What does a healthy way of life mean? How do you look after your health?
People nowadays are more health-conscious than they used to be. They
understand that good health is above wealth.
To be healthy we should avoid different bad habits that can affect
our health. In my opinion, smoking, and drinking too much alcohol,
are the worst ones. It’s common knowledge that smoking and drinking
can shorten our lives dramatically. Smoking, for example, causes a
number of heart and lung diseases, such as pneumonia, emphysema and
cancer. Besides, it makes your teeth yellow and skin unhealthy.
Fortunately, in recent years smoking has received a lot of bad
publicity, and fewer people smoke nowadays. Some companies don’t
employ people who are smokers. Smoking has been banned in most
public places because everyone agrees it does harm to our health. I
don’t smoke, because I don’t want to have unhealthy skin and teeth
and die young.
Smoking and drinking are joined by less dangerous habits, such as
skipping meals, eating unhealthy food, or even overeating. Of
course, they are not quite as deadly as smoking or drinking alcohol,
but they also affect our health.
If we eat too much, we’ll become obese, and obesity leads to serious
health problems. A lot of people like drinking coca-cola and coffee,
and enjoy pizzas and hamburgers. But what is tasty is not always
healthy. Fast food makes you fat, that is why Americans are the
fattest people in the world.
In recent years eating habits have undergone a change. People are
encouraged to eat less fat and more fibre. Fat is believed to be one
of the major causes of obesity and heart disease. High fibre and low
fat foods can now be found in all shops and supermarkets. Salads,
beans, and fruit have taken the place of steak and ice cream. The
fashion for health food is growing all the time.
Many people feel they are too fat, even if their doctors disagree.
And a lot of people try to improve their fitness. There are a lot of
ways to lose weight and avoid gaining it. Perhaps the most popular
of them is following a diet. If you want to lose weight, you should
cut out snacks and desserts, and cut down on fat. People have also
become more aware of calories, the energy value of food. Some people
count the number of calories they eat every day; so that they can
try to take in fewer calories and lose weight. This is called a