Healthy food and exercise tips for great health

Honey is good for you.

This article is written by Nikola, a freelancer and 3D modeler. Follow him on Twitter.

Welcome to my daily healthy activities

Hello. My name is Nikola.

I am going to share some healthy lifestyle routines which helped me to stay in shape, be healthy and look younger.

It works for my mental and physical health since I started with it 4 years ago. Before that I was in a very bad health situation for about a year.

I got good health advice from many people. They include my brother and polite ladies at the health foods grocery store. I've also picked up a few tips from my own observations, experiences and experiments.

Healthy morning routine

Hydrate yourself

The first thing that I do when I wake up is drink a glass of water. I drink warm water because I have a sensitive throat. Water is good because it cleans your body and gets rid of toxins.

Some people add a few drops of lemon juice to their water. It helps them to lose weight. I don't add lemon juice to my water personally because I don't need to lose weight at all.

You need water.

Have some honey

Once I've had a glass of water, I put 10-15 drops of bee glue in a small amount of water (one finger of water) and drink it. Bee glue is great for immunity. Bee products like honey are very good for your health.

Use cold water to wake up

I then splash my face with mildly cold water - depending on the season. I splash my eyes, face and forehead and make sure to get some water behind the ears as well. I pat dry with a towel afterwards.

This will help you to wake up instantly and helps to refresh you. You will notice that your energy levels rise quicker when you do this in the morning. Cold exposure is good for your health.

Stretch in the morning

After that, I do my morning stretching exercises. Stretching activities like yoga is good for you.

I spin both hands while standing upright backwards and forwards. When you spin it forwards, it's like swimming in butterfly style.

I then spin my right hand 10 times and then the left hand 10 times. Still in a standing position, I bend down with my body and touch my toes with my fingers twice. I straighten upright and bend slightly backwards twice. I do this for 20 reps.

This stretching routine works miracles for my metabolism, immune system and digestive system.

At the beginning you could do 10 reps for every exercise.

Practice breathing through your nose

Good breathing during exercise is essential. I learned to breathe in with my nose and to breathe out with my nose as well. Nose breathing keeps you calm and helps you to sleep better at night.

Yoga helped my recovery

I started my recovery 4 years ago by practicing Yoga every morning. My brother told my about The 5 Tibetan Rites. 

At first, I followed everything perfectly. Then I took parts which worked for me and left the other parts. I don't do the parts that have you lying down on the floor for 10 minutes.

There is nothing wrong with taking a good exercise program that you like and making it your own by adding or subtracting exercises. Rather do a routine that you like than avoid an exercise routine that you don't like.

Do health your way.

Do some cardio

These days I run in place for 30-50 seconds. It helps to speed up my heart rate and gets the blood flowing. I also do jumping jacks - about 20 reps.

After that I go to the bathroom which is good to empty my stomach before breakfast.

Exercise helps you to go to the bathroom.

Eat a healthy breakfast

It is important to eat healthy food to get the right nutrients in your body.

Before I had my own healthy diet, my doctor prescribed soy bean products to help with my digestion. I did some research online and found that it produces estrogen hormones.

This is not good for us - especially men in particular. I can feel the negative hormonal effects of eating too much soy in my own experience.

After this saga, I had to find foods which helped with my testosterone levels. The new foods needed to support my gut health as well. I had acid reflux issues in top of everything, so it was not an easy task.

I now have boiled bacon and a boiled egg for breakfast. I actually have this for dinner as well. I add a red bell pepper or a tomato. Home grown is the healthiest form of tomato or bell peppers if you are able to do that.

Eggs have almost all of the vitamins that you need except for Vitamin C.

The boiled bacon proteins are easy for my gut to digest.

So my daily breakfast usually looks like this:

1. Boiled bacon
2. Tomato or red bell pepper
3. Sour cream
4. Bread with bran
5. Himalayan salt
6. Vitamin C

The only supplement that I take with my breakfast is 500 mg of Vitamin C.

I used to have my Vitamin C supplement before breakfast, but I found that it didn't work so well before a meal. It causes acid in the gut when there isn't any food. Now I have it after a large breakfast.

Do good things.

Avoid physically intensive activity after a large breakfast

If you can, try not to do anything too physically demanding after a large breakfast. Give your body time to digest its food. It is good to wait at least half an hour, or even 1 hour, depending on how large your meal was.

Healthy afternoon routine

Exercise

At noon I do push-ups. At first I did only 10 push-ups. Now I do about 17. Do each push up slowly. Get yourself all the way to the ground. Do as many as what feel comfortable to you. You don't need to push yourself too far.

Focus on breathing during exercise

Breathing is very important - especially during exercise. 

When I finish with my push-ups, I stand up and breathe in deeply. I raise both my hands above my head to exhale forcefully out of my mouth. I swing my hands around to bring blood to the muscles that I've just worked.

Focus on posture

Since I've had a problem with acid reflux, I've looked to as many ways as possible improve it. Healthy foods helped a lot, but bad posture has a lot to do about it as well.

When I was in bad health condition I noticed how the older, sicker and weaker people sat and had their shoulders slouched forward. I noticed that most people in the doctor's waiting room sat with this kind of posture.

When I went for a walk, on the other hand, I noticed how teenagers held themselves more upright. The healthier or stronger the person, the better their posture seemed to be.

I wondered if our posture has a direct correlation with things like acid reflux and our immune system. A bent spine puts pressure on the gut and other internal organs.

This is one of the major reasons why I started doing push-ups. They are great for your posture if you do them right. Pull ups are just as important for your posture.

Good posture and healthy food reduced my acid reflux substantially

Fortunately for me, my observations were right. I don't have acid reflux nearly as often as I used to.

