Crazy amounts of Yogi tea, ahhhh!

This is a great post!

I think both points you have brought up are spot on. Our partners DO have a tremendous impact on our health simply by how they treat their own health and how supportive they are in what we want to achieve for ourselves. Another way I also like to look at this is that we can also be a big influence on our partners and others we care about. Not by trying to convert anyone else's habits, but by sticking to our own and being both an example and supportive when they want to make positive changes for themselves. Sometimes people want to do things that are different from each other, and that can be fun too. I have picked up areas of interest from being a participant in other activities that I might not have thought of on my own.

I also think that not enough credit is given to things like where we live and work when it comes to our health. As you discovered, it can feel risky when it goes against the grain due to upbringing or maybe ending up being different than expectations, in this case, better. :) The stress reduction that can be had by taking a chance like you did can pay off huge, and stress is a major player in a lot of diseases.

I love your idea about the stairs. It reminded me about a radio program I had heard a couple of years ago on NPR about it. I took a quick look just now and found a place listing public staircases; I don't know if this is a site you use, but it seems to have a pretty good list of things like maps for various cities and it is a volunteer effort. It lists the stairs, how many steps (some have hundreds), and photos included. I just googled 'urban stair climbing' and there are a lot of resources. Maybe some other folks might like this as a way to explore their own city.

:cheesy:

I mostly only drink water..with very rare exceptions...

I get plenty of sleep...

I don't eat a lot of meat...

I loveeeee my veggies...

and

I love to hike..and I'm beginning to truly love yoga...

:moonstars:

meditate daily
walk 4 to 5 miles a day
eat a low fat/high fiber diet
no sugar

I no longer work over 50 hours a week
I sleep 7-8 hours every night
I keep my stress level down
I spend time with friends and family daily
I laugh a lot
I keep a positive attitude (most of the time, if I don't I have good friends who kick me in the ass)

Hey deb_U_taunt,

These sound like great habits and a good balance.

Question; how did you manage to scale back your work load?

I started saying NO lol and pushing back for reasonable deadlines

One habit I cultivate is to know what I am putting in my body.

I am one of those folks who tracks what I eat. While I know most folks don't, doing it for just a day or two can be very educational to say the least. Even without, occasionally looking up what is in a food item can be interesting.

Today I stumbled across a source that I never would have thought of but it is interesting. In checking the nutritional data on lentils this site popped up. It is from Self magazine of all things :blink: but really complete. It shows the standard nutrition label but also gives good snapshot looks at other factors like glycemic load, amino acid balance, protein quality, and nutrient balance, on easy to visualize charts. The nutritional density rating is a really interesting tool. Also breakdowns of vitamins and minerals.

Bon appétit!

:eating:

Great link! Thank you and straight to one of my favorite foods. :)

Having become recently disabled (lymphedema, fibromyalgia, anxiety, depression) I've had to learn some new things. The main things I have to be careful of is knowing my limits, not being able to walk further than ten to fifteen feet (assisted, i.e. with a walker or cane) and unable to stand in place for more than five minutes.

I do a lot of exercises in bed since I'm in bed a lot of the time during the day.

I have a shower chair (backless) that I can sit on and do all of my stretching, which I do three times a day.

The wife cooks for me and I'm not a big eater. My snacks are the problem, I will eat a whole can of wasabi flavoured pistachios, or a whole can of mixed nuts, etc. She has to limit my snacks (not too hard, just put them where I can't get them) She also buys weight watchers ice cream bars for snacks.

I used to have a fluid issue regarding my intake of fluids, I haven't had that trouble in a few years, but for a long time I was drinking double what most people did and would still be thirsty. Nope..NOT diabetic.

I gave up smoking, not even an issue. I have oxygen added to my bipap machine that is supposed to help with healing in my legs, seems to help me with alertness.

I don't meditate per se, but I do practice thoughtfulness. I pick a few subjects and I give them a lot of thought. If it's pain, then that's what I think about, different ways to approach it, how it affects me, how it makes me feel, how I let it affect me outwardly, etc.

I don't plan to have this forever. I know it's spreading, and it is incurable, and it never "goes away" but I wasn't expecting it, and it doesn't fit into my future plans, so I'm not planning on having this illness forever.

I just watch waht I eat,drink as much water as I want wich is probly not enough but I also drink unsweet tea.I use to drink a 12 pack of coke a day so I cut it down to a couple wich often I end up caping the bottle for the next day.Veggies are the mainstay of my food plan,yougurt is something I like and often eat insted of a meal or with fruit or cottage cheese with som kind of fruit.I have bran flakes or captain crunch with enough milk to wet it down with.I cut my red meat consumption way down and now eat fish or chicken.I have a nasty sweet tooth so I need to be careful about it so far I do pretty well staying away fron them,now with halloween comeing then the hollidays it will become a battle to not fall off the wagon cause I like to cook the favorites of the season so I use a diabetic cook book so I can keep it as real as I can.My down fall is usely sweet potato pie or pecan pie,when I eat sweets I drink lots of water to flush it out as quick as possable.I have lost 80 pounds over the last couple of years,even tho i'm down to 250 I still want to get to my goal wight of 200.The doc says It's still not enough I will stick to that goal,if I get past that great if not i'm ok with it.My doc is skinny as a broom stick and really beleaves everyone should be...I do not think that way so as long as some weigh is fallin off I am ok with how things are going.I also workout 3 to4 days a week enough for the workout to be a shade more than moderate amount.I tryed to do harder workouts but it caused to many problems with my pain leval or pops something out wich isn't cool either.

