What is the healthiest diet to lose weight?

This is the perfect diet to lose weight and get healthy.

A lot of people have asked me about the healthiest diet to lose weight. There are so many different options out there and you never know about the effects of each diet on your health.

The biggest problem with many of these diets is the fact that they don't address the actual problem. Because of this, most people regain the weight as soon as they stop following the diet.

The healthiest way to lose weight is to focus on eliminating the causes of your weight gain and implement the things that will induce natural weight loss.

What is the healthiest diet to lose weight?

Eliminate unhealthy foods that cause weight gain. Give your body everything that it needs to burn fat for energy. This is the healthiest diet to lose weight because you get all the nutrients you need. Address insulin imbalances, hormone fluctuations, cholesterol and metabolism.

How much weight can I lose on a healthy diet?

The amount of weight that you can lose on a healthy diet depends on factors like your current weight and whether the diet actually addresses the root cause of weight gain. That being said, you can lose up to 2 pounds, or 1 kilogram, per week on a healthy diet.

This is what a healthy diet should do.

What imbalances does this healthy eating plan help with?

• Unstable insulin levels
• High blood sugar and low blood sugar
• Raised blood pressure
• A buildup of toxins
• Bad gut bacteria
• Low energy levels and a slow metabolism
• Uncontrollable hunger
• Hormone imbalances
• Nutrient deficiencies
• Unhealthy cravings
• Digestive problems

How do you eat healthy and lose weight at the same time?

This eating plan is the healthiest way to lose weight.

1. Train your body to burn fat by eliminating unhealthy food

Your body will only use its fat stores for energy when it isn't loaded with sugar from your diet. It takes 18-24 hours for your body to eliminate sugar before it starts burning fat.

Excess sugar is stored as fat. If you eat unhealthy sugar, your body never has the opportunity to burn it up. This causes a variety of health conditions that will make it even harder for you to lose weight in the future.

Cut out the foods that cause weight gain.

The first step to eat healthy is to cut out the following foods from your diet:

• Added sugars (sugar in tea or coffee, sweets and candy, beverages with sugar)
• Artificial sweeteners (cause weight gain and health complications - read more below)
• Refined carbohydrates (bread, cereals, pastries, cookies, rice, potatoes, pasta)
• Processed foods (canned food, sauces, processed meat)
• Fast food (pizza, fried food, any restaurant with a drive through)

These types of food cause weight gain and are dangerous to your health in the many ways.

Unhealthy foods flood your body with sugar

These foods are loaded with sugar. An adult naturally has less than a teaspoon (4 grams) of sugar in the blood at any given time. A 12 ounce cup of soda (child size) has 23 grams of sugar. That's more than 5 times the sugar that should be in your blood!

Ketchup (tomato sauce) floods your body with 2-4 teaspoons of sugar per average serving. That is around 10-20 grams of sugar, or more than 2-5 times all of the sugar in your blood stream!

Fun fact: Sugar is almost always the most abundant ingredient in ketchup or tomato sauce.

All of this sugar pours into your body when you eat unhealthy food. It rapidly spikes your blood sugar levels. Spiked blood sugar levels lead to many health problems.

Why is spiked (or high) blood sugar so bad for you?

High blood sugar causes the following health problems:

1. Weight gain
2. Sharp energy drops
3. Fatigue, lack of energy and slow metabolism
4. Fatty liver
5. Muscle weakness
6. Headaches
7. Lower insulin sensitivity
8. Metabolic syndrome (High blood pressure, excessive fat storage, high cholesterol and other diseases like heart attacks and stroke risk)
9. Diabetes
10. Organ failure
11. Nerve damage and neuropathy
12. Blood vessel damage
13. Heart disease
14. Blindness
15. Kidney failure
16. Blurred vision
17. Keto acidosis (Blood acidity that is life threatening)

Don't flood your body with sugar.

Too much sugar causes many health complications on its own. Reduce your sugar intake to minimize the damage (or prevent future occurrence) of these diseases.

Artificial sweeteners

Many people use artificial sweeteners to reduce their sugar intake. Artificial sweeteners cause weight gain and lead to many of the same diseases that sugar does.

One study (mentioned in the link above) showed that artificial sweeteners can be more addictive than cocaine. They ruin our taste for natural food flavors and increase our cravings for sweet things.

Your cravings for sugar increase with every dose of artificial sweetener that you have.

Diseases caused by artificial sweeteners

A study has shown that artificial sweeteners are linked to the following diseases:

1. Obesity
2. Diabetes
3. High blood pressure
4. Heart disease

Artificial sweeteners are not healthy.

A lot of processed foods (including those that are labelled as 'sugar free' or 'low in sugar') are full of addictive artificial sweeteners.

Artificial sweeteners do not help you to overcome a sugar addiction. You need to address the problem head on by learning to appreciate the natural flavors of food.

