45 TIPS TO

LIVE A
HEALTHIER
LIFE
by Celestine Chua
www.personalexcellence.co
45 TIPS TO LIVE A
HEALTHIER LIFE

(Image: ElenaGaak)

How healthy are you? Do you have a healthy diet? Do you exercise
regularly? Do you drink at least 8 glasses of water a day? Do you
get enough sleep every day? Do you live a healthy lifestyle?

Our body is our temple and we need to take care of it. Do you know
that over 70% of Americans are either obese or overweight?[1]
That's insane! Think of your body as your physical shell to take you
through life. If you repeatedly abuse it, your shell will wear out
quickly.

Life is beautiful and you don't want to bog yourself down with
unnecessary health problems. Today, your vital organs may be
working well, but they may not be tomorrow. Don't take your health
for granted. Take proper care of your body.

Good health isn't just about healthy eating and exercise — it's also
about having a positive attitude, a positive self-image, and a healthy
lifestyle. In this article, I share 45 tips to live a healthier life.
Bookmark this post and save the tips, because they will be vital to
living a healthier life. :)

1. Drink more water. Most of us don't drink enough water every

day. Water is essential for our bodies to function. Do you know
over 60% of our body is made up of water? Water is needed to
carry out body functions, remove waste, and carry nutrients and
oxygen around our body. Since we lose water daily through urine,
bowel movements, perspiration, and breathing, we need to
replenish our water intake.
 Furthermore, drinking water helps in losing weight. A Health.com
study carried out among overweight or obese people showed that
water drinkers lose 4.5 more pounds than a control group. The
researchers believe that it's because drinking more water helps fill
your stomach, making you less hungry and less likely to overeat.
The amount of water you need depends on your age, weight,
humidity level, and your physical activity. There used to be a
recommendation to drink 8 glasses of water, but in 2004 this
recommendation was removed and healthy adults are
recommended to use thirst to determine their fluid needs.[2] Bear
in mind that food intake contributes to our fluid intake too — fruits,
soups, juices have high water content. How to tell if you need
water: if you have dry lips, dry mouth, or little urination, you're
probably not hydrated enough. Go get some water first before you
continue with this article!
2. Get enough sleep. When you don't rest well, you compensate by
eating more — usually junk food. Get enough rest and you don't
 need to snack to stay awake. Also, lack of sleep causes
premature aging and you don't want that! Read: Having
Insomnia? How to Sleep Soundly Every Night
3. Meditate. Meditation quietens your mind and calms your soul. If
you don't know how to meditate, don't worry — learn to meditate
in 5 simple steps.

4. Exercise. Movement is life. Research has shown that exercising

daily brings tremendous benefits to our health, including an
increase in lifespan, lowering of risk of diseases, higher bone
density, and weight loss. Increase activity in your life. Choose
walking over transport for close distances. Climb the stairs
instead of taking the lift. Join an aerobics class. Take up a sport of
your liking (see tip #5).
5. Pick exercises you enjoy. When you enjoy a sport, you naturally
want to do it. Exercise isn't about suffering and pushing yourself;
it's about being healthy and having fun at the same time. Adding
variation in your exercises will keep them interesting.
6. Work out different parts of your body. Don't just do cardio (like
jogging). Give your body a proper workout. The easiest way is to
 engage in sports since they work out different muscle groups.
Popular sports include basketball, football, swimming, tennis,
squash, badminton, Frisbee, and more.
7. Eat fruits. Fruits have a load of vitamins and minerals. Do you
know that oranges offer more health benefits than Vitamin C pills?
Satisfy your palate with these nutritious fruits: Watermelon,
Apricots, Avocado (yes, avocado is a fruit!), Apple, Cantaloupe,
Grapefruit, Kiwi, Guava, Papaya, Strawberries. If you intend to
consume a lot of fruits at one go, consume fruit with some fats —
such as a dressing, almond butter, olive oil, or avocado — to
reduce the glycemic load. More on glycemic load in tip #29.

