A Basic Introduction to Healthy Living

It is likely that you probably think of certain things when you think of healthy living. Here are a few things that may come to mind:

* Eating well
* Being thin
* Exercising regularly
* Getting enough sleep
* Visiting your natural healthcare provider for annual checkups

All of these "touchstone" issues can be major factors in healthy living, but often they can obscure the real issues that may be preventing you from living a truly healthy lifestyle. For example, many research studies show that it is not necessarily how thin or how fat you are that determines how healthy you are, but rather the lifestyle that has led you to be that way. Often, slightly heavier people who eat more responsibly than thin ones actually live longer and healthier lives. They can be more active and experience less physical strain on their bodies than their thinner counterparts. This is just one example of a way that our cultural perception of "healthy living" may actually be leading us astray.

In order to truly live a healthy lifestyle, you need to understand what you are undertaking when you decide to pursue this goal. A healthy lifestyle often leads to many desirable things, including a longer lifespan, higher levels of activity, more fulfilling existence and multiple options about where you go and how you get there in life in general. To determine what type of lifestyle will be the healthiest for you, you need to determine several things before you get started:

· Know your ideal diet

Eating right is important, but people's bodies react to food differently. Your personal preferences and health issues will determine what you should put in your mouth and how much of it you should be eating.

· Determine what vitamin regimen is right for you

While you are evaluating your dietary habits, evaluate your vitamin and mineral intake as well. Vitamins, like diets, should be customized to fit your unique body and health requirements.

· Take a hard look at your "healthy" habits

You may be doing "healthy" things that are actually hard on your system. The wrong diet, the wrong types of exercise and a number of other "healthy" activities that our culture says are good for us may actually be stressing your body out because you are not uniquely suited to these activities.

Healthy living is important, and it can be difficult to master if you have spent a lifetime misunderstanding the meaning of the words "healthy lifestyle." However, you will be amazed at what you have been missing once you find the healthy way of life that is perfectly suited to you.