Artificial sweeteners mask the problem and increase your desire for sweet things. Your taste buds will become more sensitive to the natural sugars in food when you don't eat added sugar or artificial sweetness.

Preservatives

Processed foods make up 89.7% of the added sugar we eat and 57.9% of the total calories we consume in a typical, Western diet. Almost 60% of the food that we eat is full of preservatives that slowly kill us.

The healthiest diet to lose weight should not have any preservatives. Processed food is full of them because they prolong shelf life. Preservatives are poisons that stop bacteria from spoiling food.

The problem is that the same preservative will kill us as well - just at a much slower rate because we are so much larger than bacteria.

Diseases caused by preservatives

Preservatives are linked to the following diseases:

1. Weight gain
2. Allergies
3. Headaches
4. Nausea
5. Diarrhea
6. Hyperactivity and attention deficit disorder (ADD and ADHD)
7. Asthma
8. Resistance to antibiotics
9. Preterm delivery
10. Cancer
11. Heart disease
12. Brain, spine and nerve disease

Choose whole foods.

Avoid the above problem foods and heal your body. You will lose weight more efficiently when the harmful things that damage your health are gone. This should become a part of your everyday lifestyle - no matter what diet you follow. 

Your taste buds will adapt quickly

A lot of people can't stick to a healthy diet because they fear that they won't enjoy their lives anymore. They are scared to eliminate the food that they enjoy.

Many people fail because of the fear of a sense of loss. They feel a sense of deprivation before they even begin.

You might feel like you won't enjoy your life because you don't get to enjoy food anymore.

The good news is that it takes only 14 days for your taste buds to adapt. It takes just two weeks for your tongue to forget the enjoyment of some foods and learn to appreciate the tastes of others.

You aren't losing anything. You're simply changing your tastes. Food without sugar will start to taste sweeter on its own and you will enjoy the things that you didn't like before. All you need to do is stick it out for the first two weeks.

Your associations with food will also change. 

Take coffee, for example. At first, coffee will taste bland without cream or sugar. When your taste buds adapt, you will enjoy coffee without sugar just as much as you did with sugar. You won't crave sweet coffee anymore. Plain coffee will give you the same boost that it usually does.

Your body craves sweetness, in the same way, because it has adapted to the amount of sugar or sweeteners that you eat. After a short period of time your body will forget to crave sweetness because it learns to function without it.

How great would it be to crave and enjoy the foods that are actually good for you? It is awesome to know that this happens naturally when you eat healthy.

Focus on how much better you are going to feel.

2. Eat whole foods exclusively

Your body will heal itself and lose weight naturally when you avoid unhealthy food.

A lot of the imbalances that cause weight gain will start to resolve because you stop them at their source: by eliminating the foods that cause them.

The next step is to nourish yourself with the nutrients you that you do need to get healthy and function at your best.

This eating plan will help you to lose weight. It will increase your natural energy and improve your body's ability to do all of its functions.

Antioxidants, for example, help to clean out the whole body. This is includes the liver, which is responsible for converting fat into energy. Iron helps with the transportation of oxygen, and oxygen is combined with fat to oxidize it into energy. B vitamins are heavily involved in the process of turning nutrients into energy. Nutrients are essential for weight loss.

Focus on whole, natural, single-ingredient food. You can eat dairy, fruit, vegetables, leafy greens, meat (red and white), eggs, fish, nuts, beans and seeds.

Variety is important

Your body needs a whole array of nutrients.

Your body depends on micro nutrients like antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, trace elements, plant compounds and polyphenols. Macro nutrients include proteins (which break down into different amino acids), fat (which includes different essential fatty acids) and carbohydrates (which break down into sugars). Natural fiber is also important.

You do not need to remember this list. Just make sure that you get enough of these different foods:

Important food groups for healthy weight loss

1. Fruit and vegetables
2. Meat (white meat and red meat) and fish
3. Legumes (nuts, beans and seeds)
4. Eggs and dairy (Milk, yogurt, cheese)

Include these foods in your daily diet.

How much should I eat of each food group to lose weight?

1. Have at least 5 portions of 5 different fruit and vegetables every day
2. Eat at least two portions of meat or fish
3. Have at least 1 portion of nuts and seeds
4. Eat at least one diary product and one egg portion every day

In addition to the minimum portions listed above, you can have extra portions of any of the food groups. Make sure to have a variety of different food instead of eating one thing exclusively - you can't eat nothing but chicken for all of your meat portions.

Is it healthy to eat 5 fruit and vegetables a day?

This study saw a significant weight reduction for everyone who ate nothing but fruit and nuts. 82% of their calories came from fruit. There were no calorie or portion restrictions. Overall health improved for all participants.

Here are a list of studies that prove that fruit lead to weight reduction and improved health.

The benefits of eating fruit and vegetables

You can find clinical evidence to these benefits in the studies listed in the link above.

