Lifestyle Habits of the Youth

Our youth is considered the healthiest time of our lives, when our body is at the best of its strength. This is the right time to maintain it in its ideal state by making the right food choices and staying physically active. But we are busy working hard achieving our goals, as we desire to stay ahead in the cut-throat competition. In order to achieve this, we end up hurting our body and our health on a daily basis.

Few of our lifestyle choices are impulsive that can have an enormous effect on our energy levels, appearance, and health in the long run. The fit habit here is to recognise the importance of when to draw the line and moderate these indulgences to enjoy a long happy life.

All of us are well aware of the benefits of exercise and how it helps us stay strong and fit, boosts energy and reduces stress. Yet, we fail to get the recommended amount of daily physical activity because of our jobs and family commitments. When coupled with a healthy diet, intense exercising for 30 minutes a day is enough to promote good lifestyle.

Emotional Eating Habits

Food and mood share more than just three common alphabets. What we choose to eat when we are happy, differs from what we eat, when we are stressed or depressed. Eating for reasons other than hunger or satiating appetite is called emotional eating. We often turn to food for comfort when we are emotionally stressed. Unfortunately, emotional eating doesn't fix emotional problems. Tell yourself that it's okay to feel sad, mad, scared or tired; after all, we are human beings.

Approach your negative feelings with kindness. Your body will begin to understand that it no longer has to overeat to protect you from your feelings. Even if you are in the middle of a binge, try allowing yourself to fully enjoy it. Savour every bite. The more focused you are on how good it feels to eat, the harder it will be to overeat. Many times emotional eating is just our body’s attempt at experiencing pleasure. Eat real, healthy, and nourishing foods whenever you experience physical hunger. Stock your fridge with delicious and healthy foods.

It’s all quite interesting, yet it is imperative that you listen to your body, maintain a food diary and recognise your food habits, in order to change your emotional eating patterns. Easy, isn’t it?

Importance of Detoxification

Regular detoxification is very important for us to maintain good health and a radiant skin. We indulge in junk food from time to time, but with other unhealthy habits that we follow, it is essential to detox at least once a week or a fortnight. Just like meditation for the mind, for the body, we detox, after all, it is important that we give our digestive tracts a rest once in a while. And the best part is, after a day of detox, the food consumed the next day gets assimilated very well. Initially, one may find it difficult, but with enough discipline, this fit habit becomes easy.

A healthy detox option can be fruits and milk (3 glasses) through the day, just make sure no grains are consumed. In summers however, it’s a lot easier to do detoxes. The fruits available keep you full and can be taken in the form of a fruit salad as well. Try avoiding salt on your detox day. And since coconut water is readily available, you can always swap it with milk instead.

Late Night Bingeing Options

There is nothing more comforting than a midnight snack from time to time. But if you truly must, make sure you’re doing it right. More than often, late night bingeing occurs if you are up until the early hours of the morning or if you’ve eaten dinner several hours before going to sleep. Ideally, one should prevent late night bingeing whenever possible.

You can stack your home or workplace with healthy snacking options such as yoghurt, fruits with low sugar such as papaya, apple, grapefruit and berries and unsalted nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pistachios, cottage cheese and natural peanut butter. Combinations such as fruit and yoghurt, fruit and cottage cheese, apple and natural peanut butter, celery and natural peanut butter or a fruit and a handful of almonds, help release serotonin, the feel happy hormone that helps you relax and sleep better at night. So, snack at night if you can’t avoid it, but snack wisely.