Be A Health Nut

• Are you deeply concerned about your health? Worried about being sick and what is going into your body, and want to change it? Read on to integrate healthy practices into your life.
• Clean out your kitchen: get rid of most overly processed, premade, foods and food with anything "artificial." Don't throw out everything or you won't be able to cook, but get rid of the things you know are flat-out bad (e.g. that box of transfat-filled Oreos.) You can work on replacing the not-so-good ingredients in your pantry along the way.
• Shop healthier! Buy your groceries at natural food stores or from the "healthy foods" section of your closest market. Buy organic fruits and vegetables, herbal teas, fresh food, only white meat (or none at all), and anything made natural or organic. Look at the labels of the things you buy. It's always a good thing to be able to pronounce everything you are putting in your body, but just because something is listed by its chemical name, doesn't mean it's bad for you.
• Cook for yourself. Look for healthy recipes you can make.
• Reduce saturated and trans fats and sugars in your diet, and learn to include healthier substitutes. Instead of using oils and fats to flavor your food, try using spices. When you do need to use oil, use canola oil.
• Eat lots of fruits and veggies. The body lovesfreshness.

Drink plenty of water; a good rule of thumb is to drink 30/35ml of water for every kg you weigh.
Exercise regularly. Try different activities until you find some that you can enjoy. You don't have to be cheerful about it all the time, but you don't want to detest it or you won't do it.
Try new foods. Did you find a recipe for something you never heard of before? Make it and eat it. This will spice up your menu of healthy foods and you won't get bored.
Study-up on the latest health findings and how you can apply them to your life, but try not to get caught up in the latest fads.

• The main thing you want to purge your diet of is high fructose corn syrup and trans fats. It is vile stuff.
• Subscribe to a health magazine or email newsletter. RealAge has a good one.
• Learn what various common ingredients are, and why they are there. Some sound really bad, but aren't as dangerous as they are just hard to pronounce. Others seem innocent, but are far from it (see high fructose corn syrup tip, above.)
• 

  Enjoy it!
  You don't have to join a health club or buy an expensive home gym or treadmill to enjoy regular exercise. Running, walking, rollerblading, jumping rope, and biking are all examples of good exercise that you can do even with a small investment in clothing or exercise items.
• Healthy food doesn't have to taste like "health food". You can prepare a lot of really tasty meals that are also good for you. Check out magazines like Cooking Light to find recipes that are delicious and healthy.

• The term "organic" can apply to foods that are carefully prepared with your health in mind, or to something that barely qualifies for the word but isn't really healthy. Beware of "health marketing" tricks and stick to reading nutrition labels instead.
• Don't beat yourself up for eating something "processed" now and again. Over time you'll discover you actually crave them less and can enjoy them more when they are a special treat.