1. Incredibly filling
2. Fruit make you eat less food overall
3. Increased satiety
4. Full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other important nutrients
5. Reduces cholesterol
6. Slow the absorption of carbohydrates
7. Significant weight loss
8. High in beneficial fiber
9. Reduced risk of heart disease and stroke
10. Lower risk of diabetes
11. Reduced risk of cancer
12. Lower blood pressure
13. Reduces oxidative stress
14. Improved glycemic control (the way your body handles sugar)

Fruit is healthy and helps you to lose weight.

Will I spike my blood sugar if I eat 5 fruit and vegetables a day?

Your body needs sugar to survive. If you remove all the sugar in your body, you would die. Cells need sugar. They die without it.

There is a reason why your body is made to crave foods high in sugar. The problem with sugars in processed food is that we get too much of it. Low blood sugar (known as hypoglycemia) is a life-threatening condition.

Symptoms of blood sugar that is too low (hypoglycemia) include:

1. Fatigue
2. Headaches
3. Extreme hunger
4. Changes in mood
5. Nervousness
6. Shaking or dizziness
7. Pale skin
8. Excessive sweating
9. Trouble sleeping
10. Tingling sensations on the skin
11. Blurry vision
12. A rapid heartbeat
13. Rapid mental decline
14. Loss of consciousness
15. Seizures
16. Coma 
17. Death

Signs of low blood sugar

Sugar from fruit and vegetables is healthier than sugar from processed food 

The added sugar in processed foods absorb straight into your blood stream. Processed foods are designed to have rapidly absorbing forms of sugar so that they become more enjoyable and more addictive. This drives sales and encourages the creation of products with fast acting sugar in higher amounts.

The sugar in fruit and vegetables isn't dumped into your blood stream because they are hidden in fibers that are hard to digest. Your digestive system works hard to absorb the nutrients from plant foods.

It takes longer for the sugar in fruit and vegetables to enter the blood stream. The slower release of sugars over a longer period of time prevent the sugar in fruit and vegetables from spiking your blood sugar in the same way as processed food with added sugar.

The sugar in fruit and vegetables are accompanied by an array of vital nutrients

Fruit and vegetables contain important nutrients that improve your health and aid weight loss.

Blueberries, for example, are high in sugar but support health and weight loss. They contain almost all of the vitamins that our bodies need.

Blueberries have powerful antioxidants that support liver function - and the liver needs to work properly if it is going to turn fat cells into usable energy. They also contain a small amount of your daily Vitamin B requirement. Vitamin B is essential to weight loss because it helps the body to turn calories into energy. They are also up to 88% water (see the water content of other fruits). The water content will make you feel satisfied with your healthy food.

If we stick with the example of blueberries, they also contain fibers that prolong the time it takes before you feel hungry again. They support the strains of gut bacteria that help you to lose weight.

Learn about how gut bacteria determine your health.

As you can see, the health and weight loss benefits of blueberries far outweigh the sugar content.

What fruit and vegetables must I eat for weight loss?

This is up to you. All fruit and vegetables have health and weight loss benefits. Just make sure that you eat at least 5 different types of fruit or veg every day. Try to mix it up between different days. If you had a carrot, an apple, two leaves of lettuce, a banana and a tomato yesterday, opt for spinach, a peach and a handful of grapes, an avocado and blueberries on the next day.

Fruit are an excellent source of sweetness for people who struggle with a sugar or sweetener addiction

Fruit are a great way to satisfy your cravings for something sweet if you struggle to let go of added sugar or sweeteners. You should notice that people aren't ever as addicted to fruit like they are to added sugars or sweeteners. This is because of the fact that the sugars aren't as potent and take longer to digest. The sooner a substance enters into the bloodstream, the more addictive it will be.

Choose healthy. Choose happy.

You can combine separate potions of healthy food into quick and easy meals. Take this healthy avocado chicken salad, for example. It combines chicken, avocado, spinach and lettuce into a delicious meal that is quick to put together.

Add other foods like tomatoes, cucumber, beef, salmon, onions, cheese or yogurt to mix it up and increase the variety of the foods you eat.

Add exercise to your weight loss strategy

An effective weight loss plan is incomplete without a good exercise plan. One of the best benefits of exercise is its ability to reduce fat and tone up your whole body.

Try this muscle building program if you want to build muscle while you embark on your weight loss journey.

This program will reboot your fitness in 30 days. It takes only one exercise a day and doesn't require any equipment.

The weight loss exercise plan is perfect for people who want to exercise for maximum fat burning potential. It doesn't require any equipment either.

If you struggle to get into exercise and stick with it, this is the easiest way to get into exercise for weight loss. It starts with a single squat on day 1 so that you don't get overwhelmed with too much exercise. It is better to do something extremely small than nothing at all.

I hope that you learnt something new today. Stay Strong!

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What food has all the vitamins?

