We regularly hear about new magic foods that appear on the market from time to time and are thought to have enormous health benefits. Most of the time these are recently “rediscovered” foods that were used by indigenous people of South America (or you can pick another continent or a country: South America, India, China, Mongolia, Russia, etc.) in the past but have been long forgotten. Or, they were always available but have been failed to be noticed for one reason or another until now if not for some recent lucky scientific discovery.
Quite often it is claimed that such superfoods have “magic” qualities allowing people to substantially lose weight. Some more daring claims state that these foods also help to heal diabetes, improve sexual drive, treat cancer, lower blood pressure, etc. And the list goes on and on…
If you google “superfoods”, you can get so much information that it will overwhelm you. There are many different novelty foods that are becoming a staple food for some of us but were virtually unknown some 10-20 years ago. You don’t even have to google them if you don’t have time, just go to Wikipedia and type the list of superfoods and voila! I bet you know some of them: blue algae, goji berries, chia seeds, flax seeds, amaranth, mangostene, etc.
Healthstores and even supermarkets stock up on these, and everyone is just one notch happier they can add these items to their shopping baskets and feel that now their diets are so much healthier. How cool is that?
I have to admit that I personally like some of the superfoods and most of them do have clear benefits. However, there are many other considerations we should take into account when loading our shopping baskets with those often expensive items. If my everyday diet contains lots of sugar and complex carbs and then I decide to do a damage control with a handful of goji berries will it really help? Or, if I don’t do any physical exercise and consume lots of blue algae, will I feel good physically? Most probably, not.
See, where am I getting at? If we want to become and stay healthy, we need to do more than just look for shortcuts which tend to work only for a certain limited period of time. It is about taking gradual and not-so-difficult-to-implement steps (so that you don’t think that you should do something extraordinary or impossible with your life), which would ultimately help you switch your habits and improve your diet. And, at the of the day, to enjoy a better quality of life.
What can you do now that will help you to live a healthy, happy and, hopefully, a longer life? Below are some tips, which should make your life easier. Bear in mind that they are interrelated, e.g. removing stress will help you sleep better and vice versa, eating healthy will help your gut function, etc. Of course, don’t forget about superfoods, but view them as an icing on a cake rather than a silver bullet.
- Eat healthy: A balanced diet will definitely help you. You can find some good tips in our previous article.
- Sleep well: Do not treat sleep as something that takes your time from your other activities. You need to “recharge” your nervous system and your whole body regularly. If you have insomnia, you can use some simple tricks.
- Exercise: Physical activity is the must. You don’t have to lift heavy weights or do some funky moves. You can simply walk more and do some activities at home.
- Remove stress: There are tons of materials in the web on how to tackle stress. Generally, exercising and sleeping well will help you to deal with stress better.
- Improve your gut: This is as important as the other four in this list, if not more. You cannot underestimate the importance of gut as it is responsible for most of your immune system. Eating a balanced diet, taking probiotics and eliminating Candida will help your gut tremendously.
Enjoy whatever superfood you think is the most helpful for you but also try taking some other not-so-super steps described above to improve your health. You will be surprised how much more super you will feel!
Leave a Reply