| How much is enough water? The average person should drink 8 glasses of water per day and an extra glass for every 12 kg (25lbs) overweight. |
I struggle to drink 5 glasses a day, but when I do, I have all systems go and my skin looks younger, because it is plumper.
Drinking enough water can also assist with weight loss, constipation, ‘babelaas’ or hangover.
If you weigh 150 lbs., strive to drink 75 ounces of water daily.
For those who use the Metric system, divide your weight (in kilograms) by 30 (e.g. if you weigh 70 kg you need 2.3 litres per day.
Warning: You can also drink too much water. This can be dangerous, especially if you have kidney problems.
How much is enough sleep?
According to some research the average is 8.1, so anything from 5 – 10 hours per day. If you are feeling sleepy in the afternoon, you may need more than you are getting. Take a 10 minute catnap. Too much sleep can leave you feeling groggy.
There are early risers and late risers that burn the midnight oil. You are the only one that can really work out what your real requirements are. If you start hallucinating, and it is not drug induced, and you are not schizophrenic, my bet is you need some sleep.
Enough exercise:
Exercise is fundamental to a Healthy Lifestyle. I know a number of people who groan at the e-word. The most strenuous exercise they do is to lift their arm to drink their favourite, coffee, soda, booze and to switch channels on the TV. Walking to the car is a “workout”… Just kidding!
Exercise has got a bad name in some circles, but, and, exercise can be fun. Running on a treadmill isn’t fun, but can be almost enjoyable if you’ve got some music or an interesting tape to listen to, but then you are not concentrating on your body, which is the whole idea. Isn’t it?
Find something that you enjoy; dancing, martial arts, swimming, playing ball with the kids, cycling, rollerblading, skiing, skating, bowls, gardening, even walking, as long as it gets the heart-rate up and the body moving. Yoga is a good all over body toner. You can also get exercise by taking the stairs rather than the elevator. Be creative, do plies while you are waiting for the coffee water to boil. Just don’t touch your toes in a short dress with someone standing behind you, it might be seen as an invitation.
Start slow if you haven’t been exercising. You don’t want to injure yourself, but stretch yourself to about 20% out of your comfort zone.
The benefits of exercise are legend. Just remember too much of anything isn’t good either.
The idea is to have sustained effort for at least 20 minutes. You should be doing some heavy breathing. If you are unable to talk, you are overdoing it. As you get fitter you will be able to go further, faster, longer.
Breathing space
Like breathing we need to breathe in and out. For a Healthy lifestyle, we can’t just have activity, we also need to chill, and be inactive - not only when we are asleep. We need to take a break so that we can recoup, re-energize, and regenerate.
| “Live” food Eat food as close as possible to its original form, it has its highest vitamin, mineral and water content in that form. The more it is processed the less nutritious value it has. Eat a variety of food to get as many nutrients as possible. Eat enough, but not too much. If you take in more calories than the body needs, you are going to get fatter to the degree that you overeat. For a Healthy Lifestyle go slow on stimulants like coffee, chocolate and colas. I know it is a lot to ask, but we get angry when people chuck pollutants in the water, we should get angry when we chuck pollutants down our gullet. Convenience food Take-away and convenience foods usually have a higher sugar, salt, fat, preservatives and flavour enhancers content than is necessary, and it is nutritionally challenged. In some cases you may be giving your taste-buds a treat, but definitely not the rest of your body. Keep your convenience food intake to a minimum. If you can, avoid it like the plague. |
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