5 Healthy habits to improve your life

This article is written by Sparkle Purpose. Follow Sparkle Purpose on Twitter and Pinterest.

5 habits that can improve your health 

There are certain things that we never think of. We are so busy scrolling through the screens of social media on our smartphones that we never realize we have a body and we should take care of it.

You can simply take good care of your body by adding these simple habits to your daily routine.

What is a habit?

A habit is a routine or behavior that is repeated regularly and tends to occur subconsciously over time. When you do something over and over again, your mind thinks of it as an important task and it happens automatically.

How do you create a new habit? 

Adopting a habit is a challenging task, but it is not an impossible task. It begins with a thought that you want to change. Anything is possible if you have a desire to accomplish something.

Here are some healthy habits that you should adopt:

1. Wake up early

Waking up early is one of the most challenging tasks that I see people face. It’s not easy to leave your cozy bed and all your dreams - especially when it’s winter. You don’t want to leave your blanket.

If you want to be successful in your life, you need to get up earlier. We are more likely to be productive in the earlier hours of the day and we are more likely to do unhealthy or destructive things late at night.

The Bible says “He who loves to sleep and the folding of hands, poverty will set upon you like a thief in the night." (Proverbs 24:33-34)

How can you wake up earlier?

I am here to tell you the easiest way possible. I will not ask you to set an alarm for 4 AM or 5 AM in the morning.

Let’s suppose you go to bed at 1 PM and wake up at 9 AM. All that you have to do is set an alarm of 10 minutes earlier than you usually do.

This will save you 10 minutes. Do this every day. You’ll see that you are getting up earlier without any trouble. 

It may be possible that you fail at some point. That’s OK. Don't criticize yourself. Just move on and focus on the next day.

Remember that failure is a teacher. Try to learn from the mistake you’ve made and try not to repeat it again. This will help you to improve a little bit every day.

Waking up early has many benefits and it will keep your body healthy. You will see that you are being more productive and more successful in your work after a few days.

2. Exercise everyday

As you already know, exercising is very important for your physical health. Exercising has many benefits. Exercise everyday if you don’t want to go to the doctor too often.

Exercise will keep your bones, heart, lungs and all internal organs healthy.

The best time to exercise is in the morning after waking up. If you can't do it in the morning then you can do it in the evening.

I encourage you to exercise every day. Some people start exercising but they quit because it hurts at first. I know that it hurts at first. Remember that the pain is temporary. It will last for a day or for a week but quitting lasts forever. The more you sweat the better.

3. Drink fresh fruit juice

There are amazing benefits to drinking fruit juice like detoxification, weight loss, vitamin and mineral consumption and prevention of unhealthy cravings.

It can be any fresh fruit juice like orange juice, Aloe Vera juice, lemon juice, kiwi juice, cucumber juice and many more.

Try to make it a habit to stay healthy. If not every day, then try to have fresh fruit juice at least 3-4 times a week.

4. Drink water while sitting

I see a lot of people drinking water while standing. Drinking water this way can be harmful.

Since the water moves directly, the required vitamins and minerals don’t reach the liver and digestive tract. This also disturbs the oxygen levels and you risk placing a burden on your heart and lungs.

It is better to drink water while sitting. Sip on it slowly to reach maximum hydration. We should drink 2-3 liters of water every day. Drinking room temperature water is recommendable over cold water.

5. Schedule your time 

If you want to be productive, it is necessary that you manage your time well. Doing the same good things at the same time everyday will increase your productivity.

When it’s the time for lunch, you should do lunch. When it’s the time to rest you should rest.

This brings efficiency in our work because our body gets familiar with it. Your body will adapt to your schedule and prime itself for digestion at lunch time. Your brain will prime itself for relaxation if you relax at the same time every day.

Try to plan your schedule to get the best out of the day.

Thanks for reading! I hope it helps you.

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Health benefits of drinking raisin-soaked water

This article is written by Sparkle Purpose. Follow Sparkle Purpose on Twitter and Pinterest.

Benefits of drinking raisins soaked water

1. Keeps your blood pressure in check

2. Lowers cholesterol 

3. Boosts energy 

4. Helps to detox your body

5. Helps with digestion

Don't you just love raisins? Who knew that dried grapes were such a rich source of fiber, vitamins and minerals?

If you soak raisins in water overnight and drink that leftover water, it could actually be more beneficial for your health.

1. Raisin water keeps your blood pressure in check

According to research, raisins are a rich source of potassium, antioxidants and dietary fiber.

All of these nutrients help to keep your blood pressure under control.

Potassium keeps the blood flow stable and helps the heart to pump blood. Antioxidants help the endothelium - an inner layer of the arterial blood vessel.

Raisin water contains dietary fiber. It helps with the digestion process and burns fat.

