How I Changed My Life with 3 Health Habits: Diet, Exercise, and Rest

After 6 months I feel much better!

In this article, I’ll share the changes in my life to go from an unhealthy feeling to feeling energized and confident in my own skin. This started a few months ago when I got my yearly health check-up results. It was worse than any check-up before: high cholesterol, high triglycerides, everything was out of the healthy boundaries… Furthermore, I was in a vicious cycle of poor sleeping, feeling tired in the mornings and struggling to wake up for work. Now, after changing my diet and my exercise and resting routine, I feel much better and full of energy. I hope that my story will inspire and motivate you to take control of your own health and well-being.

Diet

Food is one of the key factors for your health and well-being. You are what you eat, so why don’t you care about your daily menu? And I’m not talking about miracle diets or supplements. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), this is a healthy diet for adults:

- At least 400 g (i.e. five portions) of fruit and vegetables per day (2), excluding potatoes, sweet potatoes, cassava and other starchy roots.

- Less than 10% of total energy intake from free sugars (2, 7), which is equivalent to 50 g (or about 12 level teaspoons) for a person of healthy body weight consuming about 2000 calories per day, but ideally is less than 5% of total energy intake for additional health benefits (7). Free sugars are all sugars added to foods or drinks by the manufacturer, cook or consumer, as well as sugars naturally present in honey, syrups, fruit juices and fruit juice concentrates.

- Less than 30% of total energy intake from fats (1, 2, 3). Unsaturated fats (found in fish, avocado and nuts, and in sunflower, soybean, canola and olive oils) are preferable to saturated fats (found in fatty meat, butter, palm and coconut oil, cream, cheese, ghee and lard) and trans-fats of all kinds, including both industrially-produced trans-fats (found in baked and fried foods, and pre-packaged snacks and foods, such as frozen pizza, pies, cookies, biscuits, wafers, and cooking oils and spreads) and ruminant trans-fats (found in meat and dairy foods from ruminant animals, such as cows, sheep, goats and camels). It is suggested that the intake of saturated fats be reduced to less than 10% of total energy intake and trans-fats to less than 1% of total energy intake (5). In particular, industrially-produced trans-fats are not part of a healthy diet and should be avoided (4, 6).

- Less than 5 g of salt (equivalent to about one teaspoon) per day (8). Salt should be iodized.

But that doesn’t mean I’m weighing grams and counting calories… I’m just trying to increase the consumption of fruits, vegetables, and legumes and reduce the consumption of red meat. I’m also trying to avoid sugar and alcohol.

Exercise

Exercise is another healthy habit that can make a difference in your life. The WHO recommends different amounts of exercise time depending on the activity. For example, 75–150 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity is recommended throughout the week. For me, I used to run when I was young, so I decided to run 2–3 times a week. Some weeks I also swim a day, especially during the winter when running on the street is not so pleasant. This routine is tough at the beginning, but after a couple of months, you feel you need it. To this day, I lost up to 10 kg thanks to exercise and diet.

Rest

My bad rest routine was the reason I was always tired. I used to be sleepy all mornings, and I used to try to solve it by drinking coffee. However, the results were I was still sleepy during the morning, but I was completely awake during the evening and at night. I wasn’t able to sleep well because I was not tired, so this problem was repeated again the following day.

I changed this when I started my exercise routine when I started to go to bed really tired. Also, It helped me a lot to avoid mobile phones and TV an hour before going to sleep. Now, I usually read a book or cook my meal for the following day before going to sleep, which makes me fall asleep really fast.

By focusing on these three health habits, I’ve been able to feel better in a few months. However, I have to admit that the hardest part is to be consistent and don’t give up after a couple of weeks. Results won’t happen overnight, but if you are patient and take your time, I promise you will notice the difference.

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