Healthy Lifestyle – Ultimate Guide

Healthy Lifestyle Definition?

Most of us have a pretty good idea what a healthy lifestyle might look like. But is there actually a definition? Here is what we found:

Healthy Lifestyle Definition of the WHO

The World Health Organization includes the following three aspects in their definition. A way of living:

1. that lowers the risk of being seriously ill or dying early.
2. which helps you enjoy more aspects of your life
3. that helps your whole family.”

Healthy Lifestyle Definition Oxford Reference

“A lifestyle which includes activities and habits that encourage the development of total physical, mental, and spiritual fitness, and which reduces the risk of major illness. Healthy activities and habits include regular exercise; a balanced, nutritious diet; adequate sleep and relaxation; abstaining from smoking and taking nonessential drugs; and moderating the intake of alcohol.”

Healthy Lifestyle Definition Wikipedia

“A healthy lifestyle is one which helps to keep and improve people’s health and well-being and overcome lots of stress.”

Healthy Lifestyle Definition healthline.com

“A healthy lifestyle simply means doing things that make you happy and feel good.”

A Holistic Healthy Lifestyle Definition of Healthylifestyleflorida.com

In general, “lifestyle” refers to personal behaviors and habits such as exercise or eating habits,

A healthy lifestyle is defined as creating smart habits and lifestyle choices that contribute to our long-term mental, physical, social, spiritual, financial and emotional well-being. 

History of A Healthy Lifestyle

Healthy lifestyle has a very long history.  According to wikipedia “In Ancient Greece and Rome, disease was literally understood as dis-ease, or physical imbalance. Medical intervention, therefore, was purposed with the goal of restoration of harmony rather than waging a war against disease.[1] Surgery was regarded by Greek and Roman physicians as extreme and damaging while prevention was seen as the crucial first step to healing almost all ailments. In both prevention and treatment of disease in classical medicine, food and diet was central. The eating of correctly-balanced foods made up the majority of preventative treatment as well as to restore harmony to the body after it encountered disease.” This means that people in ancient times already focused on making smart lifestyle choices. 

Traditional Chinese medicine also considers healthy food choices as an essential part of a person’s well-being.

Another exciting early sign of a healthy lifestyle can be found in Ayurveda. “Ayurveda, a traditional system of medicine that originated over three millennia ago in the South Asian region, offers extensive insights about food and health based on certain unique conceptual as well as theoretical positions.”

In modern times the history of a healthy lifestyle started At Harvard .“The School’s Department of Nutrition, founded in 1942, was the first such department in a medical or public health school in the world that started research on the health benefits and hazards of proteins and fats.

How To Live A Healthy Lifestyle?

If you have another look at the holistic healthy lifestyle definition of healthylifestyleflorida.com it is easy to understand that there is not one way of living a healthy lifestyle. Instead, making smart lifestyle choices is a way of life where we find out what works best for everyone of us. 

Is There a Difference Between a Healthy Lifestyle and Self-Care?

Self-care is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle. The reason is that self-care means that we invest time in our well-being.

But a healthy lifestyle also means making the right choices for our long-term well-being.

How To Start or Adopt a  Healthy Lifestyle? 

Emotional Steps to Start  a Healthy Lifestyle

• Try bonding with a  horse.
• Improve your resilience.
• Find a role model.
• Learn how to trust yourself more.
• Improve your self-care habits.
• Find a friend for self-care Sunday.
• Check emotional signs for early retirement.

Mental Steps to Start  a Healthy Lifestyle

Identify unhealthy habits and try to change them. Here are some of them:

• Stop smoking
• Avoid negative and abusive people
• Reduce your alcohol intake
• Find positive health intentions.
• Consider meditation.
• Identify and reduce stress.
  • Find a lifestyle concierge to get more help.
  • Get a massage
• Increase your self-discipline.
• Find meaning by teaching your grandkids a life skill.
• Know your value.
• Improve your mental strength.
• Find peace of mind by setting up an incapacity plan.
• Walk the beach as often as possible.
• Create a bucket list.

Physical Steps to Start  a Healthy Lifestyle

• Start focusing on eating better
  • Cook your own meals.
  • Drink more water.
  • Be mindful when you eat and stop being distracted
  • Eat the rainbow
  • Have healthy snacks on hand.
  • Check healthy meal delivery options.
  • Consider low fat, low sugar and low sodium alternatives.
  • Avoid processed foods as much as possible.

• Improve your blood circulation. The reason is that proper circulation is a key for maintaining optimal health. It ensures that blood and oxygen continuously flow throughout the body. Then, our organs can function properly. Furthermore,  It helps to heal wounds faster and it keeps your brain and heart  fit. 
  • Here is a guide on how to strengthen your veins and arteries.
  • Visit a sauna regularly. No matter if you are an athlete or want to become a superager. Sauna is a well kept secret.
  • Try sauna yoga.
• Improve your medical care
  • Find a concierge doctor
  • Set up telemedicine
  • Know where to find urgent care and your local hospitals
  • Learn about hospitals at home – to avoid unnecessary hospital visits.
• Learn about holistic fitness
• Check some fitness ideas.
• Pick up biking.
• Learn about bone health.