2. Raisin water lowers cholesterol 

Cholesterol is another problem that can be solved with raisin water. Potassium and dietary fibers are hard at work once again. 

As I mentioned earlier, potassium and dietary fiber plays a critical role in keeping blood circulation stable. As a result, the cholesterol levels in your blood stay contained.

All of this helps your heart to stay healthy. Thanks to stable blood circulation, the heart doesn't have to pump blood at a faster rate. This keeps most types of cardiovascular problems away.

Wow, just one glass of raisin water could do all of that!

3. Raisin water boosts energy 

When you see people waking up in the movies, they usually have a lot of energy. It's a different story in reality. Our heart lowers our blood pressure so that we can rest properly when we sleep.

Our body is still coping with that when we get up in the morning. That is why we don't feel very energetic right away.

Drinking raisin water in the morning can be very helpful and gives you an energy boost.

Raisins were found to be a good alternative to sports jelly beans in a study with 10 healthy athletes.

Raisins also contain micronutrients that help to boost metabolism and stamina.

One glass of raisin water every day may just help you to keep the doctor away.

Since we are talking about boosting energy, many people turn to energy drinks for help. Well, raisin water can be a good alternative to that too - and much healthier.

Read more - Is sugar a poison to your body?

4. Raisin water helps to detox your body

If you're someone who likes eating junk food, your kidneys and liver are hard at work to ensure your well-being.

These are your body's protectors against toxins and nasty chemicals. Unfortunately there are so many of these toxic particles that they can overwhelm our protectors sometimes. 

Our poor bodies are loaded with more toxins than what they can expel.

This is where raisin water comes to the rescue yet again.

This unlikely hero boosts the body's digestion process because of the dietary fiber in raisins.

Fiber acts as an elixir to your digestion process. Fiber binds to toxins so that they can be eliminated.

Additionally, the antioxidants which we spoke about earlier also help to boost the functions of your liver and allow it to perform at its best.

Sweating is also a great way to detox your body.

Now you have one more reason to drink raisin water every morning.

5. Raisin water helps with digestion 

The combination of potassium that helps your blood circulation, and your one true friend, fiber makes this gargantuan task of regular digestion possible.

This duo makes sure that your intestines are doing the job that they were meant to do.

Ease your digestion process with nutrients that your body wants. When you consume a lot of food that has other toxic properties, the intestines may find it difficult to process that food. This can give you some serious stomach related problems.

This is why if you drink raisin water every morning you're empowering this area of your body to function at its best.

A happy tummy leads to a happy life.

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The difference between natural sugar and added sugar

This article is written by Rob Maxwell, M.A. Exercise Physiology, CSCS and ACSM CPT from www.fittothemax.net. Follow him on Twitter.

Sugar might be the most misunderstood nutrient on earth.

Does sugar make you fat? Is sugar bad for you? Should you eat it?

Before we can answer any of these questions regarding sugar, we really need to understand what it is.

Sugar is destroyed in the media from Paleo and other health groups. We need to be careful about what we read and hear.

We should learn for ourselves instead of buying into headlines without looking at the actual facts.

What is sugar?

Sugar is a carbohydrate. It is either a monosaccharide or a disaccharide.

Carbohydrates are polysaccharides, disaccharides or monosaccharides.

Polysaccharides

Polysaccharides are what we call complex carbohydrates.

Polysaccharides are either fiber (the indigestible part of a plant), starch (the stored form of glucose in a plant), or glycogen which is the stored form of glucose in humans.

Disaccharides

Disaccharides are two bonds of monosaccharides.

They are lactose (galactose and glucose), sucrose (fructose and glucose), and maltose (two monosaccharides of glucose).

Monosaccharides

Monosaccharides are simple sugars with one chain.

There are three types: glucose (the sugar we think of as blood sugar), fructose (sugar in fruit), and galactose (sugar found in milk).

Disaccharides and monosaccharides are called sugar

A polysaccharide (complex carb) is rarely ever called sugar.

What we call table sugar is sucrose - the sweetest sugar.

Monosaccharides, disaccharides, and polysaccharides were all classified as sugars in the early days of research. They were all considered complex carbohydrates and we were encouraged to eat them abundantly.

We need to pump our breaks for now and understand a little more about this before we jump to that conclusion.

Your body needs sugar

Your body runs on sugar. The sugar in your bloodstream is glucose. Our muscles and brains need sugar to function. We cannot do anything without glucose in our bloodstream.

We store glucose in our body in the form of glycogen and we store glycogen in our muscles and liver.

We store up to 500 grams of it. This is enough for 2000 calories (about 160 minutes of running) of energy.

