"Healthy Lifestyle"

Alice Costas

At GirlSpeak we like health. We try to eat healthy, exercise, and have fun, but of course we slip off the bandwagon a lot too. Regardless, we think it's pretty important to try to be as healthy as possible. Our bodies, after all, are the vessels for our thoughts. Here are GirlSpeak's tips for a healthy brain and body.

Healthy Eating

Healthy eating isn't about labeling specific foods as good or bad, or trying to make yourself mini-me through limiting calories. Instead, we have a few ideas about what kinds of eating choices help your body function smoothly.

First of all, fiber, protein, fat, sugar, you need it all, so please don't try to eliminate carbohydrates by only eating protein. It's just not a sustainable or healthy way to live. Your body needs everything to grow and produce healthy new cells. Eliminating one form of energy (like a protein or carbohydrate) from your diet is like asking your body to bake a cake without a key ingredient like flour or eggs.

One thing is clear: it's better to munch on something fresh and grown from the earth than something that was processed by 10 different chemicals and sealed in a bag for a few months. What does this mean, exactly?

Choices, Choices

Getting your fat from a handful of nuts will provide your body with nutrients and make it a lot happier than a bag of Ruffles will. Looking at a bagel versus fresh whole grain bread? Your body likes grains better than the processed flour.

The Bad Stuff

Let's be serious though, everyone loves their occasional scoop of Breyer's and we don't ever want to take that away from you. The important thing is to make sure the ice cream is well overshadowed by fresh produce, and even some lean animal protein.

Considering the way that food functions in our culture, we're all going to eat something prepackaged, pickled or processed. When we make these choices, it's probably a good idea to stick to foods that have more grains, less processed sugar, and as little as possible added fat (partially hydrogenated corn oil, we mean you).

Organic Foods

If you've got a few extra dollars, try to buy organic produce and meat. Sometimes, this isn't a possibility, but when you think about things like bovine-growth hormones (hormones fed to animals to make them fattier and more tender that you incidentally consume when you eat these animals), pesticides (these assure that fruit grows larger and isn't eaten by insects), and genetic modifications that alter factory-farmed food (such as making breeds of corn that are resistant to bugs), it becomes worthwhile to slap down the cash on natural-grown food. Plus, organic farms are more fun for the animals.

Eating Lifestyles

Vegetarianism and veganism (completely eliminating animal products like dairy and honey from your diet) are awesome, as long as you get a balanced diet. That means planning ahead and taking a little extra time to make sure you get the protein and fat that many people get by eating meat. Sources include things like beans, nuts, and tofu. If you're veggie, go for fresh fruits and veggies rather than the grilled cheese sandwich diet.

Moving Around

Despite how fun exercise can be (yes, it can be really fun) there are tons of important and practical reasons why exercising is important. Heart disease, the number one cause of death in the US right now, can be prevented by exercise, not to mention other nasty stuff like cancer, stroke, obesity, osteoporosis and diabetes.

While exercise wards off diseases people struggle with later in life, it also provides pretty immediate benefits to younger people like making your muscles and bones stronger, burning calories, strengthening your immune system, helping you produce good cholesterol, preventing depression and giving you energy.

It's recommended that you get thirty to sixty minutes of exercise a day. If you play sports, that's probably a snap, but otherwise it might seem daunting. And if you've never gone outside and exercised before, 30 minutes a day is a decidedly bad idea to start out with. You can hurt your muscles easily that way, but perhaps more importantly, lose morale and fail to pick exercising up again.

So, start at your own pace. Walk for 10 or 20 minutes a day at first, or choose two days a week to run for half an hour. Set your own pace, and then increase your exercise time as you feel comfortable. And if you can't fit extra exercise into your schedule, doing a little bit is so much better than doing nothing. The most important thing is to be happy with your exercise routine so that you keep doing it.

Make it Fun!

So what are you supposed to be doing during all this time? Whatever you're enthusiastic about that gets you moving around.

Bike to school.
Turn on some music and dance like crazy alone for half an hour.
Walk to your friend's house instead of taking the bus.
Organize a capture the flag league.
If you're a student, see if your school offers any cool classes like dance, or better yet, use your time in school to join a free sports team while it's available.
All you need to go for a walk is a pair of shoes. Walk around the neighborhood for an hour, or, hop on the El or whatever public transportation serves you and go explore another part of where you live for an hour.

