Here are some tips for a happy, healthy and Active lifestyle. Each one of these tips are based on my observation and research for the last several years. Please drop me a line if you want to know the basis of these healthy habits.
a) Don’t go to a gym without a proper workout plan. Actually, going to a gym just to be active without an assessment of your health and a plan to achieve your goals may put you to risks of injury or making your health worse in the long term. Always take professional advice before lifting weights or doing those ab crunches. It is best to sign up with a certified personal fitness coach who also understands your body chemistry and mechanics.
b) Always baseline your performance with available fitness gadgets and tools including apps on your smartphones. Try to improve on this baseline over a period of time slowly. A slow and steady improvement is a long-term improvement in your fitness and health.
c) A Brisk walk at the right speed. When doctors advise brisk walk to, they are not usually telling you the speed at which you should walk. It’s best to check your baseline heart rate using a heart rate belt e.g. http://www.wahoo.com and at least, walk at a speed which raises your heart rate to a fat burning zone.
d) In general, avoid eating carbohydrates after 6 pm in order to adopt healthy eating habits.
e) Do Yoga, pilates or any activity that stretches or flexes your body, at least once a week.
f) Don’t drink any sorts of fruit juices fresh, organic, pure, canned or homemade. Eat the fruits in the right quantity.
g) Don’t use ketchups or salad creams. Use mustard or vinaigrettes. Watch this episode from CNN Dr. Sanjay Gupta.
http://edition.cnn.com/videos/tv/2015/03/10/orig-added-sugar-sanjay-gupta-calories-food.cnn
h) Teach children about healthy food for kids. e.g. Ask children to look at the labels of things they buy and if it contains more than 50 gms of sugar, its out. This helps the children to be conscious about carbs in their diet and they start adopting to healthy eating habits by themselves.
