Seven tips on how to maintain a healthy lifestyle

Maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be both hard and expensive as, unfortunately, the healthiest things are, most of the time, pricy. Then there is the challenge of having to endure the struggle of turning down mouthwatering dishes like chicken nuggets and french fries. With all the temptations around us, maintaining a healthy lifestyle becomes a fulltime job. Imagine being surrounded by delectable meals and you have to make the hard choice of going with a vegetable salad.

Due to how cheap and readily available junk food is, our bodies are prone to nutrient deficiencies and falling into poor shape. Studies have shown that most non-communicable diseases (NCD's) are caused by poor lifestyle choices. Other than eating healthy foods and hydrating, we also need to incorporate exercising as it is also an important element to maintaining a healthy lifestyle. Living a healthy lifestyle may be demanding but all worth it in the long run.

Here are some tips to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle:

Cravings are our greatest enemy when it comes to maintaining a healthy lifestyle especially when you are just starting on a new diet and a fitness journey. You need to learn how to curb your cravings, this could mean replacing your unhealthy snacks with healthier ones so as keep you safe from temptation. You could also avoid eating out where you can easily relapse and order junks like fries.

As mentioned before, you can replace your snacks with healthier options like fruits, salads and low-fat dairy products. Junk food may be enticing and readily available, but unfortunately your brain doesn’t register them as real food. You might end up eating throughout without reaching your fill.  When you start to feel hungry, drink some water or take a banana. A banana has enough energy to last you all day when you are on a diet.

A strict diet without a fitness plan is almost futile work. To achieve a healthy lifestyle you have to incorporate some form of exercise to burn fats and strengthen your muscles. This doesn’t mean you turn yourself into a gym rat and work your body endlessly, you could have a walk, a run, skip rope a couple of days a week and you are good to go.

You need consistency to achieve your goals. Make sure you are consistent with what you eat, drink and how you exercise. This is a great way to help ensure that you keep up with the healthy lifestyle and also achieve your dream body.

As much as staying healthy is important we also need to fulfill our guilty pleasures once in a while. Schedule a cheat meal once a week or month depending on your tolerance and discipline. Living a healthy lifestyle doesn’t mean you shouldn’t have a little fun. Also, it’s a good way to curb your cravings since you will have a cheat day to look forward to, call it delayed gratification.

What you eat and drink is very important and this does not only apply to what you eat but also how much calories and sugars you are consuming per day. You need to eat more fruits, vegetables, whole grains and proteins. Ensure all your meals are balanced with all the nutrients your body needs and don’t forget your eight glasses of water.

Preparing your daily meals is hard enough as it is, now imagine planning a balanced diet plan. You can’t just call your favorite restaurant for takeaways, you need to be particular with what you eat and be sure you are eating what is healthy.

You can consider planning your meals in advance so as to avoid relapsing to your unhealthy ways or caving takeouts. If you hack this, it becomes easier to stick to a diet since you won’t be struggling to decide meals or end up eating what is available.