Do you agree that bad habits, like smoking, can be dangerous? Why (not)?

A Healthy Way of Life

Let’s speak about a healthy way of life. Why is a balanced diet important?

They say you are what you eat. I’m absolutely sure that if we want to live a long life we should have a healthy and well-balanced diet.

It means eating a variety of foods. People need more than 40 different nutrients for good health, and no single food supplies them all. Our daily food selection should include bread and other whole-grain products; fruit and vegetables; dairy products; and meat, poultry and fish.

When we buy bread we should look for the word “whole” before the name of the grain as it is very important. Grains, breads and cereals provide B-vitamins which help turn the food we eat into energy that our bodies need to work, play and grow.

Vegetables provide vitamin A which helps us have healthy skin and good eye-sight. Fruits provide vitamin C which helps our bodies heal and grow new cells. It is very important to eat at least 100- 150 grams of fruit and the same amount of vegetables every day. We may choose from fresh and frozen as well as dried fruit, all kinds of fruit and vegetables are good for us.

Our body doesn’t need a lot of fat. We should get most of our fat from fish, nuts and vegetable oils. And it’s important to eat less fat like butter, margarine and lard and choose low-fat meat, chicken or turkey. It’s better to bake it or grill it. It is much healthier than frying. Adding more fish, eggs, beans and nuts is also good.

Meat, fish, beans and nuts provide protein and iron which helps build stronger muscles. Iron carries oxygen to all parts of our body, helps prevent infections, and also helps our body make more energy to get us through busy day.

Dairy products are very important too. They provide calcium which helps build strong bones and teeth. So, it’s good for us to consume milk, yogurt and cheese every day. Ice-cream is not very good for our health. So, we should try to limit it. The less ice-cream we eat the better for us.

Having a healthy diet also means we should have regular meals, avoid unhealthy snacks, cut down on the amount of salt and sugar. Salt is believed to be a major cause of obesity and heart diseases. Sugar is bad for teeth.

Drinking enough water is very important for all of us. We should drink about 2 litres of water every day and remember that juice and tea don’t count. Water helps us re-energize and keep going. Coffee and caffeine and sugar-loaded energy drinks are bad for us.

Do you agree that bad habits, like smoking, can be dangerous? Why (not)?

To be healthy we should avoid bad habits that can affect our health. In my opinion, smoking, drinking alcohol and taking drugs are the worst ones. It’s common knowledge that they can shorten our lives dramatically.

More than 40 diseasesare associated with smoking; it increases the risk of cancer, bronchitis, heart diseases, etc. Besides, it makes your teeth yellow and skin unhealthy. The immune system of an active smoker is so bad that they take more time to recover from any disease. Vitamin С is destroyed by smoking. This is the reason why an active smoker usually looks older than their non-smoker friend. According to studies, an active smoker is likely to live fourteen years less than non-smokers. Smoking not only affects active smokers, but also affects the so-called passive smokers as well.

One out of ten men in the world is a smoker and every 8 seconds someone dies because of this habit. According to the statistics,smoking kills around 5 million people a year.

Alcohol causes heart disease and brain damage. A drinker becomes nervous and aggressive, loses friends, and finally loses his work, family and happy life. Teenage drinking is particularly dangerous, because what happens to a grown-up in 10 years will happen to a teenager in two years.

Taking drugs is even worse than smoking. It can completely destroy addicts’ lives or cause AIDS.

But there are less dangerous habits, such as skipping meals, eating junk food and overeating. They are not quite as deadly as the mentioned above, but they also affect our health.

Date: 2015-12-18; view: 3165