Spiritual Steps to Start a Healthy Lifestyle

• Find a reason to live
• Visit your local churches
• Help someone with dementia

Social Steps to Start  a Healthy Lifestyle

• Join a club.
• Make meeting friends a priority
• Start volunteering.
• Move to a golf community.
• Move to a retirement community.

Financial Steps to Start  a Healthy Lifestyle

• Start making an annual financial plan
• Start planning your retirement
• Set up a trust.
• Find some inspiration in the stock market. For example, learn about Cathie Wood.

Best 12 Tips How To Make A Healthy Lifestyle Change

1. Study positive health intentions. 
2. Set a time for a healthy lifestyle challenge – for example 7 weeks
3. Focus on one goal per day
4. Pick one or two of your favorite exercise activities that you really enjoy
5. Make time for exercise every day – even if it is 10 or 15 minutes
6. Find friends of family members to exercise with you
7. Create a Monday-Friday sleep routine 
8. Add an apple per day to your diet. Apples are high in potassium and vitamin C and a great alternative to cookies or other sweets.
9. Get a reusable water bottle and try to drink at least two liters per day.
10. Have a serving of raw veggies each day.
11. Try a cold shower per day to boost your immune system.
12. Find a sauna where you can go three times per week.

Benefits of a Healthy Lifestyle

There are many different benefits of a healthy lifestyle. Here is a list with some of them:

• Better sleep quality 
• More energy 
• More happiness and self confidence
• Money savings due to lower health costs
• improved muscle strength
• Increase longevity
• More fitness leads to better life quality
• Better looking, you’ll be more active for longer, and you’ll feel better about yourself. 
• Regular exercise improves your mental well-being, gives you confidence and improves your bones health.
• Boost immunity.
• Keeps skin, teeth, and eyes healthy

Why Is It Important To Live A Healthy Lifestyle?

A healthy lifestyle is essential to feel energized and perform better in all areas of everyday life. In addition, living a healthy lifestyle can help prevent chronic diseases and long-term illnesses. Furthermore, it makes us mentally stronger and self-confident. Last but know least, it strengthens our resilience which is especially important to get through difficult times like the covid 19 pandemic which has caused a high amount of mental health challenges around the world.

Which Type of Diet Contributes To Healthy Lifestyle? 

There are many popular diets but is there one that is best for a healthy lifestyle? It is important to understand that most of us don’t follow one single diet over a longer period of time. Therefore, it is easier to focus on certain foods as general guidelines.

• Fruits and vegetables (choose different types with bright colors)
• Whole grains, like oatmeal, whole-wheat bread, and brown rice – also consider gluten-free options 
• Fat-free or low-fat milk and cheese, or no sugar plant based milks that have added vitamin D and calcium.
• Wild Seafood, lean organic meats, poultry, and eggs.
• Beans, nuts, and seeds.
• Low sodium and sugar
• Small amounts of alcohol
• Small or no alcohol

How To Promote A Healthy Lifestyle? How Can Doctors Promote a Healthy Lifestyle?

1. Doctors need to be positive role models
2. Add a nutritionist to the physician`s office
3. Encourage your patients to start a food and activity journal
4. Promote drinking water and eating the rainbow.

Which Healthy Lifestyle Choices Keep Bones Healthy and Strong?

According to the surgeon general the following guidelines promote bone health: 

• well-balanced diet containing a variety of foods, including grains, fruits and vegetables, nonfat or low-fat dairy products or other calcium-rich foods, and meat or beans each day.

• Most Americans do not consume recommended levels of calcium, but reaching these levels is a feasible goal. Approximately three 8-ounce glasses of low-fat milk each day, combined with the calcium from the rest of a normal diet, is enough to meet the recommended daily requirements for most individuals. Foods fortified with calcium and calcium supplements can assist those who do not consume an adequate amount of calcium-rich foods.
• For many, especially elderly individuals, getting enough vitamin D from sunshine is not practical. These individuals should look to boost their vitamin D levels through diet. Vitamin D is also available in supplements for those unable to get enough through sunshine and diet.
• In addition to meeting recommended guidelines for physical activity (at least 30 minutes a day for adults and 60 minutes for children), specific strength-and weight-bearing activities are critical to building and maintaining bone mass throughout life.”

How Can You Teach Kids to Lead a Healthy Lifestyle?

The best way to teach kids a healthy lifestyle is to be a good role model. This means creating a healthy family lifestyle together. For example, exercising together, cooking at home and sharing meals around the tables. For more ideas on how to raise resilient super healthy kids, read our guide!

Why is Exercise Important for a Healthy Lifestyle?

