Here are 7 small changes you can make to keep yourself and your healthy and fit:
- Getting used to breakfast
If your body feels weak and your mood is not well controlled in the morning, try to remember whether you had breakfast or not. The benefits of breakfast for health cannot be underestimated. Apart from that, breakfast can also affect various important aspects of starting your day before starting activities.
Eating in the morning doesn’t have to be complicated and take time to serve; it’s enough to have food that can provide energy to your body. You can spend 5–15 minutes for your breakfast to consume cereal, oats, or rice. The choice of complex carbohydrate content will help you provide energy that lasts longer. You can also choose cereal with yoghurt for breakfast in the morning to meet your energy needs and fibre needs every day. Here are the benefits of breakfast for our bodies:
A. Meet daily nutritional needs
B. Improved body metabolism
C. Affects mood
D. Increase focus and productivity.
E. Helps lose weight
F. Reducing the risk of heart disease and diabetes
2. Use of dental floss (flossing)
Cleaning your teeth regularly with toothpaste is not optimal because the smallest part of your teeth cannot be reached by using a toothbrush alone. Flossing or using dental floss is one way to optimally clean food residue.
Some of the benefits of flossing you need to know include:
A. Removes plaque
Plaque is a sticky, colourless film that collects around the teeth and along the gum line. Plaque forms when bacteria in the mouth mix with starchy foods and drinks. These bacteria release acids that break down carbohydrates. If you don’t brush your teeth, bacteria, acids, and carbohydrates can mix together to form a layer of plaque around your teeth and gums. Bacteria in plaque can release acids that attack tooth enamel, which can eventually cause cavities.
In addition, plaque buildup can harden and turn into tartar, which collects along the gum line. Luckily, regular flossing can help remove food particles from around your teeth as well as plaque that has built up between your teeth.
- Prevent gum disease.
Plaque doesn’t just make teeth unsightly. Plaque that has accumulated can also cause gum disease, which is an inflammation and infection of the gums. When plaque eats away and erodes the soft tissue of the gums, it triggers what is known as periodontal disease. An advanced form of periodontal disease, known as periodontitis, can cause severe damage and root canal problems. The most effective prevention of plaque formation is to remove bacteria at the base of the teeth, which can be done through flossing.
- Reducing the risk of cavities
Damaged teeth can develop into cavities, which cause holes in the hard surface of the teeth called enamel. Even though this process takes time, the more plaque you have on the tooth enamel, the higher the risk of experiencing cavities. Flossing between your teeth at least once a day can help remove hidden food particles and plaque buildup and lower your risk of tooth decay.
- More effective than just brushing your teeth
Brushing and flossing work better to keep teeth healthy. If you only brush your teeth but don’t floss, it’s like washing the outside of a drinking glass but ignoring the inside walls.
In fact, up to 35 percent of tooth surfaces remain unclean when you only brush and ignore flossing. That’s because toothbrush bristles can only reach so far. Unlike a toothbrush, flossing can effectively remove food and bacteria trapped in the narrow space between the teeth and gums.
- Reduce bad breath
Bad breath is a common problem that occurs when food trapped between the teeth slowly starts to decay. If you don’t remove food particles, it can cause you to have bad breath.
3. Make your own coffee blend
Making your own coffee blends allows you to control the amount of excess sugar intake. Besides that, you can present healthy snacks with various biscuits that are low in calories and fat. A study shows that those of you who are very dependent on coffee and get used to consuming it at home will help you avoid various types of unhealthy food at fast food restaurants.
Cynthia Sass, MPH, RD, a registered nutritionist, explains the six benefits of coffee that you can get:
- Coffee evokes a feeling of happiness.
- Coffee lowers the risk of disease.
- Coffee can reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes.
- Consistent consumption of coffee does not cause dehydration.
- Coffee contains antioxidants. The coffee bean is actually a seed inside a small, bright red or yellow fruit. Both the seeds and the fruit are rich in antioxidants.
