Avoid Chronic Illness With Our Top 10 Healthy Lifestyle Tips

By Ruth Dekker

As a parent and breadwinner it is one of your first duties to both you and your family to stay physically healthy and avoid the long and ugly list of chronic illness that you could fall victim to, including cancer, heart attacks, organ failure, strokes etc.

Medical aids, life insurance and chronic illness cover might provide you with the financial protection you need but you will never be able to protect your family from the emotional and psychological trauma of a serious illness. I could share the terrifying true life experiences of affected families or list a string of statistics about how likely you are to suffer from some horrible disease before you turn 60. But I am not going to, because this article is about the positive. It is about the 10 simple things that you can do to stay healthy. For you, and your family.

1. Quit smoking and limit your alcohol intake

2. Exercise for at least 20 minutes three times a week

3. Drink lots of water and do not drink diet drinks or any other soft drinks except diluted, pure fruit juice

4. Avoid processed foods - eat your foods as close to their original state as possible. For example eat a bowl of oats for breakfast and not a sugar-laden breakfast cereal

5. Avoid saturated fats - these are the fats found mainly in animal products: meat, dairy and eggs

6. Eat a variety of fruit and vegetable every day - preferably organic and only lightly cooked

7. Avoid red meat, rather eat lean chicken and fish

8. Avoid sugar and limit your intake of salt

9. Eat a lot of nuts, pulses, legumes and grains

10. Never skip breakfast and eat small regular meals.

Remember the food you eat can be your poison or your medicine - the choice is yours. With the right food choices good health is within your reach.

Good health is not about reaching your goal weight or building muscles at the gym. Good health is a way of life that we should teach our children by example. It is about giving our body the fuel it needs and then using that body, actively, every day. Good health is about being able to prevent illness. Good health supports an active mind, good focus and concentration. And lastly, a healthy body equals a happy mind, with the link between health, a sensible diet and good mood well documented.

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