Eating and living healthy

Like everything else in life, success does not come while idle. It requires intentional and focused plans to help you achieve whatever your goals are. This principle applies to living a healthy lifestyle. You may be asking, what is considered healthy living? A healthy lifestyle is the type of living that fosters good health and well-being both physically and mentally. It also includes one’s spiritual and emotional well-being. Healthy living helps prevent disease, can lengthen life and supports mental clarity.

Living a healthy life

While the list is large, here are some things you can do to live a healthier lifestyle:

Aim for 7–9 hours of sleep per night.
Intentionally increase your water intake to at least 2 litres a day.
Avoid stressors where it is under your control and find healthy ways of dealing with stress.
Do not smoke.
If you drink alcohol, keep it low: UK guidance is no more than 14 units a week for both men and women, spread over several days, and the World Health Organization advises that no level of drinking is completely risk-free.
Maintain a healthy weight.
Exercise regularly: walk for 150 minutes per week (30 minutes per day, five days a week).
Eat healthy.

Why you should incorporate healthy habits into your lifestyle

Research has shown that people who include all five of these practices in their lifestyle (eating a healthy diet, exercising frequently, keeping a healthy body weight, not smoking and drinking alcohol in moderation) live 14 years longer for women and 12 years longer for men. Adopting even one of these habits has been linked with around two extra years of life. The more healthy habits one had, the longer their life was prolonged. This is absolutely staggering [1–4].

Healthy eating habits

Let’s talk about one habit, healthy eating. In the world of nutrition, we define eating healthy as consuming foods that provide all the necessary nutrients that your body requires per day, also known as a balanced diet. Every day, our bodies require protein, carbohydrates, fats and several micronutrients such as iron, zinc, calcium, magnesium, iodine, potassium, phosphorus, B vitamins and vitamins A, D, E and K. Therefore, a balanced diet consists of foods that contain these nutrients and many others.

I am sure you are now thinking, “That’s a lot of nutrients to eat in one day. How much food do I need to eat to meet my requirements?” Don’t worry, it doesn’t mean grazing all day. Some foods are nutrient dense, which means they contain a high number of different nutrients. This is true for many fruits and vegetables, especially dark green vegetables. I am sure you have heard fruits and vegetables being advocated for since you were a child, and have probably been force-fed vegetables at some point in your life. That is because by eating fruits and vegetables at every meal, you increase your chances of meeting your daily micronutrient requirements.

Protein is found in foods like meat, fish, legumes, nuts, milk and eggs; fat is found in foods like cooking oils, oily fish, avocado and nuts; while carbohydrate is found in rice, grains (maize, sorghum, millet, wheat) and their by-products, and starchy tubers (potatoes, cassava and yam). The UK’s Eatwell Guide gives a helpful picture of the types of foods to include in your daily meals, and the World Health Organization’s healthy diet guidance sets out the same principles.

To optimise your balanced diet, avoid eating highly processed foods, as nutrients are lost during processing; reduce salt intake; reduce or eliminate added sugar, especially sugary drinks; and avoid saturated fats and trans fats.

Your motivation

Even one of these changes has been linked with around two extra years of life. So, make better food decisions, one step at a time.

Interact with us

We would love to hear your thoughts and experiences with incorporating healthy habits into your life with regard to nutrition, wellness, health and fitness. We are also able to help you incorporate healthy food choices to support your condition, whether ill or otherwise healthy. Email info@nuwece.com, or call +265 992 695 507 or +265 887 524 417 (Malawi) or +44 7833 854153 (UK).

Sources

World Health Organization. Healthy diet (fact sheet). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/healthy-diet
World Health Organization. Physical activity (fact sheet). https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/physical-activity
Li Y, Pan A, Wang DD, et al. Impact of healthy lifestyle factors on life expectancies in the US population. Circulation. 2018;138:345–355.
Loef M, Walach H. The combined effects of healthy lifestyle behaviors on all cause mortality: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Preventive Medicine. 2012;55:163–170.
Mehta N, Myrskylä M. The population health benefits of a healthy lifestyle: life expectancy increased and onset of disability delayed. Health Affairs. 2017;36:1495–1502.
Marteau TM. Changing minds about changing behaviour. The Lancet. 2018;391:116–117.
Hirshkowitz M, Whiton K, Albert SM, et al. National Sleep Foundation’s sleep time duration recommendations. Sleep Health. 2015;1:40–43.
UK Chief Medical Officers. UK Chief Medical Officers’ Low Risk Drinking Guidelines. 2016.
WHO Regional Office for Europe. No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health (statement). 2023.
Public Health England. The Eatwell Guide. 2016.

This article is general education and does not replace advice from a health professional.