How to Start a Healthy and Happy Lifestyle

Leslie Ruys, the Netherlands

A lot of people think of a healthy lifestyle as a task, something that makes life harder then it already is.You always have to watch what you’re eating, can’t have a dessert, no chocolate, no sweets, always a structured diet you have to follow. But nothing can be more wrong. A healthy lifestyle is indeed about healthy foods like vegetables, salads, fruit, fresh meat, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a sweet or chocolate from time to time. Of course, if you want to lose weight or are training for a special competition you have to watch more than others what you eat. But a healthy lifestyle is about eating fresh and no processed foods.

First of all, for me it is easy to follow a healthy lifestyle because eating fast food or a lot of chocolate makes me feel dirty. Fast food especially is produced in a unhealthy, disgusting way with products that shouldn’t be allowed in your body. Of course I like a hamburger from In and Out sometimes.  You have cravings for something fried or something that is bad for you, that is okay, you can eat it. A healthy lifestyle isn’t about torturing and forbidding yourself to eat something ‘bad.’ It is meant to make you feel happy and good about yourself. If a hamburger once a month makes you happy, then eat that hamburger.

Some people that start a healthy lifestyle begin to diet to an extreme level. They forbid all foods that can make you fat and eat less and less. They feel good but also miserable because in their heads they can’t go out to have a hamburger or pizza with friends, no ice cream in the summer and don’t get me started about chocolate.

A healthy lifestyle is about being happy and feeling good and energised about yourself, having a lot of energy and eating what you love. You can eat vegetables and fruits, fresh food as much as you like. 400 calories from risotto with vegetables is much better for your body then 400 calories from a Mars bar. After a while you feel heatlhier in your body, you will be happier and have a lot more energy.