4 Foods that have all the vitamins

Before we look at the foods that contain all of the vitamins that you need, let's look at what those vitamins are.

What are the vitamins that your body needs?

1. Vitamin A
2. Vitamin B (B 1 (Thiamine), B 2 (Riboflavin), B 3 (Niacin), B 5 (Pantothenic Acid), B 6 (Pyridoxine), B 7 (Biotin), B 9 (Folate) and B 12 (Cobalamin))
3. Vitamin C
4. Vitamin D
5. Vitamin E
6. Vitamin K

What foods have all the vitamins?

1. Raw spinach
2. Salmon
3. Blueberries
4. Eggs

1. Raw spinach

Raw spinach is higher in some vitamins that are sensitive to heat than cooked spinach. Water soluble vitamins may also be lost through water drainage. Spinach has an enormous amount of health benefits. It contains antioxidants that clean out your cells and support eye health. The fiber in spinach feeds good gut bacteria.

Vitamins in spinach

According to Nutrition Data, 100 grams (or 3.5 Ounces) of raw spinach has:

• 9376 International Units (or 188% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin A
• 0.1 Milligrams (or 5% of your daily requirement) of Thiamine (Vitamin B 1)
• 0.2 Milligrams (or 11% of your daily requirement) of Riboflavin (Vitamin B 2)
•  0.7 Milligrams (or 4% of your daily requirement) of Niacin (Vitamin B 3)
• 0.1 Milligrams (or 1% of your daily requirement) of Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B 5)
• 0.2 Milligrams (or 10% of your daily requirement of Pyridoxine (Vitamin B 6)
• 194 Micro-grams (or 49% of your daily requirement) of Folate (Vitamin B 9)
• 28.1 Milligrams (or 47% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin C
• 2 Milligrams (or 10% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin E
• 483 Micro grams (or 604% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin K
• 18 Milligrams of Choline 
• 550 Milligrams of Betaine

Spinach is good for your eyes.

2. Salmon

Salmon is high in protein which is crucial to keep all your body tissues strong - not just your muscles. It also contains Omega 3 fatty acids, which support brain, heart and cardiovascular health.

Vitamins in salmon

100 Grams (or 3.5 ounces) of salmon have the following vitamins:

• 50 International Units (or 1% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin A
• 0.3 Milligrams (or 23% of your daily requirement) of Thiamine (Vitamin B 1)
• 0.1 Milligrams (or 8% of your daily requirement) of Riboflavin (Vitamin B 2)
• 8 Milligrams (or 40% of your daily requirement) of Niacin (Vitamin B 3)
• 1.5 Milligrams (or 15% of your daily requirement) of Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B 5)
• 0.6 Milligrams (or 32% of your daily requirement) of Pyridoxine (Vitamin B 6)
• 34 Micro grams (or 8% of your daily requirement) of Folate (Vitamin B 9)
• 2.8 Micro grams (or 47% of your daily requirement) of Cobalamin (Vitamin B 12)
• 3.7 Milligrams (or 6% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin C

Salmon is healthy.

3. Blueberries

Blueberries are also packed full of important vitamins. They make a tasty treat that gives you good nutrients instead of the unhealthy stuff that is found in sweets or other processed treats.

Vitamins in blueberries

100 grams (or 3.5 ounces) of blueberries contain:

• 54 International Units (or 1% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin A
• 2% of your daily requirement of Thiamine (Vitamin B 1)
• 2% of your daily requirement of Riboflavin (Vitamin B 2)
• 0.4 Milligrams (or 2% of your daily requirement) of Niacin (Vitamin B 3)
• 0.1 Milligrams (or 1% of your daily requirement) of Pantothenic acid (Vitamin B 5)
• 0.1 Milligrams (or 3% of your daily requirement) of Pyridoxine (Vitamin B 6)
• 6 Micro grams (or 1% of your daily requirement) of Folate (Vitamin B 9)
• 9.7 Milligrams (or 16% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin C
• 0.6 Milligrams (or 3% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin E
• 19.3 Micro grams (or 24% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin K
• 6 Milligrams of Choline
• 0.2 Milligrams of Betaine

Choose healthy.

4. Eggs

Eggs are highly nutritious. They contain all of the nutrients that are necessary for the development of new life. The whole egg (including the yolk) has more nutrients than the egg white on its own.