According to the CDC, regular physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health. It improves

• brain health
• weight control
• reduces diseases
• Strengthens your bones and muscles
• improves your ability to do everyday activities

Where to find a Healthy Lifestyle Quiz?

Psychology Today has created a ten minutes healthy lifestyle quiz where you can learn about your own healthy habits.

What is The Connection Between a Healthy Lifestyle and Stress?

“Eating a healthy diet can reduce the negative effects of stress on your body,” said Matthew J. Kuchan, Ph.D., a senior research scientist at Abbott. “A healthy diet builds a solid, more enduring foundation for your body by reducing oxidation and inflammation and by helping to reduce weight gain.”

Which Role Does Our Environment Play in Leading a Healthy Lifestyle?

“Since the earliest times, humans have needed to be sensitive to their surroundings to survive, which means that we have an innate awareness of our environment and seek out environments with certain qualities.

First of all, humans have a strong need for safety and security and look for those attributes in their environment. We also look for physical comfort, such as an environment with the right temperature. In addition, we seek an environment that is psychologically comfortable: for example, environments that are familiar, but offer the right amount of stimulus.”

Furthermore, we know that our environment has a strong impact on our behavior. It also impacts our  motivation to act and our mental state. “For example, the results of several research studies reveal that rooms with bright light, both natural and artificial, can improve health outcomes such as depression, agitation, and sleep”.

Influence of Friends on Leading A Healthy Lifestyle

According to the bbc “how we talk about our health choices with friends can also have a significant impact on our decisions, both positively and negatively. Talking about an anti-smoking campaign with friends reduced people’s cigarette intake. Perhaps because those conversations gave smokers the opportunity to work out which information was most relevant to their lifestyles – and then act on it. This is supported by a meta-analysis of 28 studies totalling 139,000 participants.

“The leading cause of death is preventable health behaviours like smoking and obesity. We have access to a vast amount of information online but we still smoke and we still don’t exercise,” says Christin Scholz of the University of Amsterdam. “Anything our friends do influences us in ways that we are conscious of or not. Their presence can decide whether we act on that health information or ignore it.”” Therefore, our friends and family have a strong  influence on our ability to live a healthy lifestyle.

Why is Florida a Great Place for a Healthy Lifestyle?

Here are five reasons why Florida is a great place for a healthy lifestyle:

1. Many hours of sunshine promote Vitamin D production in our bodies and improve our mental health. In addition, the weather gives people all year round exercise opportunities that improve physical fitness. 
2. The Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean are good for mental health, entertainment like boating, swimming and fishing. In addition, the beaches offer many opportunities for fun like shelling, sunbathing or sports activities.
3. Low taxes maximize life quality.
4. Low crime rates, good schools and universities, very good public infrastructure and a wide variety of real estate choices offer an ideal environment for a healthy lifestyle.
5. Florida residents are very open minded and friendly as they tend to come from all over the country and are all looking for new friends and socializing opportunities.

Is It Easier for Women to Lead a Healthy Lifestyle?

“One key aspect of health in which women outperform is longevity. According to the US-based, nonprofit Population Reference Bureau, in developed nations, the worldwide average age of death for women is 79 years vs 72 years for men. 

The Bureau attributes these differences in part to behavioral factors, suggesting that males are more likely to smoke than females. In addition, males are more likely to take risks, which makes them more prone to life-threatening injuries. Biological differences between the sexes also help to explain why women live longer. The authors wrote, “Scientists believe that estrogen in women combats conditions such as heart disease by helping reduce circulatory levels of harmful cholesterol. Women are also thought to have stronger immune systems than men.”

They added, “Researchers have found that the gender gap in life expectancy is smallest for the wealthy and highly educated. The scientists suggest that broadening access to quality health care, diet, and other advantages can help men achieve a level of longevity closer to that of women.””

What Can Workplaces Do To Promote A Healthy Lifestyle?

Promoting a healthy lifestyle in the workplace could include:

• Offer healthy water for free
• Encourage preventative care
• Promote healthy snacks 
• Pay for a healthy meal per week for the team
• Exercise together
• Start a challenge for regular exercise 
• Offer decaf coffee
• Pay for a stop smoking program
• Subsidize weight loss programs
• Encourage walking meetings
• Buy employees a gym membership as a gift or incentive
• Restrict the use of elevators
• Sponsor bikes for commuting
• Sponsor golf tournaments and enter your own team
• Install a shower for employees who ride or run to your workplace
• Run employee polls or surveys to get valuable feedback on how the morale is 
• Give extra time off if family members are sick
• Pay for preventative check-ups
• Offer vaccine clinics
• Install cycle chairs
• Encourage eating lunch in small teams
• Get a room for relaxation and meditation
• Buy a sauna 
• Develop an ‘alcohol at my workplace’ policy
• Pay for de-stress programs
• Offer working from stationary bikes – if possible.

A Word From healthylifestyleflorida.com

Start a healthy lifestyle today – you will love what you can be!