(Image: ElenaGaak)
8. Eat vegetables. Vegetables are important for good health with
many important vitamins and minerals. Onion, leek, and garlic are
prebiotics — essential food for good gut bacteria. Spinach, kale,
swiss chard, and turnip greens are dark leafy greens with high
mineral content. Consume a variety of different vegetables for a
large diversity of good gut bacteria, which improves your immune
system. How can you include more vegetables in your diet today?
 9. Eat fermentable fiber. When we eat, we aren't just eating for
ourselves — we are eating for the bacteria in our gut too. In order
for the good bacteria to flourish, we need fermentable fiber, which
is food for the good gut bacteria.

There are two types of fermentable fiber: the soluble type and the
insoluble type. All fruits and vegetables contain some form of
soluble and insoluble fiber. Resistant starch is an important
insoluble fiber (found in unripe bananas and cooked and cooled
rice/potatoes) that helps lower blood sugar levels and improves
insulin sensitivity. It is important to consume naturally occurring
fiber from whole food plant sources. Avoid or cut down on cereal
grains which are regarded as a toxin.

Be careful about eating excessive amounts of fiber as it can

cause digestion and constipation issues, especially for people
with existing gut problems. Excessive fiber intake can cause slow
down colonic transit time (due to bulkier stools), make it more
difficult to move your bowels, which leads to constipation, piles,
anal fissure. It can also cause gas and abdominal bloating.[3] In
extreme cases, it may even result in intestinal bacteria overgrowth
and diverticulosis.[4] Read: Myths and Truths About Fiber
10. Pick different-colored fruits/vegs. Fruits/Vegetables with bright
colors are usually high in anti-oxidants. Anti-oxidants are good for
health because they remove free radicals that damage our cells.
Eat fruits/vegetables of different colors: White (Bananas), Yellow
(Pineapples, Mango), Orange (Orange, Papaya), Red (Apple,
Strawberries, Tomatoes, Watermelon), Green (Avocado, Lettuce,
Cucumber), Purple/Blue (Blackberries, Prunes). Here's a full list
under the color wheel.
 (Image: wasaitax)
11. Get your macro-nutrients. Macro-nutrients are nutrients needed
in bulk amounts to ensure normal growth, metabolism, and well-
being of our bodies. The 3 macro-nutrients needed by humans
are carbohydrates (sugar), proteins (amino acids), and fats
(lipids). There are many funky diets today from high/low carb to
high/low protein to high/low fat. We need carbohydrates, proteins,
and fats (known as macro-nutrients) for a healthy body. Carbs
give us immediate energy. Proteins help repair tissues, heal
wounds, and create enzymes and hormones. Fat is needed to
build cell membranes; for blood clotting, muscle movement, and
inflammation; and to absorb certain vitamins and minerals.

Be careful of fad diets. Eat a diet with a well-rounded distribution

of macro-nutrients (40% carbs, 30% proteins, 30% fats, vs. being
skewed to one particular group). In a study of pre-diabetics, those
on a "high protein" diet (defined as 40% carb, 30% protein, 30%
fat) resulted in 100% remission of pre-diabetes to normal glucose
 tolerance, while those on a high carb diet (defined as 55% carb,
15% protein, 30% fat) resulted in only 33% remission.[5]