Vitamins in eggs

100 grams (or 3.5 ounces) of eggs contain the following vitamins:

• 1183 International Units (or 24% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin A
• 0.2 Milligrams (or 11% of your daily requirement) of Thiamine (Vitamin B 1)
• 1.2 Milligrams (or 68% of your daily requirement) of Riboflavin (Vitamin B 2)
• 0.2 Milligrams (or 1% of your daily requirement) of Niacin (Vitamin B 3)
• 3.5 Milligrams (or 35% of your daily requirement) of Pantothenic Acid (Vitamin B 5)
• 0.3 Milligrams (or 17% of your daily requirement) of Pyridoxine (Vitamin B 6)
• 114 Micro grams (or 29% of your daily requirement) of Folate (Vitamin B 9)
• 3.1 Micro grams (or 52% of your daily requirement) of Cobalamin (Vitamin B 12)
• 85.1 International Units (or 21% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin D
• 2.4 Milligrams (or 12% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin E
• 0.7 Micro grams (or 1% of your daily requirement) of Vitamin K
• 610 Milligrams of Choline
• 1.5 Milligrams of Betaine

Eggs are awesome.

How to get all of the vitamins that you need every day

As you can see, some of these super foods contain a lot of certain vitamins, while they contain less of other vitamins. In order to make sure that you get all of the vitamins that you need every day, make sure that you eat a healthy variety of these foods.

Don't only eat one of these foods per day. Have at least three of them regularly and mix it up with things like lemon juice, green tea, black pepper and ginger.

Two is better than one!

This salad is a fantastic option for combining super foods together into one easy and delicious meal. It contains chicken, avocado, spinach, lettuce, lemon juice, vinegar and black pepper. You can easily substitute the chicken for salmon and you can add eggs for even more vitamins. Stay Strong!

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What makes a healthy person?

What makes a healthy person?

What makes a healthy person?

In medical terms, a healthy person is free from disease and shows good markers of health which include normal blood pressure, a healthy heart, stable blood sugar and no nutrient deficiencies. You become a healthy person by eating a healthy diet, staying active, getting good sleep and leading a fulfilled life.

How do you become a healthy person?

You can become a healthy person by following these 7 healthy habits:

1. Eat the right foods every day

Some foods are nutritious. They give your body the nutrients that it needs to stay healthy. Other foods are unhealthy because they load your body with toxins that damage your health. 

Eat fresh fruit and vegetables like spinach, lettuce, chicken, blueberries and yogurt. Going without food can also be healthy from time to time.

Avoid processed foods and artificial sweeteners because they cause disease. Processed foods contain preservatives, artificial colors and artificial flavors, too much sugar and sodium. They can cause diseases like obesity, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure and other diseases.

Balance out your proteins, carbohydrates and fats so that your body gets all of the nutrients that it needs. You need protein to rebuild body tissues and carbohydrates to give you energy. Good fats are good for your heart and your hormones. Plants are excellent sources of antioxidants that prevent cell toxicity.

Natural food is good for you.

2. Stay physically active

Exercise and physical activities keep you healthy in over 100 ways. Doing little to no physical activity is very unhealthy. A lack of physical activity will diminish your energy levels, decrease blood flow and oxygen availability, aggravate depression and mood swings, increase the risk of weight gain and obesity, and predispose you to almost every disease imaginable.

30 minutes of exercise for 6 days a week is all that you need. Combine strength training with endurance training to get the best results for your health.

Endurance training strengthens your heart, lungs and circulatory system. Strength training strengthens your muscles, bones, tendons, joints, nerves and connective tissue. Both of them have positive effects on your hormones, sleep and overall mood.

Here is a fitness program that you can do at home (no equipment needed). It will dramatically increase your fitness levels and improve your health in all the ways discussed above - in 30 days.

A lack of exercise is bad for you.

3. Keep yourself hydrated

One of the first things that you should do to lose fat and get healthy is drink more water every day. It is the second most important thing in my simple method to lose weight without buying anything.

Toxins build up in our bodies from the unhealthy food that we eat, the things that we drink and even the air that we breathe. Metabolic processes in the body also create by-products that need to be eliminated. For example, exercise leads to the creation of lactic acid that is excreted through the urine.

Your body needs water to eliminate all of these toxins. It may do so through urination, sweating, passing a bowel movement or by exhalation. All of these processes require water. Dehydration can cause constipation and we lose water every time that we exhale.

Every cell in the body requires water to survive. Mild dehydration can hamper concentration and lead to unhealthy cravings for stimulants while extreme dehydration can kill the healthy cells in our bodies.

Healthy people drink enough water, but also understand that you shouldn't drink too much water either.

Some beverages like sodas will dehydrate you even more.

Your body needs water to be healthy.

4. Look after your gut

You can tell the difference between a healthy person and an unhealthy person by looking at their gut bacteria. We all have a unique composition of different gut bacteria strains in our gut. Our gut bacteria composition is as unique to each individual as a fingerprint.

Everything that you do impacts your gut bacteria. One of the best ways to become healthy is to correct your gut microbial makeup.

There are good gut bacteria that very important to our health. They help us to break down foods that we can't digest like fiber and milk. These bacteria produce more of the happiness hormone serotonin than the brain does. Good gut bacteria also strengthen our immune systems (more than half of your immune system is in your gut) and keep disease-spreading bacteria at bay.