When you think of exercise as simply moving around in a way you like, it becomes a lot less daunting. You definitely don't need an expensive gym membership, and for many activities you don't need any money.

Switching it Up

It's a good idea to vary the exercises you're doing. You know all of those former Olympic athletes who get terrible sports injuries in whatever part of their body matters most for their sport? That's what happens when you constantly use one portion of your muscles.

And while this in all likelihood isn't going to happen anytime soon, if you run 5 days a week for 30 years without stretching of doing other activities that engage your upper body, your knees won't be bendable and stretchy like they are now.

So, always think about what part of the body you're moving. If you're worried about your upper body, buy some cheap hand-weights and do arm exercises while sitting on the couch.

It's also a good idea to raise your heart rate through cardio exercises (the kind where you huff, puff and get sweaty) 3 times a week. Alternatively, resistance training, where you build muscle but don't necessarily raise your heart rate, should also be a part of your workout. Lifting weights is one way to do this. Yoga and Pilates are other popular ways of resistance training. If you're looking for something a little lower maintenance, try carrying groceries upstairs for 30 minutes, or helping a friend move. Hand weights again can be very inexpensive, especially used (our eBay search found some lightweight pairs for 2.99).

Make Sure you Keep Eating Healthy and Exercising

Sometimes it's hard to keep up these habits, and while you might take a week off every now and then, be sure to get back on the horse. For me, it helps to write down how many vegetables and fruits I eat everyday in my journal. If you keep a planner make sure to write your exercise and cooking times into it. One way to make sure your eating and exercise habits stick with you is to involve someone else. If you have to meet your friend in the park for a run, you'll be there. Similarly, if you don't show up to an organized sports practice, you let the whole team down.

Things That Harm Your Beautiful Body

GirlSpeak is not your mom, ladies, but we just have to say it. Please recognize the havoc that drinking and smoking (anything) wreaks on your health even if you choose to disregard that.

Drinking

If you must imbibe please try to do so in moderation. While frequent drinking is a drag for your body, binge drinking has negative effects that put you at immediate risk. It seriously impairs your judgment, leaving the potential for you to wake up feeling very unhappy about the previous night. More importantly, it puts you at a higher risk of encountering a violent crime. Binge drinking can also cause you to pass out or even die of alcohol poisoning.

Finally, binge drinking causes your body to become severely dehydrated, which results in a headache, sensitivity to light and noise, and/or bad a stomachache. If you must, treat yourself well in the morning: eat fiber and drink a whole bunch of water before hitting the coffee mug.

Smoking

First of all, smoking costs way too much for something that can kill you. Second of all, it can kill you! Even if you're not worried about lung cancer in the long run, it decreases your lung capacity on a day-to-day basis. If you're taking birth control hormones, smoking puts you at risk for blood clots. And seriously, you don't look cool; you look like you missed the memo that breathing helps you stay alive.

It's All Connected

These substances might feel unconnected to your life as an exerciser or a healthy eater, but the truth is, they undermine your body's whole operation, from the nutrients your body looses by becoming dehydrated to your ability to easily get up in the morning. Try not to give your beautiful body more trouble than it wants.

The Rest

Try to get to a doctor once a year for a checkup.
Take care of your teeth. Your mouth matters. There have been populations whose primary cause of death was toothache.
It's never too early to start examining your breasts for cancer once a month.
Be aware of your surroundings.
Try not to walk around alone at night no matter where you live.
Try to find self-defense classes. In Chicago, some park districts offer them for low prices. If you go to school, check with your administration to see if they are available for free.
Carry pepper-spray if you have to walk alone frequently.
Take care of your mind! If you need a break, give it to yourself. Try spending mandatory time alone getting to know yourself. If something's bothering you, don't let it hang there; address the source. Talk to your friends and your family, but also spend time by yourself. Read and think! Write your thoughts down; a pen and some paper can make great therapy.
Please take good care of your sexual health! Use condoms or dental dams for sex and oral sex unless you and your partner have been tested for STDs. Once you're 18, visit the gynecologist once a year, even though it's unpleasant.
Most importantly, have fun with your body.