There are so many ways the sleep is critical for all of us. A few years ago I spent several months changing my sleep habits away from what had become 6 hours a night, and revamped it to 7.5 regularly. It has made an enormous difference in my health both physically and mentally.

This article is a good refresher course on the basics.

Hacking sleep: Engineering a high quality, restful night

In case you haven’t heard, sleep is absolutely crucial to your health. With a few simple strategies, you can get the high-quality, restful sleep your body and your mind deserves.

Introduction;
Sleep is just as important as nutrition and exercise when it comes to improving your health, performance, and body composition.

Good sleep helps our bodies and minds recover, keeping us lean, happy, mentally focused, and healthy.

But chronically bad sleep slathers on body fat, screws up our hormones, ages us faster, increases chronic illnesses, and drains our IQ and mojo.

Fortunately, research also shows that returning to adequate sleep can quickly reduce these risks.

So how do we go about getting that replenishing shut-eye?

Read the rest of this article....

Mental health is my current personal project and honestly I know very little about it. I have been talking to some friends lately and we seem to be experiencing sort of a common thread; age making things seem closer to the surface. I thought it might be man-o-pause (thanks Dak for the term!), but a lot of my friends are men, so out with that idea.

I am putting the first and a middle paragraph here and a link to the whole article at the bottom.

Trapped in negative emotions?

Why don’t we apply the same standards and value for filtering out unhealthy thoughts, as we do for filtering out unhealthy foods? I find many people logically understand that if they eat something unhealthy they get that it will make them feel awful, and therefore avoid eating foods with undesirable consequences. Yet, this same logic is not equally applied to filtering out unhealthy thoughts which make an individual feel awful. If you wouldn’t eat stress inducing foods all day long, than why would you allow yourself to sip on the “I’m not good enough, “or “I am bitter and angry, it’s not fair” Stress-Slurpee all day long?

********

To understand why these Achilles Heel emotional and mental triggers are so powerful picture a large reservoir of water in your mind say the Hoover Damn. Behind the dam is an amazing amount of pressure. The reservoir took time to fill up, but overtime the pressure began to build and once full the force behind the dam grew to be enormous. Achilles Heel triggers are like a dam, they have an accumulation of trapped emotional kinetic energy behind them, and once triggered an overwhelming amount of emotions and strewing mental tangents gets released inside an individual – temporarily overtaking an individual’s logical, reasoning mind.

Link to full article.

This has me pretty wound up today. Driving along listening to the radio when I hear that there are new guidelines around proscribing statins for cholesterol lowering and that now it will include people who do not have high LDL levels, but also for a number of other reasons.

I still have homework to do on this BUT, now about 25% of the population is on these meds and the changes could raise this to 50%. Not a fan of statins to begin with, or the pharmaceutical industry in some instances, I'm giving this the hairy one-eyeball.

What about you? Are you taking statins already?

Do you see this changing as a result of the new parameters?

I am also wondering if we can find ourselves being labeled as 'uncooperative' patients if we opt to not take them under the new guidelines or as part of the new rules of healthcare in the USA?

Here are a couple of early articles for the public with different opinions about the way the numbers will play out. Both mainstream press.

Forbes: When Should You Take A Statin? The Answer Just Changed.

NPR: Shift In Cholesterol Advice Could Double Statin Use

Time to buy shares in Crestor? :blink:

One more item, here is a link to the American Heart Association risk calculator

*At this moment it is overwhelmed, may have to try later*

That is such a sensible thing. Mental health should be seen as just as important as physical health I think. And I have noticed I’m always physically healthier when I am mentally healthier too. If I get enough sleep and have a positive outlook being healthy is just easier.

But overall I don’t think I do much to be healthy. I don’t go to the gym and I haven’t stopped eating sugar and carbs like many of my friends have. My sister eats wheat grass mixed with water for breakfast- that’s taking it a bit too far for me.

I think the healthiest thing I do, is not owning a car. I know that’s not possible for everyone. But it makes me walk or cycle a lot if I want to or not. And I am lucky enough to live next to not only the sea, where it’s lovely to walk and swim (when it’s not too cold), but also several mountains and forests where I try to go for long walks or ride my bicycle at least three times a week. I love walking up one of the smaller mountains and see the sun set in the sea. It’s really lovely.

Healthy lifestyle habits include seeing humor in everything!

Laughing will cure most anything and prevent many chronic conditions. Perhaps the scientist amongst us may debate this, however I am speaking from an anecdotal observation.

As well as eating anything you want. (in moderation)

Drinking anything you want. (in moderation)

Having a fur-friend around can keep you healthier as well. :)