Bad gut bacteria cause diseases and increase the weight that we gain from eating food. It is one of the reasons why some people gain weight more quickly than others. They increase insulin resistance (which leads to diabetes) and destroy our healthy cells. Bad bacteria, when out of balance, will kill off good gut bacteria.

How to improve your good gut bacteria:

1. Eat less processed foods with preservatives that kill good bacteria.
2. Exercise to increase your fitness level. This will improve the amounts of fatty acids that good gut bacteria feed on.
3. Eat raw fruit and vegetables because this is the main food source of most good bacteria.
4. Drink enough water so that the good bacteria can stay hydrated in your gut.
5. Eat probiotic foods like yogurt, kefir and pickles to introduce new kinds of good gut bacteria into your system.
6. Limit sugar consumption. Bad gut bacteria thrive on sugar.
7. Look after your mental health. Stress kills good bacteria. 

Gut bacteria support mental health.

5. Get enough good sleep

Sleep is extremely important to stay healthy. Lack of good sleep has been linked to diseases like diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, excessive food cravings, obesity and depression.

Getting too much sleep can be just as detrimental to your health.

Your body needs sleep to recover from the day. It uses this time to repair damaged tissues, restore energy levels and balance out your hormones.

Your brain needs sleep just as much as your body does. It uses sleep to re-calibrate itself and consolidate the things that you go through on a daily basis. Dreams, for example, help your brain to deal with the range of emotions that you felt throughout the day.

Here are the best ways to get better sleep every night.

Your brain needs dreams to re-calibrate.

6. Look after your mental health

A big part of becoming healthy is taking care of your mental health (which also known as emotional health).

Mental health relates to how good or bad you feel from an emotional or psychological standpoint. It also relates to how well you deal with social situations at work, with friends and with family. Everybody needs to look after their mental health - right from childhood into elderly life.

If you feel like you have some issues in this area, the first thing you should do is talk to a professional. The second thing, after that, is to share your issues with someone that you can trust.

Human beings are social creatures. We were meant to share our trials and triumphs with others. Feelings of isolation or loneliness can turn in depression and other things that are not mentally healthy.

How to improve mental health

1. Learn to enjoy your daily routine. Feel positive about your work and your daily lifestyle.
2. Build a strong social circle with good friends and family.
3. Do things that stimulate your mind - like reading or learning something new.
4. Find a purpose for living, find a cause to fight for and find a way to benefit your community.
5. Make time to do hobbies or activities that you enjoy every day. This could include painting, reading, writing a blog or gardening.

Fun boosts mental health.

7. Maintain a good standard of hygiene

Harmful germs and bacteria are all around us. They are in the environment that we live, work and sleep in. They are also on our skin.

The skin is your largest defense against the germs that cause sickness. Other areas of defense include your mouth, throat, lungs, nose, eyes, ears, nails and hairs follicles. You need to keep these areas clean by bathing regularly.

Regular bathing helps to reduce the amount of bad bacteria, fungi, yeasts and viruses that come into physical contact with us.

It is also important to make sure that your food (and where you store you food) is sanitary.

Keep your house free from harmful germs by keeping it clean. You can also improve the hygiene of your work environment by wearing appropriate clothing, wiping surfaces regularly and keeping things tidy.

Good hygiene habits are imperative for maintaining a healthy state of being.

Hygiene prevents sicknesses from spreading.

If you follow these simple and effective steps, you can become a healthy person. There are numerous benefits of being healthy.

Benefits of being healthy

1. You will get sick less often
2. Increased natural energy
3. Better appearance
4. Enhanced mood and happiness
5. You will live longer
6. Better productivity at work and at home
7. Less health complications as you age

Try to make a small effort to get better at each of these steps every day and you will feel like a brand new, healthier person in no time. Stay Strong!

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Why do you want to live a healthy lifestyle? Survey Results!

Survey results on why people want to be healthy

What is the single biggest reason why people want to live a healthy lifestyle? We found out. If you want to use the results of this study, please provide credit back to this website.

It can be difficult to provide information for people who are trying to live a healthier life if you don't know why they want to be healthy in the first place. This information is crucial for refining your message in such a way that it helps those who actually need it.

Why do you want to live a healthy lifestyle?

We asked 100 people. This is what they said:

1. To improve on an existing health condition (25%)
2. Be better looking, improve overall appearance, burn fat or build muscle (21%)
3. Improve physical strength or get better at doing something physically, or for sports (16%)
4. Prevent diseases later on or to prolong life (15%)
5. Influences from friends and family (6%)
6. New Year's resolutions or to meet overall life goals (4%)
7. Influences from the online community (4%)
8. Mood boosting or brain enhancing effects (3%)
9. Better productivity or improved life quality (3%)
10. Inspire the people around them (children, family, friends, etc.) (1%)
11. Carry-over from sports at school - Used to play sports and the habit of exercise stuck (1%)
12. Career choice (1%)

Survey methods

Our team went to our local gym and asked 100 people to fill out a simple, one-question survey. 

