Once you become aware of the advantages of a healthy lifestyle and see how it changes the way you look and feel, you’ll fall madly in love with it. And you’ll become addicted to the wonderful sensations of looking and feeling great!
Being that love is a powerful emotion, the strength of your commitment will grow the more you learn and get involved. A healthy lifestyle offers infinitely more advantages than what you give up when you end unhealthy habits.
Perceived Disadvantages Will Disappear
What keeps many people away from adopting a healthy lifestyle is their perception that they will be giving up many pleasures that they hold so dear. This is particularly true when it comes to food.
Eating junk food can easily develop into a habit or even an addiction. If you are having cravings for junk food and you are unable to keep yourself from eating it, then you’ve probably got an addiction or a least a bad habit. Don’t let the word addiction scare you. This type of addiction is relatively easy to break in comparison to nicotine, caffeine, alcohol, and other drugs.
Junk food is food that is high in bad fats (saturated & trans fats), high in salt (sodium), and high in sugar. Junk food is most common in fried, processed, and meat products.
People who constantly eat junk food are either ignorant about how it is affecting their bodies or they have this knowledge but choose to ignore it. Once you become strongly aware of the benefits of eating healthy food, your motivation to adopt a healthy lifestyle becomes easy!
Here’s the key. Your taste buds, body, and emotions have become accustomed to food that is high in bad fats, salt, and sugar. Once your taste buds, body, and emotions adjust to not having these intense ingredients, you’ll no longer want them and you’ll begin to enjoy the taste of healthy foods. In fact, you’ll enjoy them more because you’ll be aware of the positive impact they are having on you!
The same is true of exercise. Once you gain knowledge and experience on the benefits of exercise, you’ll get hooked on a healthy lifestyle.
Many people look at exercise as a chore instead of an activity that will bring them pleasure. And pleasure is exactly what you get each time you complete an exercise session. The pleasure comes from the release of endorphins and the emotional satisfaction you get from completing a challenging physical activity that will make you feel good, look good, and live well. (Note: Endorphins are brain chemicals known as neurotransmitters.)
No discussion is required about the dangers of smoking tobacco and consuming excessive amounts of alcohol and drugs –- both illegal and prescription. These topics are covered extensively on this site. Needless to say, these practices keep you from enjoying the full benefits of a healthy lifestyle.
Advantages of the Healthy Lifestyle
Now I’m going to give you a list of 35 advantages to a healthy lifestyle. Some of the items I include may be a repeat of what I’ve already mentioned, but they are worth reviewing. Finally, the list will include aspects of a healthy lifestyle that goes beyond healthy eating and exercise. Here it is.
A healthy lifestyle will…
- Enhance the quality of your life.
- Give you control over your weight.
- Give you a more youthful appearance.
- Give you a more attractive appearance.
- Give you better-looking skin & hair.
- Give you fresher breath & stronger teeth.
- Increase your attractiveness by the opposite sex.
- Increase your ability to attract a higher-quality partner.
- Increase your ability to have a healthy relationship.
- Increase your libido and sexual performance.
- Increase your self-esteem.
- Increase your self-image.
- Increase your self-confidence.
- Increase your self-discipline.
- Increase your ability to get a job or start a business.
- Increase your ability to do your job.
- Increase your chances for promotions.
- Increase your ability to communicate.
- Increase other people’s confidence in you.
- Reduce your chances of getting colds, flu, and infections.
- Reduce your chances of getting serious illnesses including cancer.
- Reduce your chances of getting heart disease & strokes.
- Increase your ability to recover from illnesses and injuries.
- Increase your ability to recover from stressful situations.
- Increase your ability to recover from exercise & sports.
- Optimize the performance of your body.
- Optimize the performance of your brain.
- Optimize the performance of your five senses.
- Increase your performance in sports.
- Increase your performance in recreational activities.
- Increase your performance in your hobbies.
- Increase your ability to concentrate.
- Increase your ability to control your thoughts.
- Increase your ability to control your emotions.
- Increase your ability to remain optimistic.
There are many more benefits, but this gives you a solid foundation. Some of the items on this list may seem far-fetched to you, but once you immerse yourself in a healthy lifestyle you’ll know exactly what I mean.
The best thing you can do right now to get started with a healthy lifestyle is to begin learning about healthy eating, vitamin supplements, and exercise. Many articles under the healthy living category on this site cover these topics. In addition, you should get a couple of books. The books will not only give a lot of valuable information, but they will also get you excited about a healthy lifestyle. Check out the recommended self-improvement books for ideas. Look under the category “Nutrition…”
Once you become knowledgeable about healthy living and put it into practice, you’ll fall in love with the healthy lifestyle. And no person or thing will ever be able to pull you away.
Don’t let your lack of knowledge stop you from getting started right away. Begin with the information and abilities you have today. For example, if the only exercise you know how to do is walking, then walk around the block today! If your only knowledge about food is that bacon is bad for you, then go get it and throw it in the garbage right now!
The secret is to force yourself to begin. Eventually, it will become automatic. And once it becomes a natural part of your daily living, you’ll bask in the pleasure of radiate health and appearance regardless of your age — be it under 30, over 50, or somewhere between.