Healthy Living: Definition, Lifestyle, & Tips

What is healthy living? And how do you live healthier? Here are a bunch of ways to be a healthier person.

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What Is Healthy Living? (A Definition)

These days it's hard to know what healthy living even is. There are so many people telling us so many different things. Should we be vegetarian and eat only plants? Should be carnivorous and eat only meat? Should we avoid carbs, or fat, or protein? If we avoid all those, then what do we eat to live healthier?!

As someone who tries very hard to live a healthier life, I have gotten very frustrated with the messages we've been told about health. So I decided to go to the research and see if I could find out what the research says about living healthier.

Here's what I learned:

1. Healthy Living Involves Eating More Fruits and Veggies

Probably the most important thing you can do to live healthier is to eat more fruits and veggies. One study showed that the people who eat the least fruits and veggies were twice as likely as frequent veggie and fruit eaters to get many types of cancer [1]. So fill half your plate with veggies at each meal.

The minimum recommendation is to eat at least 2 servings of fruit and 3 servings of vegetables per day, but it seems that the broader range of veggies you eat the better [2]. So strive to eat a rainbow of veggies and fruits to ensure you’re getting the full range of nutrients.

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2. Healthy Living Involves Eating Red Veggies and Fruits

To get the variety of nutrients you need for a healthier life, be sure to eat foods with a variety of nutrients and phytochemicals. To start, eat red foods. These foods are high in lycopene. Lycopene-rich foods have been linked to lower prostate cancer risk [3].

Here's what to eat to live healthier:

Tomatoes
Red bell peppers
Persimmons
Red cabbage
Pink grapefruit
Watermelon

3. Healthy Living Involves Eating Orange Veggies and Fruits

Carotenes are mostly found in orange foods. Increased consumption of foods with carotenes has been linked to lower risk of breast cancer [3].

Here's what to eat to live healthier:

Carrots
Sweet potatoes
Cantaloupe
Peaches
Apricots
Orange peppers

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4. Healthy Living Involves Eating Yellow Fruits and Veggies

Yellow foods have lutein in them. But if we remember our color wheel, yellow plus blue makes green, so there is a lot of lutein in green foods too. Lutein is an antioxidant, free radical scavenger that may also help protect the body against inflammatory foods [2].

Here's what to eat to live healthier:

Yellow peppers
Yellow squash
Leafy green vegetables
Egg yolk
Kiwi
Green grapes
Zucchini
Corn

5. Healthy Living Involves Eating Cruciferous Veggies

A healthier life includes eating raw cruciferous veggies like coleslaw or broccoli sprouts. Broccoli sprouts in particular are high in sulforaphane, which may be especially beneficial [2].

Here's what to eat to live healthier:

Broccoli (or broccoli sprouts)
Cauliflower
Kale
Brussels sprouts
Cabbage

6. Healthy Living Involves Eating Fish

Fish has something called astaxanthin in it. It is anti-inflammatory and can scavenge free radicals [2].

Here's what to eat to live healthier:

Salmon
Trout
Shrimp
Lobster
Crab

7. Healthy Living Involves Eating Allium Vegetables

Allium vegetables (garlic, onions) are another health powerhouse. The sulfur in these foods can potentially lower gastrointestinal cancer risk [3].

Here's what to eat to live healthier:

Onions
Garlic
Green onions
Scallions

8. Healthy Living Involves Getting Your Vitamins

In addition to eating healthy (lots of veggies and fruits), it may be healthful to eat foods high in compounds such as vitamin E, vitamin C, and vitamin D. Many of us can be deficient in these nutrients and so vitamins can get us back up where we need to be.

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9. Healthy Living Involves Getting Your Probiotics

Probiotics such as L. acidophilus, Bifidobacterium longum, and L. casei have been linked to lower cancer risk [4].

Here's some good probiotics to live healthier:

Saccharomyces boulardii (this is the one I use)
Soil based probiotic
Bifidobacterium

Probiotics are even more potent when they're fresh. We can make fresh probiotics by lacto fermenting vegetables, fruits, or dairy products.

Here's everything you need to lacto ferment at home:

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10. Healthy Living Involves Eating Less Food

Intermittent fasting has become popular recently. And perhaps this is for good reason. Eating fewer calories may be one of the best things we can do for our health [5]. By doing periodic fasting (or intermittent fasting) where we let our digestion rest and don't consume calories, we can likely improve our health.

11. Healthy Living Involves Avoiding Xenoestrogens and Plastics

Xenoestrogens include chemicals like polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), pesticides, some drugs, mycotoxins, bisphenol A (BPA; a plastics additive), and many others and they can cause significant damage to our health [6]. Check out our article on healthy products to get these chemicals out of your kitchen, closet, and home.

12. Healthy Living Involves Exercise

You probably already know that exercise is good for your physical health. But exercise is also a good way to manage stress and reduce anxiety. Exercise increases parasympathetic nervous system activity (and feelings of calmness) when we exercise regularly, which helps us feel more relaxed in the longer-term [7].

13. Healthy Living Involves Working on Your Emotional Health

Living a healthy life is not just about diet and exercise, it's about changing the way we think and act in ways that improve our emotional health. Here are a few science-based activities to help you boost various aspects of emotional health:

Articles Related to Living Healthier

Want to learn more about living healthier? Check out these articles:

Books Related to Living Healthier

If you’d like to keep learning more about living healthier, here are a few books that you might be interested in.

Final Thoughts on Living Healthier

Remember that creating a healthier life can take time. So remember to be self-compassionate and take it one step at a time.

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References

Steinmetz, K.A. and J.D. Potter, Vegetables, fruit, and cancer. I. Epidemiology. Cancer Causes & Control, 1991. 2(5): p. 325-357.
Aghajanpour, M., et al., Functional foods and their role in cancer prevention and health promotion: a comprehensive review. American journal of cancer research, 2017. 7(4): p. 740.
Borek, C., Dietary antioxidants and human cancer. Integrative cancer therapies, 2004. 3(4): p. 333-341.
Parvez, S., et al., Probiotics and their fermented food products are beneficial for health. Journal of applied microbiology, 2006. 100(6): p. 1171-1185.
Hursting, S.D., et al., Calorie restriction, aging, and cancer prevention: mechanisms of action and applicability to humans. Annual review of medicine, 2003. 54(1): p. 131-152.
Fucic, A., et al., Environmental exposure to xenoestrogens and oestrogen related cancers: reproductive system, breast, lung, kidney, pancreas, and brain. Environmental Health, 2012. 11(1): p. 1-9.
Figueroa, A., et al., Resistance exercise training improves heart rate variability in women with fibromyalgia. Clinical physiology and functional imaging, 2008. 28(1): p. 49-54.

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