what do you do to keep yourself healthy

[kawai_cs]

Happy New Year Every one!
I am curious if you have any habits that help you keep yourself healthy, looking and feeling good? Something that is important to you and you keep on doing systematically.
I am still working on my list of 2016 resolutions so I might use your answers as inspiration.
For me working out is definitely one of such things that works wonders.

[outin]

I sleep a lot!

[kawai_cs]

Yes, I try to do that as well. However no more than 8 hours otherwise it works to my disadvantage.

[yewtree]

 Well basically, I keep myself fit and healthy by eating  a good diet, I don't eat a lot and don't eat between meals. Stick to quality foods , plenty of fruit , veg , muesli ,  and natural yogurt.  Not stuff with added fat and  sugar.  Don't smoke,  don't drink excessively, a glass of wine is ok with meals. (((( Don't breathe,  just  kidding)))   Rarely eat cakes and puddings. Drink plenty of water.   Outdoor exercise.  Keep sitting at a computer to an hour or two.  Keep mind and body fit.   Play piano or whatever is your choice instrument.   Above all, be happy! 


If all this seems boring, well it works for me!

[kawai_cs]

Well basically, I keep myself fit and healthy by eating  a good diet, I don't eat a lot and don't eat between meals. Stick to quality foods , plenty of fruit , veg , muesli ,  and natural yogurt.  Not stuff with added fat and  sugar.  Don't smoke,  don't drink excessively, a glass of wine is ok with meals. (((( Don't breathe,  just  kidding)))   Rarely eat cakes and puddings. Drink plenty of water.   Outdoor exercise.  Keep sitting at a computer to an hour or two.  Keep mind and body fit.   Play piano or whatever is your choice instrument.   Above all, be happy!

Wow, good for you!   I mean, I try to do all of this stuff too, but I just fail! I do not know how NOT TO snack between meals? How not to eat pastries or sweets? How do you manage all of this? Sometimes I think that my brain is 50% occupied with piano and the other 50% - with food (thank God I am very skinny though )

[indianajo]

Live like my great-grandparents, even though we don't have to anymore.
Do physical work,  even though it is no longer necessary.  I've always run or bicycled 3 to 4 times a week since the US Army trained me at summer camp. Now over age 60 muscles deteriorate if not used, so I've started doing pilates exercises plus lifting a weight, or in winter go to the gym.  In the gym I can do rowing and use an arm machine to get in 25 minutes of aerobic exercise without using my knees which are painful in some weather. In summer I saw  up and carry off tree limbs at my country property, and ride the 27 miles out there on my bike, carrying groceries.   See Dr. Cooper Aerobics and subsequent medical reports of the heart and brain benefits of aerobic exercise.  At my age and condition, playing piano is mildly aerobic, although the pulse is only 90 or so doing that.  Regular  pIano players often live to be very old with good brain function.  
Eat like my great grandparents.  A serving or two of cheap vegetables two meals a day, sometimes fruit, use meat only as a condiment.  I eat maybe an ounce of meat two meals a day, tuna fish about 1/3 of those meals.  Vegetable fat two meals a day, usually sugar and salt free peanut butter with sugar free jelly on fructose free bread. An ounce of cheese on corn tortillas two meals a day.  Cooking fat and margerine on some breakfasts is olive/canola oil.  For a summary of modern health studies  see Dr Furman Incredible Health and Michael Pollan, both of whom have done PBS documentary programs.  I didn't buy the books.  Since cutting sugar use to <5 g per meal and switching fat intake from meat to vegetable, I've lost 40 lb, dropped chloresterol numbers 40 points, and some years don't require pills (never shots) to control the diabetes which happend age 58. I don't restrict calories, or carbohydrates.  I do eat a dark chocolate sugar free candy after most meals. 
No eating between meals, cleaning the teeth properly is a powerful disincentive to snacking.   Brushing, plus scraping the gums with a tooth pick, then flossing, keeps the dentist from drilling so often and keeps the gum loss numbers down.  (I have *****y teeth & gums; my ancestors all had dentures after the fifties, my Dad had all but 6 teeth pulled by the Army when he joined). 
Stay involved.  Now that I'm retired I get out and do volunteer work, and attend a church.  I meet new people, I try new tasks, do new things, and some old ones that I'm particularly good at.  I watch some TV and play with the internet some, but not more than 4 hours a day.  Use your brain or lose it.  One old uncle walked down the mountain daily to town (and back) , and did food charity work  with his church until he died of cancer age 97.  Another uncle is 98 and takes care of his great grandchildren with his wife in his house like a free day-care center.    I respect their choices.  Other heroes are Bill Monroe, that I saw dancing and playing mandolin on stage the year before his death at 86.  He hobby farmed with mules.  

