Nutrition and Lifestyle Health

Maintaining a healthy, active lifestyle and eating properly are vital to looking and feeling your best! While best practices for nutrition vary from patient-to-patient based on individual needs, goals, and lifestyles, there are many things you can do to kick-start your health and get on the right track.

Diet

We all know that diet fads, plans, and advice change regularly, and it can be extremely difficult to know what is worth trying, which foods to keep in your diet, and how different foods and nutrients interact to affect your health. In general, it is recommended to draw a diet plan from a wide variety of food groups. A diet plan rich in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy helps to ensure that your body receives the nutrients it needs, while avoiding highly processed, salty, or fat-laden foods will help your body to function at its best and promote better energy levels!

Some basic diet practices that can positively impact your health include:

• Eating raw fruits and vegetables! The process of cooking plant-based foods can result in the loss of nutritional value, so eating these foods raw ensures that your body gets their full benefits.
• Consumption of healthy fats, which can come from foods and ingredients like olive oil, eggs, avacados, coconut oil, and nuts.
• Replacing sweetened drinks like soda and juice with water, which reduces calorie intake and helps to flush your body of toxins.
• When consuming carbohydrates, try to stick to complex carbohydrates, which contain more fiber and take longer to break down into glucose. Examples of food rich in complex carbohydrates include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and beans.

A healthy diet can help manage and control diseases such as heart disease, cancer, obesity, and diabetes, and is proven to have beneficial aesthetic impacts such as healthy hair, skin, and nails!

Exercise

Regular physical activity is proven to help improve your health, fitness, and can help to reduce the risk of a wide range of chronic diseases. The typical recommendation for overall cardiovascular health in adults is 150 minutes a week of moderate activity or 75 minutes per week of vigorous exercise. (Or, say, 30 minutes a day, five times a week).

Recommendations for exercise levels vary based on your individual needs, health, goals, and lifestyle. One simple way to begin to improve your health is to start walking! Walking programs are flexible and easy to stick with, and can additionally be made into a social and fun activity for you to enjoy with your family or friends.

Here at DelMed Health, we would be happy to see you and discuss fitness and nutrition options that will suit your time, lifestyle, budget, and nutritional goals!