(Image: AgileLeanLife)
12. Get your micro-nutrients. While macro-nutrients provide our
bodies with the bulk energy to function, we need micro-nutrients,
i.e., vitamins and minerals, to orchestrate a range of physiological
functions.[6] Deficiency in any vitamin or mineral will cause dire
effects on our body. Make sure to eat a range of different food to
meet your micro-nutrient needs. Eating different food also
ensures you have a diverse set of gut flora, which is important for
optimal health. Here is a list of micro-nutrients needed by our
body.
13. Cut down on processed food. Processed food is not good
because (a) most nutritional value is lost in the creation of these
foods and (b) the added preservatives are bad for our health.
Many processed foods contain a high amount of salt, which leads
to higher blood pressure and heart disease. In general, the more
ingredients a food has on the label (ending with 'ite' or 'ate'), the
 more processed it is. Eating 50 grams of processed meat a day
has also been found to increase the risk of colorectal cancer by
18%.[7] Go for less processed food, such as a baked potato over
chips, a fresh fruit over canned fruit, steamed fish over canned
fish, or organic produce over food with high preservatives.
14. Choose white meat. Cut out red meat. Red meat has been
repeatedly established to increase colon cancer risk.[8][9] Cut out
red meat (or at the very least, limit your consumption). Substitute
red meat with white meat such as chicken and fish. Increase your
fish intake which seems protective against cancer. Fish also has
healthy fats, a large source of omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and
vitamin D.
15. Go for healthy fats. As mentioned in #11, fat is a macro-nutrient
and is essential to a healthy body. Fat is not the enemy — trans
and saturated fats are. And trans/saturated fats are in many
products today. We need healthy fats which are monounsaturated
and polyunsaturated fat. Here's the low down on fats:
Avoid trans fat (Bad fats): Increases harmful LDL cholesterol
and reduces beneficial HDL cholesterol. Common sources:
Solid margarine, commercial cookies, and pastries, fast-food
French fries, "partially hydrogenated oil" in food ingredients.
Limit/Avoid saturated fat (Bad fats): A diet rich in saturated
fats can drive up total cholesterol, and tip the balance toward
more harmful LDL cholesterol, blocking arteries. Common
sources: Red meat, whole milk and other whole-milk dairy
foods, cheese, coconut oil, many commercially prepared baked
goods and other foods.
Take monounsaturated fats (Good fats): Common sources:
Olive oil, peanut oil, canola oil, avocados, most nuts, high-oleic
safflower and sunflower oils.
Take polyunsaturated fats (Good fats): Polyunsaturated fats
are essential fats. They are required for normal body functions
 but your body can't make them, so you must get them from
food. These fats lower LDL and triglycerides and boost
cholesterol profile. Common sources: Salmon, mackerel, and
sardines, flaxseeds, walnuts, canola oil, unhydrogenated
soybean oil.

Clockwise, from top-left: Olive Oil, Avocado, Walnut, Flaxseed,

Salmon. These are good fats we should include in our diet.
(Image: Roberta Sorge, Alison Marras , USDAgov, Agto
Nugroho, and Marco Verch)

16. Love yourself. How much do you love yourself on a scale of 1-

10? Why? How can you love yourself more starting today? Read:
How to Develop a Positive Body Image (series)
 (Image: Andrea Haase)
17. Go barefoot walking/running. There are many benefits of
barefoot walking/running, from better posture, less stress for your
feet, less stress for your joints, etc. If the terrain in your
neighborhood is too sharp, wear barefoot shoes. I've been
running barefoot since May 2010 and loving it. Read: 10 Reasons
To Run Barefoot
18. Purge negativity from your life.
Purge negative people. Positive mental health is part of a
healthy life. You don't need toxic people in your life. If you feel
that a friend is overly critical or negative, let him/her go. If
you're dealing with backstabbers, let them go too. Check out:
8 Tips to Tackle Naysayers
8 Helpful Ways to Deal with Critical People
8 Tips to Deal with Backstabbers

Purge negativity from yourself. You don't need negativity

from yourself either. Listen to the thoughts that come up and
get rid of your negative thoughts. Sometimes people eat when
 they are unhappy, so by staying positive, you remove an
unhealthy dependency on food. One great way to remove your
negativity is to brain dump when you feel frustrated. I do this
with my clients, where I ask them to write out their deepest
thoughts so that we can address them. Watch: How to Stay
Positive All the Time [Video]