This is thanks to the food that I eat, the exercises that I do and my focus on posture. Along with a younger appearance and better health, I must say that my confidence has improved tremendously as well.

Posture affects your health.

Pull ups aren't easy in the beginning

As good as pull ups are for you, I must say that pull ups were much harder to do in the beginning.

At the start of it all, I could do only 2 pull ups. Now I can do 8-9 pull ups - but I do them slowly according to how much my body can handle.

Results of doing pull ups daily

With time my shoulders became wider and I got a lot more strength in many of my muscles - especially my biceps.

Focus on dental hygiene

Another thing that you need to pay attention to is your dental hygiene. Dental hygiene determines your overall health. Teeth are not just good for your confidence or your smile. They can also cause many illnesses if they become unhealthy.

You can't chew good food without good teeth. Your mouth is essential to digest food properly.

Use weights to increase vein visibility

Another health problem that I had was very small veins that were hard to see on the surface of my skin. When I struggled with my health, this was difficult because nurses had a hard time finding a vein to draw blood.

I thought that weight training could make my veins more visible. I hoped that it would make the veins thicker and easier to find. I got a 5 kg weight which I built myself at home. I did 10-20 reps regularly with each hand.

Thankfully, my guess was right! Drawing blood is now less painful for me (less pricking around to find) and much easier for the nurses (they can find a good vein immediately).

Look for solutions.

Walk when you can instead of driving or taking the bus

I decided to take a quick walk from my house to downtown and back instead of using other forms of transport. The round trip is about 7 km. I do this at least once a week.

When I reach downtown, I visit a grocery store and buy a banana as a reward. It tastes nice and gives my body a little nutritional reward for the effort. Choose organic if you can.

Bananas are really good for you

Small choices like a banana as a reward will have a great impact on your health. Bananas have many health benefits.

Bananas for energy

I have noticed that bananas are amazing fruit when it comes to energy. They help me with a quick energy supply after playing sports.

Bananas are great after playing sports like basketball and swimming

I eat bananas after playing an extensive basketball game with teenagers (keep in mind that I am 44 years old).

I also bring 2 bananas and water whenever I go swimming. I am amazed at how well bananas replenish my energy levels.

If I play 2-4 games of basketball in a row, I bring 3 bananas instead of 2.

If I ever do very physically intensive work that causes me to sweat a lot, I eat 4 bananas and salty food. It is important to replace the salt that you lose through sweat.

Bananas can make you sleepy

When I don't do anything physically intensive after eating a banana, I feel sleepy. It's a good kind of sleepy, if that makes sense. I feel happy, unlike other foods that make you feel sleepy and drained at the same time.

Bananas are good for your skin

Bananas are great for your skin. 

During the summer months I occasionally smudge a banana over my face to cool down quickly. I have noticed that my skin looks really good afterwards.

Indulge in goodness.

Avoid unhealthy habits

I don't drink coffee (although it seems that coffee can be healthy) or alcohol. I avoid eating cakes and sweets - especially during the holidays.

I am thankful for the fact that I have never smoked cigarettes. It is also good to avoid soda drinks and artificial sweeteners.

I used to drink an energy drink, which isn't good for your gut. It is particularly unhealthy to have energy drinks at night - even more so if you live a sedentary lifestyle.

You don't need energy drinks to have energy at social gatherings

When I was younger, I liked going to dance parties. I thought that I had the energy to jump and dance all night because of the energy drink. I was wrong.

I have lots of energy at night. There are some people who have higher energy levels at night naturally.

Two years ago I was at some open party and I simply drank lemon juice to stay hydrated. It worked.

By the end of the night, I lost more than 600 calories. The total calories lost for the entire day was over 900 calories.

I'm not trying to lose weight. I actually need to make sure that I don't lose too much weight. Trust me; when you lose that many calories in such a short period of time, you have to eat every 2 hours to regain that lost energy.

If you want to lose weight, on the other hand, just go to dance parties and drink a low calorie and non-alcoholic drink like lemon juice to stay hydrated. Just dance and move according to your body's abilities. Be moderate - like with everything in life. A balance is always the best.

Use every opportunity.

Healthy lunch tips

• Don't be scared of a big lunch
• Include a vegetable salad with every lunch
• Eat more soups
• Add carrots
• Use turmeric for spice and flavor
• Pepper is a healthy flavor enhancer as well
• Add broccoli often
• Lemon juice will help with digestion

Use exercise to increase your energy levels immediately

Whenever I feel like I have brain fog or feel like my metabolism is slowing down, I go for a walk outside in the fresh air. This perks me up quickly.

Walking is good if food is making you feel sluggish. The fresh air and sunlight will help you to increase your metabolism - and therefore your energy levels.

Take a walk before dinner

I take a walk around the block before dinner. It helps me to clear my mind. The walking also makes you sleep better at night. We need fresh, circulated air regularly.

Grab some nuts before dinner time

After I come back from my short night walk, I eat healthy snacks before dinner in moderate amounts. It helps to give your body some important nut nutrients and stops you from over eating at dinner. Eating too much food at dinner time can negatively affect your sleep.

A have apricot seeds, cashews and almonds. Nuts are super foods.

Conclusion

I hope that these tips will help you to improve your health in one way or another. There are a lot of different tips here. Try one or two at a time until you find what works best for you.

About Nikola

My name is Nikola. I'm a 44 year old man. I am 185 cm tall and 78 kg of weight. I work from home, doing freelancing work. This is sometimes very stressful, with less fresh air (like with most office or computer based job where we are in a sedentary position). I do exercises and play sports activities like basketball, swimming and running. This gives me a perfect healthy balance for my mental and physical health. Check me out on Twitter.