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Bad Habits And How To Get Rid Of Them
By admin | August 12, 2009
Bad habits are your health’s worst enemy. If you want to lead a happy, healthy life, you need to recognize and do something to get rid of your bad habits. Whether it’s starving yourself throughout the day only to eat late at night, or getting in the car to get somewhere that’s less than 1/4 mile, you need to think about what is sabotaging your health.
Nobody said it would be easy. But since you have only one body, you need to do whatever you can to break old, bad habits and replace them with new, healthy ones. Here are some of the most common bad habits that are ruining your physical and emotional heath and few tips on how to get rid of them.
Diet High In Fat And Sugar
Many of us make this mistake. Who has time today and can afford to wake up every morning at 4am, get dressed, go jogging, take a shower, make a nutritious breakfast for your family and go to work, only to come back after few hours to make healthy lunch, go back to work, come come and make dinner from scratch, eat recommended servings of fruits and vegetables every day?
That’s why we need to step aside and think about what we eat and how we eat it. Above mentioned scenario is not possible; average person nowadays works about 9 hours per day and don’t have enough time and energy to count, prepare and eat meals that are full of one’s recommended servings of fruits, vegetables, fibers etc.
That’s why we need to make one change at the time. Eating meals that are high in sugar and fat is not good for anybody. Instead, we can start with replacing breakfast, one of the most “sugary” meals of the day, with fruit and/or oatmeal. A bowl of fresh prepared oatmeal will give you enough energy to get around your morning, and get you through lunch without feeling hungry. Your breakfast can also be fresh cut fruit like bananas, strawberries and apples; you can add a little bit of maple syrup if you need.
Smoking
We don’t have to write about health issues smoking causes. Instead, we’ll concentrate on telling you a little bit more about beating the nicotine addiction. Once you start smoking, it’s very hard to stop, not because it’s a bad habit, but because it’s a full-blown addiction.
Many people try to quit cold turkey, but doctors don’t recommend that approach. Smokers develop nicotine addiction, and their body is used to it. If you quit cold turkey, your body may go into shock-like state. There are different ways to quit this bad habit, and your way might depend on the type of person you are. Some people like to do quit smoking gradually, slowly decreasing their nicotine intake, and instead of smoking one pack of cigarettes per day, they smoke half a pack, then they decrease it to 5 cigarettes per day, then to 3 etc.
Some people prefer to use nicotine patches which help them control their nicotine intake. Other may prefer hyponsis. But, have one thing on mind – smoking is addiction, and quitting takes a lot of hard work. You should not expect it to be easy; take one day at the time and don’t give up. Your body will thank you.
Excessive Alcohol
Many people drink regularly, one glass of wine during lunch/dinner every day, or a cold bottle of beer after work. While small amounts of alcohol (especially red wine few times a week) may be good for your health, excessive drinking causes a lot of health problems.
It’s best if you could kick the bad habit of drinking few glasses of wine or few beers daily. Instead, try to drink only 2-3 times weekly during meals, possibly red wine. Anything more than that will definitely cause your body to slowly deteriorate.
Couch Potato
We all work very hard, and once we come home, we just want to kick back and relax. Long hours, hectic schedule and many responsibilities lead people to change their healthy habits into bad habits. It’s hard to hit the gym 4-5 times per week if you work hard and feel exhausted all the time.
But, contrary to many beliefs, exercising regularly can help you feel better, have more energy and can increase your self-esteem. And we all know that’s good for us. So, instead of going to the gym, you can change small things like going for a walk for 30 minutes every day, using stairs whenever you can and ditching your car whenever possible. These small changes will help you stay healthy and feel better about yourself.
Too Much Caffeine
What’s the first thing you want in the morning? Your best friend, big cup of coffee. While drinking 1-2 cups of coffee every day is actually good for you, anything more than that will have you hitting the roof. Large amounts of caffeine in your system will make you nervous, cause insomnia, make your heart pump faster and possibly cause stomach pains.
Pregnant women should especially beware of caffeine because it might cause harm to their unborn baby.
It’s best if you can keep your coffee intake no more than 2 cups daily. Also, you can switch coffee with tea, but have on mind that many types of teas also have significant amounts of caffeine in them.
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