Our one-question survey

We kept it simple and anonymous. It took a few seconds to jot down an answer and the people could go on their way. Simplicity often reaps the best results.

We tried to vary the participants by age, sex and fitness level. Our team tried to ask a relatively equal amount of boys and girls. We also tried to get an answer from a variety of different age groups. Our team also surveyed people who were relatively new to exercise as well as people who exercise regularly.

Slightly more than half of the participants were males. About half of all participants were under the ages of 30. A large majority of the participants (around 75-80%) were frequent gym goers.

Why do you want to be healthy?

We noticed the following trends when asking the people at the gym to fill out the form:

• The younger the person is, the more likely that they are improving their health for aesthetic reasons (to look good, burn fat or build muscle).
• It was hard for many people to think of only one reason. To keep things simple, we asked them to either write down the main reason why they wanted to improve their health in the first place or to write down the first thing that came to their mind.
• Younger girls were more interested in burning fat or losing weight, while younger boys were more interested in building muscle or increasing strength. Older participants were more likely to pursue a healthy lifestyle for disease prevention or to prolong life.
• 'The non-internet age' of people who would not search for answers to health online is relatively small. Only two people in the group of a hundred participants would not typically use the internet to search for answers to their questions.

What is your reason for health?

The implications of this survey

The results were an eye opener for me. I assumed that almost everybody wanted to burn fat, build muscle or get better looking. It seems like this is only the second reason why most people look after their health. A quarter of everybody that we surveyed wanted to improve their health in order to manage an existing health complication.

You would assume that the elderly were the only ones that were interested in a healthy lifestyle for the sake on disease prevention or to manage an existing condition. The amount of people who exercised to prevent or treat disease, on average, were younger than we thought.

People's reasons for health are different.

Content ideas based the reason for living a healthy lifestyle

The survey results helped us to identify groups of people that you could build online content for. Here are a few examples:

1. Create a health brand aimed at managing a specific disease (high blood pressure, heart health, depression, diabetes, etc.).
2. Write for a niche that peruses a healthy lifestyle for the sake of aesthetics (build muscle, burn fat, weight loss, look good naked or beauty).
3. Build a brand around a healthy lifestyle for improved sports performance (Healthy choices for soccer players, improving rugby performance, strength for runners, and better mobility for tennis players, etc.).
4. Disease prevention and life extension can be an entire subject of its own.
5. Healthy living around social groups can be another interesting angle (health for families, a night of health with friends, how to live a healthy lifestyle as a couple, getting fit in high school etc.).

Individual answers will not be published

We told a few of the participants that the survey was for 'statistical purposes' and that their answers will be not shared with anybody else - besides our team. For that reason, we will not be able to post the individual answers to the question.

Keep the reasoning of your audience in mind when creating health content

One of the best strategies for reaching your target audience effectively is to understand why they are interested in living a healthy lifestyle. I would suggest that healthy brand creators and lifestyle content writers keep these primary reasons for living a healthy lifestyle in mind if they want to reach a part of this audience. Stay Strong!

Understand your audience.

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Why is oatmeal bad for you?

Oatmeal is bad for you

It turns out that eating as much oatmeal as you can stomach isn't as good as you've been led to believe.

Why oatmeal is bad for you

1. Oatmeal consumption can lead to weight gain
2. Added sugars spike your blood sugar and raise blood pressure
3. Sweeteners cause weight gain and become addictive
4. Oatmeal is high in carbohydrates
5. Refined oatmeal contains unhealthy ingredients like preservatives, flavors and artificial ingredients
6. Refined or processed oats don't contain the same nutrients as raw oats 
7. Eating carbohydrates first thing in the morning will lead to weight gain and unstable blood sugar

Oatmeal can make you put on weight

Self.com explains that eating oatmeal for breakfast can sabotage your weight loss efforts. This is mostly due to the things that we add to our oatmeal to improve its taste.

Added sugar

One way that oatmeal can lead to weight gain is the fact that people add sugars to it. People do this to make it more palatable. The high sugar content in oatmeal with added sugar will spike your blood sugar. This causes you to crave more sugar throughout the rest of the day.

Starting your day with a sugar-filled meal will spike your blood sugar and cause it to drop shortly afterwards. This will lead to sugar cravings and restart the cycle every few hours. Your body stores all the excess sugar as fat after each cycle. The body cannot burn fat when blood sugar levels are too high.

It's all about the sugar content.

Artificial sweeteners

Using artificial sweeteners instead of sugar is just as bad as sugar itself. They make you gain weight, reduce your taste for healthy food, increase your risk of diabetes and raise your chances of getting metabolic syndrome (which is a cluster of issues like increased blood pressure, high blood sugar, abnormal cholesterol and obesity). They are also highly addictive. Click on the link for more information.

