When you think about yourself do you see someone who is the picture of perfect or health or is there room for improvement? There are many factors that add up to good health and you may have a few of them or you may have all of them stacked in your favour. If you have a few that are out of alignment, though, you could be heading down the road to disease in the future. Maladies such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and stroke can all cause decreased health and lower quality of life. If you want to improve your health, the good news is that it is never too late to get started. Here are some important steps to take to improve your health and fitness:

1. Eliminate Junk Food

Do you regularly eat junk food and foods that are high in calories with very little nutritional value? Stop it immediately and stop consuming high calorie beverages such as soda pop. You want to eat as much whole food as you can, meaning foods that have not been overly processed. Aim to set up your plate in this way when you eat a meal: ½ the plate is vegetables, ¼ of the plate is meat and ¼ of the plate is carbohydrates.

2. Get a Health App

These days everyone has a smart phone which means you can load some helpful apps onto your phone. Use a meal planner app such as My Fitness Pal which helps you to determine your caloric needs and the calories in certain foods. Track what you eat as closely as you can to understand what you are eating and the value of the calories contained in those foods. There are also trackers that you can wear which count your steps and can by synced to My Fitness Pal. The exercise tracker automatically factors in the calories you are burning with activity and adds those calories onto your daily budget, so if you are planning to eat out somewhere special you can do a little bit of extra exercise to burn off those calories ahead of time.

3. Drink Plenty of Water

Your body requires a certain amount of water daily and if you are exercising or working outside and sweating, you will need to replace that water loss in addition to the water that you must drink on a daily basis. A good guideline is to drink half of your body weight in litres. Remember that coffee is a diuretic and can cause dehydration if you consume too much of it. Try to limit coffee and tea to one cup with a meal if possible. Avoid sugary drinks and remember that your body runs best on water and needs the right amount of water to operate optimally.

4. Get Enough Exercise

If you are using a fitness tracker it is easier to keep track of how much exercise you get in a day. It can be fun to compete with friends and co-workers to see who gets the most steps in a week. If you need to increase your step count, park farther away from your work and walk a few blocks. If you have a job where you sit at a desk all day, see if you can convert your desk to a sit/stand desk and aim to stand at least half of the day. Take regular breaks and get up and walk around the office every once in a while to stretch and get a change of scenery.

5. Weigh Yourself Weekly

Use the scale as a guide, not as the final word. Remember that you may retain water if you consume salty foods and this can have an effect on the number on the scale. The scale is a guide so that you can keep track of your weight, but you should only weigh yourself once weekly. Do not become overly obsessed by getting on the scale daily as this can be extremely discouraging. A better guide on whether you are losing weight or not is how your clothing is fitting.

Remember, changes that you make over time are the ones that are more likely to stick. If you try to make too many changes, you may become frustrated or discouraged and give up too soon. When you work hard and start to see some results, remember to reward yourself. Non-food rewards are a better idea, but you can also do a treat meal once a week, just make sure it is only one meal and not too high in calories so that it cancels out your efforts over the week.

Article suggested by MyMedici