19. Avoid trigger foods. Trigger foods make you go berserk and
binge after you eat them. Everyone's trigger foods are different
(mine used to be doughnuts, pastries, and chips), but generally
trigger foods are candy bars, chocolate, confectionery, chips,
cookies, or anything with a high level of refined sugar, salt, or
flour. These foods cause a blood sugar imbalance, hence
triggering one to eat more. What are your trigger foods? Identify
them and remove them from your diet.
20. Breathe. Deeply. Oxygen is vital for life. You may know how to
breathe, but are you breathing properly? Most of us don't breathe
properly — we take shallow breaths and breathe to 1/3 of our lung
capacity. Athletes are coached proper breathing techniques to get
their best performance. A full breath is one where your lungs are
completely filled, your abdomen expands, and there's minimum
movement in your shoulders. Watch: Breathe to Heal [Video]
 (Image: altafulla)
21. Improve your posture. Good posture improves your breathing
(see tip #20) and makes you look smarter and more attractive.
Read more: Benefits Of a Good Posture (And 13 Tips To Get
One)
22. Address emotional eating issues. Emotional eating is eating to
fill an emotion rather than real hunger. Do you eat when you feel
stressed out, down or frustrated? Do you reach out for food when
you hit a block at work? Chances are, you're emotional eating.
However, emotional eating will never make you feel happy
because you're trying to fill a void that has nothing to do with food.
Food doesn't give you love or happiness; it's just food. Why do
you reach for food when you're down? How can you address it?
Get to the root of the issue and address it. Read: How to Stop
Emotional Eating (series)
23. Eat small meals. Choose several small meals over huge meals.
This evens out your energy distribution. It's also better for your
stomach because it doesn't over-stretch from digesting a huge
volume of food at one go, which can lead to a hiatus hernia. In
 general, eat when you feel hungry, and stop when you're full (see
tip #24). You don't need to wait until official meal times before you
start eating. Listen to your body and what it tells you.

24. Stop eating when you feel full. Many of us rely on external cues
to tell when we're full, such as whether everyone has finished
eating or whether your plate is empty. These are irrelevant: you
should look at internal cues, such as whether your stomach feels
full or not. Don't eat just because there's food on the plate. I stop
when I feel about 3/4 full — if I eat till I'm totally full, I feel bloated.
Listen to your gut and learn when it's time to stop!
25. Live a life of purpose. Positive health starts from within! Are you
living a life of meaning? Are you living in line with your purpose?
Since I started living my purpose, I've never been happier. And
you can experience that too. Read: Discover Your Purpose in Life
(series)
26. Cut down on deep-fried food. Deep-fried food contains
acrylamide, a potential cancer-causing chemical. According to a
BBC report, an ordinary bag of crisps may contain up to 500 times
more of the substance than the top level allowed in drinking water
 by the World Health Organisation (WHO)! When I consume oily
foods, I feel sluggish. Go for food prepared using healthier
methods instead, such as grilled, steamed, stir-fried, or even raw
food. Reduce your intake of fast food, fries, doughnuts, chips,
wedges, and deep-fried food.
27. Cut down on sugary food/drinks.
Sugary food. These are your candy bars, pastries, chocolate,
cookies, cakes, and jelly donuts. Not only do they not fill you,
but they trigger you to eat more due to the sugar rush. Eating
once in a while is okay, but not daily. Go for healthy snacks
instead.
Soda and sugary drinks. Soda is unhealthy, causes weight
gain, and is an artificial stimulant. Go for plain water, green tea,
or vegetable juices instead! Read more: 5 Reasons To Quit
Soda (And How to Do It)

(Image: Travis)

28. Don't drink alcohol. Like caffeine, alcohol is a diuretic. Not only
that, but alcohol is repeatedly proven to have negative effects on
 our body and health — impacting the proper functioning of our
brain, liver, lungs, and other major organs. If you drink alcohol
regularly, it's time to cut it out, or at the very least, reduce your
consumption.
29. Watch out on glycemic index/load. Glycemic index is an index
that indicates the ability of a carbohydrate food to increase
glucose level in the blood. 100 represents pure glucose, which
means rapid digestion and absorption of glucose into the
bloodstream. Eating food with high GI creates sugar spikes and
will lead to diabetes in the long run. A GI of 55 or lower is
considered low. High GI foods include mashed potato (>80), white
bread (>70), white bagel (72), white rice (65), Coke (63).

However, glycemic index is only one part of the story — we need

to look at the glycemic load, which tells us how high our blood
sugar rises when we consume the food, depending on the amount
consumed. Glycemic load is calculated by multiplying GI by the
amount of carbs consumed, divided by 100. A glycemic load of 10
or below is considered low; 20 or above is considered high.

