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Follow these tips daily to live a long and healthy life:

*Wake up early in the morning and after finishing your daily routines practice Pranayama or Deep breathing technique for at least 5 minutes and Yoga and/or Light to moderate exercise for at least 10-15 minutes. This will ensure that your lungs are filled up with enough oxygen to keep you fresh for entire day.

*Dental hygiene is very vital to keep you free from most illness since mouth is an easy breeding ground for disease causing germs. Pay special attention to brushing and flossing your teeth. Remember to brush your teeth after every meal. Gargle with warm saline water at least 2-3 times a day.
 

*Breakfast should be your heaviest meal of the day-it should be packed with enough calories to keep you going for entire day. Have a moderate lunch, while the dinner should be the lightest meal of the day.

*Do not forget to include plenty of fiber in your diet-there are two types of fibers-insoluble and soluble. The insoluble fiber helps keep constipation at bay, while soluble fiber helps you to control your blood sugar.

*Avoid carbonated soft drinks and junk food-instead have natural fruit juices, tender coconut water and home cooked food.

*Replace white rice with brown rice and white bread with brown bread-this will help you to control your blood sugar and also restrict intake of extra calories.

*Avoid red meat-replace it with fish, seafood and occasionally white meat like chicken. Fishes like mackerel, salmon, and sardines have added benefits as they contain omega fatty acids, which benefit your cardiovascular system. Restrict eggs to one a day.

*Avoid fried food. Its more healthier to bake or roast your fish/meat rather than frying as it helps keeping your “bad cholesterol” in check.

*Include lot of vegetables in your diet for following benefits:

Red group (Tomatoes, Beet): Provides powerful natural antioxidants. Lycopene in tomatoes helps in protecting cell damage.

Orange group(carrot): Beta carotene in carrots helps in maintaining healthy vision and healthy immune system.

Green group (Spinach, Celery, Lettuce, Parsley, etc): Provides natural vitamins and minerals.

*Stop smoking and restrict intake of alcohol to maximum of two pegs a day. Wine taken in moderation can be beneficial to health, but excessive consumption of alcohol can adversely affect both mental and physical health.

*Have plenty of sex(with one partner only)-sex is a natural stress buster and also stimulates release of feel good’ hormones.

*Like any other organ, Brain also needs to be kept healthy to live a long and healthy life. Indulge in games where you need to use your Brain like chess or solving crossword puzzles.

*Exercise daily for one hour at least. Depending upon your age and fitness level, it could be anything from brisk walking, jogging, cycling, playing indoor/outdoor games, swimming to weight training, etc.

*Finally learn to think positive, be happy and self content and learn to relax. Meditating for some time everyday goes a long way in helping you attain inner peace, keeping stress at bay.

Include these healthy foods in your diet. No matter how much weight you are working out to loose or gain, these healthy foods will enhance any diet. Do not mind about the added calories, they are so minimal. To think of it, most food contains calories. The benefits you get from these foods are great.

Let us drink to your health
Water for the body is good. Water with flavoring? As Rabbis usually says, we could look at that in different ways. Funny sometimes are Rabbis but actually there is too much wisdom in that. You see, you will never go wrong with water. No one does. Any water that is not needed by the body gets out of the body. The more is flushed out, the cleaner our system gets, and the healthier we become. What should be bothering is what we mix with the water.

Fruit juices? Okay but make it natural. Juices squeezed out of fresh fruits do wonders for the body. It has some calories but the benefits far outweigh whatever the added calories. The sugar in fresh fruits unlike processed sugar is good. The calories derived from it give constant, steady burning energy unlike table sugar that gives sudden energy boosts and the feeling of tiredness afterwards. Because of the natural sugars, the feeling of being full lasts and so we feel hungry less. If the diet leans on strict adherence, do not buy bottled juices or powders. There are so many other additives in it that may upset your dieting program. This is the time where you should read the label. Read the fine print too. You may be getting more of the additives and less of the fruit juice. Most fruit juice preparations are so watered down, perked up with additives, highly sugared and not worth much in the healthy foods department.

Coffee Yes. Coffee are very rich in antioxidants. Antioxidants benefit the body in many ways. One of these is the slowing down of the aging process. Now, eating food that are rich in antioxidants may not shave off years to our looks but it makes our body function better. But limit that to a few cups because of the caffeine.

Then We Feast
Eat avocado and no, do steer off it because of the fat. The fat in avocado is good and considered in nutrition circles as “healthy Fat”. Avocado is one of the richest in fiber especially those that are fully ripe. Actually the more mature it gets the better the fiber.  It is one of those rare food that are very filling without calories. Just like coffee avocados are very rich in antioxidants less the caffeine. It is also an excellent source of Omega 3 fatty acids. Avocados could be a complete meal when mixed with milk. It also blends very well with many different kinds of food like salads, guacamole, tortilla etc. This is not a boring health food.
If avocado tops in fiber, walnuts top in Omega 3. Good as salad and pastry toppings, it is also a good portable snack. Hemp oil is almost similar in benefits.
Likewise, apples, potatoes, oats, Brazil nuts, and fishes of the fresh water/fatty variety are healthy foods that you will never go wrong even when you eat plenty.