20 Healthy Habits

We all know that everything makes a difference when it comes to a healthy lifestyle. If you find it difficult to make major changes to your diet and exercise routine, start with small changes. See how many of the following you can commit to:

1. Add a fruit or two to your breakfast. Or make fresh juice with 2-3 of your favorite fruits.
2. Have a small portion of uncooked vegetables (salad) with your lunch.
3. Replace unhealthy snacks like cookies and crisps with your favorite dried fruit.
4. Try fruit yogurt instead of ice cream.
5. Replace regular coffee with decaf, or better still, herbal teas.
6. Use olive oil if you must have deep fried stuff.
7. Have fresh lime instead of carbonated drinks.
8. Stop eating three hours before your bedtime.
9. Replace white sugar with brown sugar.
10. Replace white bread with brown bread.
11. Replace white rice with brown rice.
12. Replace regular milk with skimmed milk.
13. If you must have cheese, have cottage cheese or feta cheese.
14. Do at least 10 minutes of simple exercise, like stretching or jumping, before breakfast.
15. Take the stairs instead of elevators.
16. Park your car a little farther so you have to walk to it.
17. Take a 10-minute walk during your lunch time – slowly increase to 20 minutes.
18. Take a 20-minute walk a couple of hours after dinner – with your spouse, kids or dog.
19. Do some form of intense exercise at least once a week – swimming, cycling, hiking, other sports.
20. Eat 5-6 small meals instead of 3 big meals a day.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mush_Panjwani

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Activities of Daily Living

Activities of daily living (ADL’s) is a term that is commonly used in the medical industry, especially when the nursing of an elderly person is involved. Any activity or task that an individual undertakes throughout the course of the day, constitutes the instrumental activities of daily living. Eating, walking, personal grooming and hygiene all come under the list of activities of daily living.

Many medical institutions and even medical insurance companies conduct a study of the activities of daily living of certain individuals that require their attention. Elderly people, people with mental illnesses, handicapped people or people suffering from some crippling disease are usually put through this study. The reason for carrying out this study is to assess the functionality of a person. Once this has been ascertained, the health professionals can determine what type of treatment and nursing conditions the individual in question requires. More on senior health.

Importance of Activities of Daily Living Checklist
In a study carried out, it was observed that almost 50% of people who turn 65 in any given year in America, enter into an old age home because they are unable to carry out activities of daily living. What this means is that these people are unable to take care of themselves, and require assistance to do so. Most people seeking admission into a nursing home will leave within a year, but 25% of the patients end up staying for more than a year’s time. There are 6 basic activities of daily living that a person is expected to perform, and if an individual cannot perform at least 2 of these activities independently, the nursing home will admit them.

The nursing homes maintain a checklist of these activities, to ascertain if a person should be admitted or not. The cost of admitting a patient into nursing homes is quite high, and as a result they need to know for sure, if the person genuinely requires to be admitted. This is the primary importance of the activities of daily living checklist. Read about the cost of assisted living. Read the rest of this entry »

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