[yewtree]

kawai_cs , it works with will power,  it doesn't happen all at once,  make a decision and  stick at it and  try to keep to a strict regime.   I doesn't matter if you lapse at times, but over time your body will become used to eating proper food and less  cakes and pastries, and cheese, and ice cream  and fatty snack foods.  It was tough going for me it took me roughly  6  months.  I started eliminating cakes, chocolate and pastries when my cholesterol level was raised above normal.      Replace snacks with fruit or a bowl of cereal, non gucky sugar coated !  
 I drink a glass of warm water or spring water every morning before I eat anything.  You can add fresh lemon juice to this.  Be careful with fresh lemon juice, though it is very good for you, the acid can be bad for your teeth, so  brush teeth as you would normally.
I miss chocolate and cakes, but I do indulge on  special occasions such as Christmas, and birthdays. So that isn't a lot to bother about.  In fact your body gets used to not eating sweet things, and soon  you notice  that you don't  really miss sweet stuff that much.      Don't   get me wrong but your body does need glucose.     I replace sugar with honey.   I have honey  most mornings on toast or cereal.  
 

[thalbergmad]

According to my Strava page, i cycled 5050 miles last year and spent almost 400 hours in the saddle. Also I do 1 long walk per week and sometimes visit the gym if the weather is crap.

Lost 50 kilos in weight and now drink no more than a couple of pints of beer per week. Still eat like a horse though. Breakfast is usually 12 Weetabix.

Thal

[siveron]

I push weights in the gym, I run 40km every week, and I try to eat healthy!

[kawai_cs]

Oh, wow, I see you guys keep yourselves very fit! Good!!
I thought I do enough for my health but now I think I have to try harder.

[Bob]

Exercise, stretch, massage, just move more
Eat healthy
Get enough good sleep
Rest/recover
Drink enough water
Get enough sunlight or UV rays
Vitamins
Less stress, if possible


Easier said than done though.  Do all that and you might not get a lot done.  Get a lot done and you might start wearing down.

[kawai_cs]

Easier said than done though.  Do all that and you might not get a lot done.  Get a lot done and you might start wearing down.

Exactly That is why I started wondering if you really do all of those things or you are just saying it it would be good to do all of this...

[Bob]

I'd say... Yes, I do all that more or less.

Less so... on good sleep, probably recovery which I'm thinking is a tough thing to crack and a hidden flaw (work hard, work really hard... but not progress since you work hard and don't recover), and less stress.  I've been wondering if I can force less stress to some extent, to turn it off.

[ted]

I have always trained to some degree since I stopped competitive tennis, but for the last decade it has increased considerably. My diary says I have had 2356 training sessions in the last 2362 days, comprising a variable proportion of aerobic and resistance. Additionally, I always walk rather than drive if possible, do a lot of manual labour in the garden, and mow my kikuyu grass with a hand mower. At sixty-eight, I do get the occasional minor reaction, but these are far preferable to ending up in the disgusting state of many of my contemporaries with bulging guts and faces like stop lights. The food court at the local mall resembles feeding time for the hippos at the zoo, bugger that !

I eat a balanced diet, just common sense without becoming obsessive. If I fancy fish and chips or a dessert then I have it, but not all the time. The only drink I like is brandy, but not often, and a bottle lasts several months. I make sure I have a check-up at least once a year, all the usual things, skin, lipids, PSA, sugar etc. and see the dentist and optometrist about every eighteen months or so.