Sunday, July 21, 2013

How To Health The Sarah Way, Part 1: Consumption

Recently, I've been on a health kick. I gained a little weight at college (mostly muscle, I came to find out), which was a small push, but I also have a history of health problems in my family, and I figured that healthy habits now might help me stay healthy in the future. So, I thought I'd make some posts about some of the healthy junk I've been getting in to, in hopes that it might be helpful for other people out there.

This is part one, "Consumption." Let's talk about stuff that's good to put in your body.

1.) Drink lots of water.


Water is so good for you. So. Good. Your body is mostly made up of water, and your body is awesome, so it only makes sense that the main component of your awesome is awesome, right? Yeah, man. Drinking water also promotes nice skin, hair, and nails, as well as keeping you hydrated and such.
Shoot for about 8 glasses of water a day. Or, as an alternative, take your body weight and divide it in half; the number you're left with is how many ounces you should drink per day. Magic!
A good way to tell if you're getting enough water (i.e., how hydrated you are) is to look at your pee; the lighter in color/clearer your number 1 is, the more hydrated you are. The darker it is, the less hydrated you are. Pretty simple stuff.

2.) Eat Fruit.


Fruit is super duper good for you and you should eat a lot of it. Pretty much all fruit helps fight against cancer of some sort and is good for your heart and digestive track. Seriously, eat a lot of fruit. You'll feel better. Pinky promise.
My go-to options are bananas (which help improve mood and reduce cramping) and strawberries (lots of antioxidants). It's a good idea to stay in-season, though, because that's when your food will be the freshest (and cheapest, so, yay, double win).
Also, wash your fruit before you eat it; you don't want and pesticides mixing in with your healthiness!

3.) Drink some tea.


Tea is super good for you, and is also delicious and the gift of some divine entity to us mere mortals. Different teas have different benefits, but a common thread between many is that they elevate your mood and hydrate you. Good stuff, man.
Try to stick to hot teas or ones that you brew yourself, rather than bottled or canned varieties. (Stay away from Lipton; that's not even real tea, dammit.) Also, try sweetening your tea with raw or local honey, or even natural cane sugar instead of other stuff; honey is incredibly good for you (but only is it's "raw" or "pure," everything else isn't worth your time), and the more natural you can go, the better.
There's a nearly infinite variety of teas available, in your local shops, neighborhood Wal-Mart/Kroger, and even online, so you're sure to find something suiting your taste. No excuses, dammit.

4.) Look for what IS in your food, rather than what ISN'T.


You know how you go to the store and the boxes of Little Debbie cakes say things like "SUGAR FREE" or "NO TRANS FATS" so you think to yourself, "Oh wow, those must be good for me now, I'm gonna buy and then eat them"? Yeah, don't do that.
"Sugar free" usually translates into "we used some fake chemical sugar stuff so we could put this on that box in big font" and those fake sugars can lead to some bad stuff, so it's best to avoid them. Instead of looking for foods that shout at you with big fonts about what they don't have, try to get foods that are proud of what they do have in them.
Try opting for foods that have a lot of fiber or lots of vitamins and minerals, or that have good cholesterol or lots of protein, or whatever suits your fancy. It's best to go for foods that have good stuff rather than those that are proud of lacking stuff.

Next up is How to Health The Sarah Way, Part 2: Action, where I'll talk about workouts and such that are good.

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