Times are moving and advancing, and with those steps towards the future, it appears people are caught up in lives that demand far more from them, reducing the opportunities to look after themselves. The words “health” and “healthy” seem to be everywhere: conversations, social media, billboards, restaurants, stores and more.
It seems that health these days is influenced, told and taught, more than it is a reflection of one’s self. Going to the gym and drinking matcha and protein drinks can be steps to obtain a healthy body, but it is vital to note that “healthy” is different for everyone.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”
It is quite typical to assume that if an individual fits a certain physical stereotype, then they are healthy, leading to a train of people trying to assume just that because that is what society has preconditioned.
To be healthy does not mean to have muscles, clear skin or be thin. In fact, people can be in all of those three conditions and be unhealthy, simply showing that healthiness is, just as people, diverse. It is essentially how one treats their foundation that will truly determine their health.
In physical health, there are a couple of factors to consider: daily diet and activity.
The diet stems down to MyPlate, established by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which shares that each of the three meals taken daily should contain vegetables, proteins, grains, fruits and dairy.
When eating this balanced plate each day, it is important to also avoid frying, especially the protein. If one chooses to fry, air fry is currently the best form of frying because it uses little to no oil.
Physical health would not be complete without physical activity. Being active can vary depending on each person’s life and schedule and does not have to mimic what the world paints as exercise. One does not have to go to the gym to be physically fit, as daily-weekly activities like walking, bicycling, swimming and any other recreational sport can help one obtain a physically fit body.
Taking both these factors, one may assume they are the foundations of health.
Strikingly, one’s mental health and one’s diet and physical fitness are interdependent of each other; in other words, mental health is prominent in what determines if one is healthy.
Acquiring good mental health as university students may be difficult and frustrating at times, given the academics, jobs, relationships and many more they have to manage.
However, a dedicated time to oneself that involves their hobbies or interests can be one such way of taking care of their mental health.
Spending 30 minutes dancing, playing pickleball, painting, gardening, cooking or socializing are a few such examples. Also, note that these activities are either related to diet or physical exercise, going back to the fact that mental wellbeing is interconnected with food and physical health.
As college students, consider grocery shopping at stores that match one’s budget, and cook meals at home, rather than buying food from fast food franchises daily. The University of Louisiana at Lafayette also has a free recreational sports facility at Bourgeois Hall, which includes a gym, swimming pool, courts for racket-based sports and more.
In the end, it is not what time doesn’t allow, it is what time can accomplish.