Valentin Bosioc
There’s plenty of hyper-specific workout and fitness advice out there on the internet. From Yoga poses that can help you boost your immunity to must-have items for working out at home, it’s easy to get wrapped up in the minutiae of nearly every aspect of staying in shape. That doesn’t mean that you should overlook the broad strokes, though, and almost every healthy lifestyle starts with observing some very general fitness/health tips that cover a lot of mileage. Here’s what you should be keeping in mind.
Tip #1: Emphasize Nutrition
Health and fitness experts have written entire tomes about the role of nutrition in overall health, and yet, it’s still something that many people overlook. According to the Department Of Health And Human Services, the typical American diet exceeds the recommended intake levels for calories from fats and sugars, refined grains, sodium, and saturated fats. At the same time, Americans or more likely to eat “less than the recommended amounts of vegetables, fruits, whole-grains, dairy products, and oils.” Combined with the fact that access to fast food has more than doubled since the 70s, and that near 23 million Americans live in so-called “food deserts,” areas more than a mile from a supermarket, and the result (an estimated 78 million obese adults and 12.5 million obese children) is not too difficult to fathom.
READ: BELIEVE IT OR NOT, Your POOP Can Tell If You Are Healthy or Not!
The solution, however, is fairly simple: emphasize proper nutrition. In general, diets that cut back on sugars and put the focus on natural foods that forego large quantities of added chemicals are the way to go. There are plenty of resources available to help with meal planning and concocting the best nutritional plan for your goals, but the general advice remains the same: pay attention to what you’re eating and your health will improve for it.
Tip #2: Stay Consistent With Your Workouts
As sources like Lifehacker also point out, missing even a couple of days of a workout routine is enough to cripple your motivation and stop your fitness goals dead in their tracks. They key to staying consistent? There are subtle details that will vary from individual to individual, but the overarching wisdom is to keep things exciting.
Perhaps being around other people makes you more likely to stick with your routine? Join a class, then. Maybe there’s some workout equipment that really gets you pumped? Make sure you have it around. Even if you’re living that poor student life, there are ways to ship all your gear through USA & International, so there are few to no excuses for having everything you need to make workouts worthwhile.
Tip #3: Stay On Top Of Your Health
READ: Top Problems People Encounter In Their Workout Routines
One final bit of advice that, like the others, appears obvious but can go overlooked in many instances—checking up on your health. Just as important as eating right and exercising is getting checked out by your physician, and preempting any health woes before they have a chance to spiral out of control. There are plenty of low-cost health insurance companies out there that can make taking care of medical issues more manageable, and few reasons to not follow up on such issues to help achieve your optimal level of fitness.
