A guide to happy health: follow these basic lifestyle changes to keep your health issues away in 2022

Here are a few basic lifestyle changes that you can make to reach your health goals slowly and gradually
A guide to happy health
A guide to happy health

We are in the first month of New Year and many of us have already started working on our resolutions, hoping that they will stick to their promises for the entire year. One big resolution is to take care of our health. However, rather than making any extreme changes, let’s look at taking baby steps to improve our health day by day. Health is always about having that 360 degree approach and it doesn’t mean that you have to follow a strict routine. Making small but meaningful changes in your lifestyle is what we all need in today’s fast growing world to keep these changes sustainable. Today, we will discuss a few basic lifestyle changes that everyone can make to reach their health goals slowly and gradually.

■ Fibre in the form of fruits and veggies is must in your health routine. It is important to consume at least one fruit in the first half of the day and add more raw or cooked salad in your meal to get the fibre and antioxidants to improve gut health. This multi colour food is also loaded with digestive enzymes which will help you overcome issues like bloating, acidity, constipation etc.

■ Try to add cooked cruciferous vegetables at least two or three times a week in your meal because they are known to be powerful veggies as they are loaded with fibre, folate, vitamin C, E, K and other minerals. Most importantly, crucifers are rich in glutathione which is known as the ‘master antioxidant’ of our body since it has very high free-radicals scavenging properties. Cruciferous vegetables are nutrient-dense sources of phytochemicals called isothiocyanates that are linked to cancer prevention. In addition, cabbage and broccoli also contain sulforaphanes and indoles which are strong antioxidants and simulators that help in detoxifying and protecting our liver and other body cells.

■ Limit your consumption of bad carbohydrates such as sugar, refined flour, packaged food, other processed foods and aerated drinks to maximum twice a week. Enjoy your rewards in moderation and include healthy unprocessed carbohydrates like whole grain and pulses.

■ Be careful with bad fats that go in your body, especially the trans-fat containing foods like commercially baked sweets, cookies, pastries, dough nuts, cakes, packaged snacks like chips and crackers, vegetable shortening, stick margarine, candy bars, repeated use of the same oil for frying, etc. All of these foods add toxins in the body and put more pressure on liver as well as the heart. Have these foods, if you must, only once in 10 days and in absolute moderation.

■ Switch to only cold pressed or unrefined oils for cooking over the refined ones. Refined oils increase inflammation in the body as these oils are oxidised and have no nutritional value. Cold pressed oils hold all their nutrients intact and add flavour to your meal.

■ Also, replace the refined sugar used in your house with healthy and natural sugar substitutes like raw organic honey, jaggery, coconut sugar, stevia etc. You can then enjoy your sweets in moderation without any guilt because processed sugar is harmful for the body as it keeps the body acidic, adds inflammation and also affects the protein fibre in body — that can accelerate the ageing process.

■ Drink at least three litres water on a regular basis to flush out toxins from body and start with minimum 30 minutes of exercise which could be walking, jogging, running, cardio, aerobics, zumba, weight or strength training etc. But let’s make sure we move around throughout the day to improve the blood circulation which keeps us healthy.

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