More exercise, healthy choice of food and eating more fruits are among the most common New Year’s resolutions and it’s essential to plan to live healthy in the new coming year, experts say.
Here are some healthy tips for 2014.
—–* “If you haven’t been exercising before, then resolve to do so; preferably, as part of the new year’s resolution and if you have been exercising before, it’s not a time to take a break,” said Dr. Lota Kanu at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin.
—–*Also a nutrition expert, Victoria Ojo said, when eating, it is good to choose varieties of food like adding legumes, fruits, vegetables, even to our carbohydrate or energy giving food.
—–*On the choice of rice, Mrs. Ojo said, “I will advice we go for brown rice because it’s more nutritional than the polished rice. It has fibre, iron, thiamine, mineral, vitamin E, it’s only rice with Vitamin E with antioxidant.”
—–*It advisable to just cook the rice without parboiling so as to retain its essential nutrients.
—–*Garnish your rice with fresh vegetable than the processed ones. “Green pea, carrot, lettuce, kidney bean, cucumber, legumes, nuts; help to give vitamin and mineral will be enough to release the energy consumed and help the digestive system,” Ojo said.
—–*Always look out for the nutritional benefits on the label of any fruit juice before you buy, or better still, go for fresh fruits and juice them yourself. Water melon, cucumber, apple, orange, banana are all good for fruit juice.
——-*Two fingers of banana is enough for the day. It helps to control blood pressure. It helps in in blood formation. 400 grammes of fruits and vegetable are enough for our body system in a day. For instance, 2 fingers of banana, an apple and an orange can make up the 400 grammes, said Ojo.
—–*Water is very good. It’s better to take water than carbonated drink packed with sugar.