You probably want to be healthy. Who doesn’t? The good thing is that almost all the information you need to accomplish this goal is widely available and easily accessible.
A simple Google search can put almost all the information you need at your fingertips. Even the most random of searches, like one for vegan hair and nail gummies, will yield ample search results. Unfortunately, having access to humongous amounts of information can be overwhelming and confusing, particularly if your search yields conflicting information.
So, what should you do to be healthy? A lot. However, you can distill the information down to two essential things: eating well and exercising daily.
Unfortunately, these are things more easily said than done. You may be so busy you do not have the time to prepare healthy meals and exercise at the gym.
If you find eating healthy and exercising daily difficult, try these three health hacks.
1. Take Supplements
It’s a fact that you can get all the vitamins and minerals your body needs by eating a healthy balanced diet. What’s not so evident is that it can be hard to consume enough food to complete your nutrient requirements.
As a case in point, citing the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, the Federation of American Scientists describes a “balanced diet” as:
- Vegetables, two and one-half cups
- Fruit, two cups
- Grains, six ounces
- Dairy, three cups
- Protein, five and one-half ounces
- Oil, 27 grams
The above guideline is not easy to follow, especially for busy career men and women who often eat on the go or do not have the time for leisurely meal preparations. A National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey in 2018 indicated that, on any given day, one in three Americans eat fast food.
It also doesn’t help that eating healthy can be more expensive than the alternative. In a study, Kern et al. (2017) found that a 14% price differential between healthy and non-healthy food options can lead to a 24% decrease in healthy food consumption.
So, Why Take Supplements?
Ideally, if you can source all of your vitamins and minerals from your food, do so. This requires you to eat a healthy, balanced diet every day.
However, this can be difficult to accomplish. Ergo, it can be challenging to complete your vitamin and mineral requirements from just the food you eat.
If this is your reality, take supplements. This is better than simply forgoing the nutrients you need because you can’t consume all the food you must eat. If you need a valuable suggestion, www.midss.org/nutrition/mct-wellness-reviews is definitely a good source.
2. Go for Tasty and Convenient Supplements
People mistakenly believe that healthy food should taste “healthy” — i.e., unappetizing. Thus, when people take supplements, they visualize taking dry pills and unsavory drinks.
There’s no need for that. You have many options out there, and many of them are easy on the palate. Some supplements even taste like candy. Chewable vitamin gummies, anyone?
If you’re having supplements anyway, choose those that taste great and are easy to take. If you like the taste of a supplement, you’re less likely to avoid taking it. You might even look forward to having it. Furthermore, if a supplement is not inconvenient to consume — for instance, it is a gummy you simply chew like candy, so you don’t even need to drink water with it — you probably won’t neglect taking it.
3. Opt for Tabata Training
You know you need cardio exercise to strengthen your heart and improve its blood-pumping efficiency. Most people accomplish this by walking, jogging, and running. These are great if you have an hour or two to spare daily.
However, if you don’t have that luxury, you may want to consider high-intensity interval training (HIIT), particularly Tabata training.
What Is HIIT?
HIIT is an exercise that involves bursts of activity alternated with periods of recovery. A segment of a HIIT routine can involve:
- One minute of star jumps
- 30 seconds of rest
- One minute of burpees
- 30 seconds of rest
- One minute of star jump squats
- 30 seconds of rest
- One minute of high knees
- 30 seconds of rest
HIIT is better than steady-state cardio (e.g., walking, jogging, and running) because it is both an aerobic and anaerobic exercise. It also pushes you to breathe harder and helps burn more fat.
HIIT exercises are typically 30 minutes long, although they can be shorter or longer depending on your exercise program.
What Is Tabata?
Tabata is a type of HIIT, so it follows the same general format: every intense burst of activity is followed by a rest period, which is in turn followed by another intense activity. However, Tabata is a more rigid and extreme form of HIIT.
In Tabata, you typically engage in 20 seconds of intense activity followed by 10 seconds of rest. In other words, Tabata offers really short recovery periods, pushing you and making you work harder.
However, its greatest advantage is that it will take you only 20 minutes to perform an entire Tabata training circuit. A circuit is four rounds, with a one-minute rest period between rounds. On the other hand, a round consists of eight activities separated by 10-second rest periods.
The following is an example of a Tabata round:
- 20 seconds of star jumps
- 10 seconds of rest
- 20 seconds of squat jumps
- 10 seconds of rest
- 20 seconds of push-ups
- 10 seconds of rest
- 20 seconds of mountain climbers
- 10 seconds of rest
- 20 seconds of crunches
- 10 seconds of rest
- 20 seconds of burpees
- 10 seconds of rest
- 20 seconds of high knees
- 10 seconds of rest
- 20 seconds of football drills
- 10 seconds of rest
Caveat: HIIT and Tabata will push you to your limits. As such, you should consult your doctor about the suitability of this training before you start.
Just Do Three Things
You know you must eat good food and exercise daily. Eating a healthy and balanced diet will give you the vitamins and minerals your body needs to function optimally every day.
Meanwhile, daily exercise will help your body and heart become stronger.
However, as busy as you are, you may not have the time to create healthy meals and exercise daily. Thus, the workarounds.
If you can’t eat a healthy and balanced diet every day, take your supplements. Choose delicious and easy-to-take supplements so that you won’t forget or dread taking them. Additionally, if you don’t have an hour or two to spend running at the park or doing structured exercises at the gym, at least devote 20 minutes every day to a Tabata routine.
Iskra Banović is our seasoned Editor-in-Chief at Blufashion. She has been steering the website’s content and editorial direction since 2018. With a rich background in fashion design, Iskra’s expertise spans across fashion, interior design, beauty, lifestyle, travel, and culture.