Natural sugar is healthy

When we talk about naturally occurring sugar, we refer to all the forms of carbohydrates that are found in fruit, vegetables, grains, beans, and dairy. These are all carbohydrate food sources.

The only non-plant sources of carbohydrates are dairy products.

When you consume any of these forms of carbohydrates you get their natural sugars.

When you eat a banana, that sugar is natural. When you consume potatoes you are consuming natural, non-additive sugar. When you eat beans like black beans, you are consuming the natural sugar that they contain.

Naturally occurring carbohydrates are healthier for you than additive sugars (found in processed foods) because of the fiber in these foods. These natural foods also have important vitamins and minerals.

We don't get the vitamins, minerals and fiber when we consume the same amount of sugar in synthetic food. This makes the food less healthy.

Can you eat mass quantities of naturally occurring carbs because they are healthier? You shouldn't eat anything without moderation.

Carbs get a bad rap. They get blamed for making people fat. That is not true.

Any macro nutrient that is eaten too much will make you gain fat.

Naturally occurring carbs are healthier for sure, but we still want to modify how much we eat.

There are no such things as free lunches.

The sugar in processed food is unhealthy

Processed food may have more, less or the same amount of sugar as natural food.

They do not have nutrients like fiber, vitamins, minerals, plant compounds, trace elements and other important nutrients that natural foods have.

Crackers, chips, soda, many breads and pastas are all processed carbohydrates. They can be yummy! Taste tempts us to sacrifice micro nutrients for the same amount of calories.

Do we really want to eat out of a test tube?

A gram of glucose in a tomato is the same as the gram of glucose in a Snickers bar. The Snickers bar has zero naturally occurring vitamins, minerals, and fiber.

Due to all of the synthetic stuff placed in the Snickers bar, it tastes yummy. We want to eat more.

Naturally occurring foods can taste very yummy too.

Glycemic index

Glycemic index is a measure of how fast a carbohydrate converts into sugar when you eat it.

The faster it converts to sugar, the higher the glycemic index. Low glycemic index carbohydrates take longer to convert into sugar.

Here is a list of foods according to their glycemic index.

We used to think of 'sugary' foods like fruits as bad for us because we called them simple sugars. We used to think of all complex carbohydrates like grains as good for us because they were polysaccharides.

Now we know that this is not the case.

Some of what we think of as simple sugars, like fruit, have a low glycemic index. This includes cherries, berries, and green apples.

Many complex carbohydrates have a high glycemic index. This includes white pasta, many types of bread (including whole wheat bread) and white rice.

Glycemic load

We must pay attention to the glycemic index (how quickly sugar goes into your bloodstream) and glycemic load (how much sugar goes into your bloodstream).

Glycemic load is the glycemic index times the grams of carbohydrates in that food.

For example, the glycemic index of cherries is 62. A serving of cherries has 19 grams of carbs. Doing that math, the glycemic load of a serving of cherries is 1178.

In you eat 3 servings then the load is 4712.

Now let us look at an example of a high glycemic food such as the cereal Cornflakes.

Cornflakes have a glycemic index of 81. A serving of corn flakes has 26 grams of carbohydrates. This load now equals 2106.

If you eat a single serving of cornflakes, you get more sugar (2106) than a serving of cherries (1178).

On the other hand, three servings of cherries give you more glucose (4712) than a single serving of cornflakes.

The higher the glycemic load, the more glucose will pour into your cells. Serving size is important.

Serving size matters

Like everything, serving size matters.

We can eat too many cherries, which has a low to moderate glycemic index, and flood our cells with glucose.

We can eat fewer corn flakes, which have a very high glycemic index, and consume less glucose.

Naturally - no pun intended - the lower glycemic index foods are going to be your best bet when eaten moderately.

It really comes down to simple math.

The nutrients surrounding sugar matters

Sugar is sugar. I explained what sugar is. The sugar in fruit is the same as sugar in candy as far as molecules go.

The surrounding nutrients in natural foods versus synthetic foods are not the same.

You can eat sugar in an apple. It comes with fiber. You will fill up quicker and not eat as much. Who finishes a bag of apples and feels guilty about it?

You can eat white bread. It is made up of sugar, but has zero fiber. Chances are you will eat more because you won't feel full.

The apple, which is natural, will also have vitamins and minerals that come with it naturally.

The white bread will have all these micro nutrients stripped away.

Natural foods are full of antioxidants and phytochemicals which boost our immune system. Processed foods are totally void of these wonderful little gifts.

What would you prefer? Mother Nature knows what she is doing.

If we eat as natural as possible, our body will thank us.

We don’t have to be perfect. It is great to shoot for better.

This article is written by Rob Maxwell, M.A. Exercise Physiology, CSCS and ACSM CPT from www.fittothemax.net. Follow him on Twitter.