For this reason, fruits have high GI but a low glycemic load for the
quantity normally consumed. For example, watermelon has a high
GI of 80. But a serving of watermelon has so little carbs (6 grams)
that its glycemic load is only 5. Eating a food with a low GI but in
large quantity is similarly unhealthy. Macaroni has a GI of 50 but
the usual serving of 180 grams will lead to a glycemic load of 24.
You can lower the glycemic load of a food by pairing it with fat and
protein. Here is a list of glycemic index/load for 100+ foods.
30. Go organic. Organic foods are foods produced without synthetic
inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain
genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using
irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives. (Wiki)
 The organic movement is slowly catching on, with more
supermarkets offering organic options. Organic food tends to cost
more, but hey — would you rather save some money and feed
your body with pesticides or pay a few extra dollars for a cleaner,
healthier body?
31. Prepare your meals. Whenever I can, I try to prepare my meals.
When you prepare your meals, you control what goes into them,
rather than choosing between sub-optimal choices in a restaurant.
Get quality kitchen equipment — it will be your best investment
ever. Having a blender makes it a breeze to make your
fruit/vegetable juices! Having a small oven makes baking and
heating food so easy.

32. Learn to say no. Don't eat just because you're out with friends or
because other people offer you food. Simply say no and say
you're not hungry if you don't feel like eating. Read: How to Say
No
33. Bring a water bottle when you go out. That way, you can drink
whenever you want. It saves you money and you don't need to
resort to bad alternatives like soda.
34. Eat what you need. It is better to eat less and in line with your
energy needs, rather than eat excessively and work off excess
calorie intake through exercise. When you eat excessively, you
strain your digestive system by making it digest more food than
you need, and when you exercise excessively, you strain your
body.
35. Stop smoking. Smoking is detrimental to health, severely
increases the risk of lung cancer, kidney cancer, esophageal
cancer (of our gullet), heart attack, and more. Smoking "lite"
cigarettes do not decrease health risks either. If you're a smoker,
quit not just for yourself, but for your family and friends. If you
don't smoke, stay that way and don't start. Read: What Happens
When You Quit Smoking [Infographic]

(Image: Curtis Perry)

36. Avoid passive smoking. Second-hand smoking (breathing in air
from smokers) causes many of the same long-term diseases as
direct smoking (Wiki). Did you know? According to the CDC
(Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), there is no risk-free
level of passive smoking; even brief exposure can be harmful to
 health. Get away from smokers and avoid cigarette smoke where
you can.
37. Have healthy snacks. If you're hungry at work, eat healthy
snacks like fruits, vegetable juices, and yogurts. These are
nutritional and don't give you that sugar rush. Have them readily
available so that you can get a munch and stop when you have
your fill. Stay away from cookies and candy bars.

(Image: Liv friis-larsen)

38. Juice/Blend. Juicing/Blending is a great way to get vitamins and
nutrients from fruits/vegetables quickly. Juicing is where you
extract the juice using a juicing machine, removing the fiber. With
blending, the fiber is not filtered away so you're drinking the juice
and fiber.

For fruits, I recommend using a blender as juicing removes the

fiber of the fruit and creates large sugar spikes due to the loss of
fiber. If you have a lot of vegetables, use juicing as it's a great way
to get the nutrients without munching through a huge volume of
fiber. Juices and smoothies complement each other — juices give
 our digestive system a break while blending retains fiber from
fruits/vegetables which feeds the friendly bacteria in the gut. If
you're new to juicing, learn more about it here and check out
these sample juicing recipes.
39. Go for checkups. Many diseases don't show up in terms of
symptoms until it is too late. Blood tests for blood sugar, vitamins,
and minerals, along with urine tests are standard tests you can
take. More elaborate tests like mammograms (for women), PAP
smear (for women), colonoscopy, etc. should be done at the
recommended intervals. If the test results are not optimal, it
means that you can quickly take corrective action. If they are
great, that's fantastic and you can have a peace of mind.

