My mom is a health nut of sorts, and as much as I hate to admit it, I think it’s rubbed off on me. I’ve always been pretty concerned with staying healthy and keeping in good shape. It’s not always easy to keep fit and eat well, especially with a busy schedule and lots of responsibilities and obligations, but let me share my insights – maybe it can help someone who’s always on the run, like I am.
First off, I feel a good diet is very important, and although I try to eat well, I often find myself snacking on junk food. But I try to balance it out overall, keeping the total picture in mind.
I wake up and eat some healthy cereal with low-fat milk and blueberries each morning. With my lunch I also try to always include fruits (often two clementines). I know that it’s best to have several small meals throughout the day instead of three big ones, so I often eat my lunch throughout the school day, not just during lunchtime. For dinner, I eat whatever my mom makes me, but usually it’s fairly nutritious and is a good addition to staying healthy.
I’m especially proud of my dietary habits involving beverages. I drink water and milk pretty much exclusively, and I probably have had soda only two or three times in the past year, if that. It is definitely a good idea to avoid drinking soda – that’s a lot of excess sugar and calories that I avoid – plus, it keeps my dentist happy!
Exercise is also very important to being healthy, of course. I run throughout the year. Every day after school, I participate in cross-country, indoor track, and outdoor track. As a distance runner, this keeps me in great shape.
During the summer, I run not only in order to be in shape for cross-country, but also to be able to look good on the beach. I also go to gym a lot during the summer and I have a pull-up bar in my doorway that’s great to help keep my upper body in shape. I’d definitely recommend adding this cheap and easy piece of exercise equipment for anybody who wants to improve their upper body.
There are other obvious ways to be healthy. For one, don’t use drugs or alcohol. And it’s also important to have good mental health. Even if you are the most fit person in the world, but are very depressed, you probably wouldn’t be considered healthy by most. I keep mentally healthy by doing things I love to do, like hanging out with friends, playing instruments, and listening to music. Music is a great way to stay motivated while working out, but it is also excellent to listen to while doing school work or simply relaxing.
A good night’s sleep is important for teen health. Sleep is the body's way of storing new information to memory and allowing muscles to heal.
So, it’s the usual checklist, but it works: stay healthy by working out, eating well, being happy, and using music to motivate myself. For me personally, I hope to continue to be healthy all of my life by keeping the good habits I have and improving upon the not-so-healthy things that I sometimes do, like eating junk food.
Being healthy makes life good. And hey, it keeps mom off my back.
