Welcome to Day 11 of the Wellbeing 9-a-Day blog! So far, we’ve looked at the six habits contained within Your Journey and Your Fitness and how they help to improve your health and wellbeing. In today’s blog, we are going to look at Your Relationships, starting with Nourishing and how to improve your nutrition.
Building a Healthy Diet
The Wellbeing 9-a-Day Journal encourages you to consider your relationship with the sustenance that you put into your body. Good nutrition is an essential part of a healthy lifestyle.
The great thing is that the best sources often come directly from Mother Nature herself.
Drinking enough water, eating fruits and vegetables, and maintaining a balanced diet provides you with essential nutrients that improve your health and wellbeing.
Drinking water is proven to boost brain power, enhance memory, and lift your mood. People who hydrate regularly have more energy to perform better physically and mentally. Staying hydrated also supports blood flow, improving the health of your urinary system, and aiding in weight maintenance.
We are also fortunate enough to be provided with a myriad of fruits and vegetables that are as delicious as they are nutritious. Fruits and vegetables are a good source of vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibre. They help to reduce the risk of heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer.
We like to think of fruit and vegetables as Nature’s Candy – the wholesome treats provided to us by Mother Earth. Nature’s Candy tastes delicious, and there are so many varieties to choose from! If you'd like to learn a few recipes, Live Well with Cancer's favourite Italian chef Tommaso has done a series of videos to help you get Nature's Candy into your diet!
Drinking Water
Today we are going to focus on drinking water, the number one habit that I would recommend to anyone looking to improve their health and wellbeing.
The NHS recommend that people drink 6-8 mugs of fluid each day (about 1.2 to 1.5 litres) to replace normal water loss, plus additional fluid to replace liquid lost through sweating when exercising.
My personal target is to drink at least two litres of water each day, a habit I have been maintaining for years now. One of the biggest challenges when using the 6-8 mugs as a guideline is that it is easy to forget how many you have drank. Was it 3, 4? And how big is a mug?
My best tip for tracking how much water you drink is to use a water bottle.One of the best purchases I have made in recent times is my 1180ml Buzio water bottle.
I fill it up with water in the morning and it stays a lovely temperature until it is empty. When I have filled it up and emptied it a second time, I know that I have drank enough water that day.
Call to Action
Make drinking water a regular part of your daily routine. If this is a new habit, start small to begin with and build up your intake over the coming days. For anyone drinking no water now, starting with a mug or glass a day is infinitely more than you have been drinking, and you will soon see the benefits of better hydration and improved wellbeing. Give it a go!
This blog was written as part of a 90-day blog writing fundraiser for Live Well with Cancer, a volunteer-led charity serving North Tyneside and the surrounding areas. If you enjoyed this blog, please show your appreciation by donating to my JustGiving page. Every penny raised from donations or sales of the journal will help deliver workshops, events and support groups that empower better health and wellbeing for those affected by cancer, including family, friends, carers, and healthcare workers.
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