(Image: Stethoscope)
40. Supplement your diet.
Vitamins/Minerals. Even when we eat healthily, there will be
times when we lack certain vitamins/minerals. For example,
foods with certain vitamins/minerals may be uncommon in your
diet. Even though a vegan diet has health benefits, it lacks
essential vitamins and minerals like Vitamin B12 and Omega 3
(EPA/DHA). This can be resolved by taking supplements.
Understand the gaps and address them via your diet. If not
possible, take supplements to address these gaps.
Prebiotics. Prebiotics is important for good gut bacteria to
flourish. Research increasingly shows a link between gut flora
and overall health. Prebiotic foods include raw onion, raw leek,
raw garlic, potato starch, and unripe bananas. Read: 19
Prebiotic Foods | How Resistant Starch Will Help to Make You
Healthier and Thinner
Probiotics. In addition to prebiotics, take probiotics which are
good gut bacteria. Taking probiotics adds good bacteria to your
gut, while prebiotics is like fertilizer for good gut bacteria that's
already there. Probiotic foods include yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut,
tempeh, kimchi, miso, kombucha, certain types of cheese
(cheddar, swiss, parmesan, gouda), and pickles. If you have
difficulty eating probiotic food on a regular basis, you can take
a daily probiotics supplement. Different brands work for
different people, so get a good brand and alternate until you
find one that works for you. Be sure to take it during / right after
a meal, or your stomach acid will kill the probiotics before they
reach your small/large intestines. Read: When Should You
Take Probiotics?
Green powders. As mentioned in tip #8, vegetables contain
many vitamins and minerals for good health. But it may be
difficult for some to consume a wide variety of vegetables
where you live. Green powders are a blend of antioxidants,
enzymes, amino acids, essential fatty acids, and
phytonutrients, sourced from a range of vegetables. This lets
you get a high serving of vegetables along with their
antioxidant/nutritious content on a regular basis. Research and
get a good brand as there are knock-offs with synthetic
 ingredients. Common green powder brands are Super Greens,
Garden of Life, and Athletic Greens.

41. Experiment. The best way to know what works for you is to
experiment. Rather than subscribe yourself to one diet, try
different foods and see how your body responds. Most importantly
— research and tweak your diet based on what you learn. I enjoy
reading health journals as I can read the information directly from
the source vs. news articles or editorials which often serve an
agenda.
42. Get out more often. If you have a 9-5, chances are you spend
much of your time holed up in the office and not a lot of time going
out and having fun. During weekends, you're probably busy with
work or running errands. Make a point to go out with your friends
at least once a week. Get some sun. Go out and have a change
of environment. It'll be great for your body and soul.
43. Exercise good dental hygiene. Not only does good hygiene
make you a lot more desirable, but it is linked to better health.
Brush your teeth twice a day, rinse your mouth after each meal,
and floss your teeth at night. Read: How to Attain Healthier Gums
and Teeth: Path To Better Oral Hygiene
 (Image: kurhan)
44. Join classes. Dance classes, aerobics classes, tennis classes,
ballroom dancing, scuba diving, and wakeboarding courses are all
places to start. Going there also lets you socialize with a new
group of people.
45. Hang out with healthy people. You're the average of the 5
people you spend the most time with, so the more time you spend
around healthy people, the better it is. Dine with people who are
health conscious and get workout buddies. It makes healthy living
more fun! :)

Which health tips are most applicable for you right now? These are
timeless tips, so bookmark this article and integrate these tips into
your life. Share these tips with your family and friends to help them
stay healthy.

Be sure to check out my 14-Day Healthy Living Challenge: Healthy

Living Challenge Overview
Get the manifesto version of this article: [Manifesto] The Healthy
Living Manifesto

Images: Fruits, Salad bar, Pink hearts, Legumes, Soda drinks,

Home-prepared meal, Fruits, Stethoscope, Salad, Woman brushing
teeth
ABOUT

Hi, I'm Celestine Chua, the founder of

PersonalExcellence.co, one of the top
personal development blogs with readers
from over 200 countries/territories.

The central goal of my work is to help

you create your most powerful existence
on Earth, by your definition. If you like
this ebook, you will love the other content
at PersonalExcellence.co. Just some
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101 Ways to Live Your Best Life

101 Ways To Be a Better Person
The Map of Consciousness
8 Tips to Deal With Critical People
How to Say No: Guide for Busy People
How to Finish What You Start
7 Beliefs Limiting You in Life
How to Discover Your Life Purpose (series)
How to Improve Relationship with Your Parents (series)

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