People think that oatmeal is healthier than it actually is

Oatmeal is considered a super food. This gives people the idea that they can eat as much of it as they want. Anything more than the recommended daily consumption of 6 ounces of oatmeal per day (or half a cup of raw oats) can put you past this limit. Many people eat more than this in a single serving. Eating more than what your body needs will turn oatmeal into an unhealthy portion of food.

Excess calories will be stored as fat and excess weight gain has many negative health consequences of its own.

Moderation is everything.

Oatmeal is not a healthy breakfast option

One of the reasons why too much oatmeal consumption becomes unhealthy is the fact that it is so high in carbohydrates. 12% of raw oatmeal is pure carbohydrate.

Carbohydrates are not the best thing to eat for breakfast

Breakfast is the first meal that you eat after hours of fasting (eating nothing during sleep). The first meal of your day should be low in carbohydrates and sugars, high in proteins and contain moderate levels of fat. Oatmeal is the exact opposite: It is high in carbohydrates (and high in sugars if some is added for taste) and low in both proteins and healthy fat.

Carbohydrates for breakfast are unhealthy

Your liver stores sugar in the form of glycogen. When you don't give the liver enough time to deplete glycogen stores, all of the extra carbohydrates and sugars get turned into fat. Sugar is addictive. Your body will crave more foods that contain sugars and carbohydrates because it never dips into its fat stores.

How long does it take for liver glycogen stores to be completed?

Your body stores carbohydrates in the form of glycogen in the muscles and the liver. After some time, your liver will start to break these glycogen stores down for energy. Once these stores are depleted, your body turns to fat for energy. It takes 18-24 hours of fasting for liver glycogen to be depleted and only 90 minutes of medium-to-high intensity exercise for liver glycogen to be depleted. When liver glycogen stores are depleted, your body switches to burning fat as its primary energy source.

Fat is burned when glycogen stores are depleted.

Nutritional content of oatmeal

100g (or 3.5 ounces) of oatmeal contains:

• 68 calories
• 1.4 grams of fat
• 0.2 grams of saturated fat
• 0.4 grams of polyunsaturated fat
• 0.4 grams of monounsaturated fat
• 49 milligrams of sodium
• 12 grams of carbohydrates
• 2.4 grams of protein
• 0.5 grams of sugar
• 61 milligrams of potassium
• 1.7 grams of dietary fiber
• 8% of your daily Vitamin A requirement
• 8% of your daily Calcium requirement
• 33% of your daily Iron requirement
• 15% of your daily Vitamin B 6 requirement
• 6% of your daily Magnesium requirement

Refined oats are not as healthy as raw oats

Refined oats are more pleasing to the palate and are easier to prepare. Most people consume refined or processed oats thinking that they are healthy options.

Why refined oats are less healthy than raw oats

1. Refined oats are easier to digest. Their energy content is dumped more quickly into your system. This turns most of its calorie content into fat instead of being used for energy. It also spikes your blood sugar.
2. They have their bran (the outer layer of skin) and the germ (the inner seed) removed. This takes away the beneficial fiber and a lot of its vitamin content. 
3. Refined oatmeal is also dramatically higher in carbohydrates. This increases the amount of calories that each serving contains.
4. Refined versions of oatmeal often contain added sugars, sweeteners, preservatives and flavors. All of these additives are bad for your health and turn a 'super food' into a 'junk food'.

Is oatmeal good for you at all?

Oatmeal might not be the best choice for breakfast because of its carbohydrate content. Adding additional ingredients like sugar, sweeteners, flavors and preservatives to oats also make them unhealthy. Raw oats can, however, be a healthy addition to your diet.

They make a great choice to replace carbohydrates after exercise, for example. Here are some of the reasons why raw oats may be beneficial to your health:

1. Oatmeal contains soluble fiber

Soluble fiber is good for you. It is known to lower the risk of heart disease, slow the rate of digestion and keep you fuller for longer. In the long-run, this should decrease the amount of time that it takes before your body craves food again and therefore lower your overall caloric intake. Soluble fiber lowers your LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol).

2. Oatmeal is recommended for diabetics because it does not spike blood sugar in the same way as simple carbohydrates

The slow-digesting effects of oatmeal make it more suitable to diabetics, compared to other typical breakfast options. This is because it does not spike blood sugar in the same way that refined carbohydrates or simple, added sugars do in typical cereal-based breakfasts.

3. Oatmeal is recommended by many nutritionists

Many nutritionists recommend oatmeal for breakfast because it keeps you fuller for longer. This is due to its soluble fiber content. The less you eat, the less weight you should gain and the fewer spikes you would have in your blood sugar.

I hope that I have given you the information that you need to make an informed choice when it comes to your health. If you have learned anything new or would like to add to the discussion, please write a comment below. Stay Strong!

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