- Decaffeinated coffee also offers benefits. After stopping caffeine, some people may start to sleep better and improve their energy balance. The good news is that decaffeinated coffee still offers health benefits, such as antioxidants, disease protection (including fighting type 2 diabetes), and even increasing alertness. So, if you’re a coffee lover but can’t make friends with caffeine, you can still benefit a lot from decaf coffee.
4. Walk regularly
Try to take a trip that you can still do on foot. Getting used to walking will help you maintain bone health. Walking is a way to improve your physical and mental health. Try to take the time to walk every day.
The following are the benefits of walking you get, both physically and mentally.
- Reduce the symptoms of varicose veins.
- Reducing the risk of chronic disease
The American Diabetes Association recommends walking to lower blood sugar levels and the risk of developing diabetes. A study from the American College of Cardiology (2020) shows the benefits of walking in reducing systolic blood pressure by around 0.45 points for 1,000 steps per day. You can also get lower blood pressure by increasing the duration and number of steps each day.
- Make the mood better.
The benefits of walking are similar to those of eating chocolate in improving mood. The reason is that people who regularly walk experience changes in the nervous system, which create a feeling of pleasure and a better mood. A better mood will certainly make the days that you go through full of good and positive productivity.
- Spark creativity
A study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology, Learning, Memory, and Cognition (2014) proves that walking can trigger your creativity.
- Lose weight
The benefits of walking are a favourite for those of you who are on a diet. The reason is that walking regularly can help improve the body’s response to insulin. Ultimately, this leads to reduced belly fat. Walking can increase metabolism by burning calories that usually accumulate as fat.
- Launching the digestive system
After consuming a heavy meal, try not to stay still afterwards. Sitting, watching TV, or going straight to sleep can interfere with the performance of your digestive system. All you need to do is walk for 30 minutes. You need to do this to expedite the work of the digestive system. In addition, the benefits of walking after eating can also help keep your blood sugar levels stable and not cause spikes that harm the body.
- Strengthen the thigh and calf muscles.
Another benefit of walking for 30 minutes a day that you can get is increasing the strength of the thigh and calf muscles.
- Relieve joint pain
In addition to strengthening your muscles, walking can help relieve pain in your joints. A study in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine (2019) tested adults older than 49 years who experienced joint pain in the lower body. As a result, participants who walked for at least 10 minutes per day or one hour per week could prevent symptoms of joint pain and later severity.
- Improved sleep quality
Daily walking has a positive impact on sleep quality and duration. This is because walking naturally increases the effects of melatonin, aka the sleep hormone. Meanwhile, the benefits of walking can also help reduce stress and anxiety that can cause sleep disturbances.
- Boost the immune system.
Apart from consuming healthy food, moderate-intensity exercise such as walking can also boost your immune system. Exercise helps increase the number of immune cells in the body. This will simultaneously lower your risk of developing severe symptoms due to an infectious disease.
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5. Eat more often in small amounts.
For those of you who often delay meal times, besides being able to increase fat deposits in the stomach area, you can also experience various health problems, including the level of stomach acid in your body. Eating more often is one way to make small changes to your health. Eating more frequent meals in smaller amounts will help your digestion and prevent gas and overeating.
6. Adding natural flavours to drinking water
The body needs fluids that must be met through consumption every day. You have to meet his needs with as many as eight glasses per day. If you feel bored and want to add flavour to your drink, You can add natural flavours to your drinking water, such as lemon, lime, or cucumber juice. Even though it doesn’t taste like the bottled drinks that you often consume, this can help you avoid boredom when drinking mineral water.
7. Turn on classical music at dinner
To keep yourself from eating too fast or too much, you can listen to slow music. Citing a research study that found people who listened to fast music consumed a meal at an average of five bites per minute, Those who didn’t listen to music ate four bites per minute. Meanwhile, those who listened to music slowed their eating to only three bites per minute.