To my lecturer/tutor, Dr Goh Hock Seng, hope you are having a fine day.

Today, in my speech, I will touch on some interesting things I learnt while

preparing for this speech on How to maintain a healthy lifestyle. First, I will
give the meaning of the words health and lifestyle. Then, I will talk about
the importance of healthy diet, ample sunshine, fresh clean air and regular exercise
for maintaining a healthy lifestyle.

According to Oxford Learners Dictionary, the meaning of health is the

condition of a persons body and mind that is free of illness or injury where as
lifestyle is defined as the way in which a person lives. Thus, the meaning of
healthy lifestyle is the way in which a person lives in order to get a good condition
of body and mind.
To live a healthy lifestyle does not mean that you have to spend hours of
training at the gymnasium or eating only green leafy salads. Sometimes we fell as
though eating a healthy diet, getting enough exercise and finding the time to spend
with your loved ones and family is impossible. In reality, learning to live a healthy
lifestyle is easy if you change one small thing in your life at a time. It is about making
easy healthy choices in our daily living.
No matter what age group you are or what health level you have been in, a
healthy lifestyle is the best lifestyle to regain your health, boost your energy,
enhance your immune system, prevent premature aging as well as stop the progress
of degenerative diseases.
I would like to share with you my opinion about healthy lifestyle. From my
readings and personal experience, I found that there are 4 ways to maintain a
healthy lifestyle.
First and foremost, we must take excellent nutrition to gain and then, maintain
healthy lifestyle. The American Dietetic Association has concede that a vegetarian
diet can supply all the necessary dietary ingredients to maintain health. More and
more physicians, nutritionists, and researches are starting to echo the same plantbased idea. After reading these articles and testimonies, I found out that by eating a
wide variety of grains, vegetables, fruits and nuts are able to prevent many types of
diseases and even cause some others to disappear, mainly through the antiinflammatory properties found in plant-based food.
In addition, a plant-based diet assures us of getting the most antioxidants,
fiber, vitamins, and minerals with the least amount of calories. Lets imagine the
appeal of vegetarian food to stimulate our appetite. The brightly colored plant
pigments of red, orange, yellow, blue, and deep-green will surely have an added
bonus to our appetite with the added bonus, they fight diseases. All these beautiful
and natural colours are abundant in the life-giving phytochemicals found only in
plants. On the other side, we have the processed food with prolonged shelf-life and
dull coloured meats containing chemicals. Some of these foods look delicious to the

eye and satisfy your one-time desire, but they bring along their best friends: the
heart diseases, the high blood pressure as well as diabetes.
Now, some of us might think What should we eat? My answer is whole plant
foods. In our daily diet, we should enjoy eating moderate portions of vegetables and
fruits. These natural plant-based foods are bursting with nutrition and low in calorie.
Whole grains, not refined or processed, help us avoid overeating and obesity as they
much more filling. A healthy plus to this diet is those tasty nuts and legumes. They
provide healthier essential amino acids, unsaturated fats and plant-proteins in place
of meat and cheese. As I have stated earlier, to live a healthy lifestyle is easy if we
change one small thing in our life at a time. It is our call to choose our lifestyle.

The second way to maintain healthy lifestyle is drinking enough pure water. I
must stress it is PURE water. When we go to the drive-in window of a fast food
restaurant or sit down to order a meal at a food centre, most of us automatically
would say: Coffee, please. Give me a coke, please. I would like to have a milk
shake, please. We rarely order plain water as if to say Give me anything but water,
please On hot days, we automatically reach for a cool soft drink or ice-blended
cappuccino. The human body can last weeks without food, but only days without
water. Our body is made up of around 80% of water. This much fluid is needed in our
system to keep us thinking clearly Water forms the basis of blood, digestive juices,
urine and perspiration, and is contained in lean muscle, fat and bones.
The body cannot store water and must have fresh supplies every day to perform
virtually every metabolic process.
As the body cant store water, we need fresh supplies every day to make up
for losses from the lungs, skin, urine and faeces. The amount we need depends on
our body size, metabolism, the weather, the food we eat and our activity levels.
Internal water content is higher in men than in women and falls with age. Water loss
in adults is around 2.5 to 3 litres daily and may increase in hot weather or with
prolonged exercise.
Water is needed for most body functions such as to maintain the health and
integrity of every cell in the body, to keep the bloodstream liquid enough to flow
through blood vessels, to help eliminate the by-products of the bodys metabolism,
for example, sodium, potassium and urea. By sweating, the body is regulating its
own temperature. Water or liquid can moisten mucous membranes such as those of
the lungs and mouth as well as aiding to lubricate and cushion joints. Besides that,
water also assist in food digestion and prevent constipation.
Most foods, even those that look hard and dry, contain some water. Our body
can get approximately 20 per cent of its total water requirements from solid foods
alone. The digestion process also produces water as a byproduct and can provide
around 10 per cent of the bodys water requirements. The rest must come from
liquids. Recommended daily fluid intake in litres per day are different among the age
groups. For infants aged 0-6 months need 07 litres whereas infants aged 712
months should drink 0.9 litres. Children aged 13 years old should consume 1.0
litres while children aged 48 years old needed 1.2 litres. Boys at the age of 9-13
years old must drink 1.6 litres and the girls of the same age must drink 1.4 litres. As

for boys aged between 14-18 years old, they need 1.9 litre while the girls of the
same age only 1.6 litres. Men should consume 2.6 litres and the women needed 0.5
litres less water.
The main composition of our body is made up of about 75% water. The habit
of not drinking enough plain water is adding osmotic load onto the blood stream, thus
making it sticky and flow poorly. Once there is poor blood circulation, many diseases
will surely ensue. Only water, H2O is capable to create the appropriate environment
for our blood to promote vascular health, flow smoothly and help regulate our blood
pressure. In a study among men who drank five or more glasses of water daily, had
a 54% less risk of a heart attack than those who drank only two or less daily, or who
used other beverages.
Dehydration occurs when the water content of the body is too low. This is
easily fixed by increasing fluid intake. Symptoms of dehydration includes headaches,
thirst, lethargy, mood changes, slow responses, dry or cracked lips, dark-coloured
urine, tiredness, confusion and even hallucinations. If dehydration is not corrected by
fluid intake, eventually urination stops. Then, the kidneys fail to expel toxins and
waste products from our body. In extreme cases, dehydration may result in death.
Living in a tropical country where it is mostly hot throughout the year, we
should increase intake of water and stay ahead of thirst. When we are thirsty, it is a
signal from our body telling us that we are already dehydrated. Water keeps our
body cool. It brings the heat from our inner organs to the surface of the skin in the
form of sweat acting as a regulative cooler.
Moreover, if we drink two glasses of water 20` to 30 minutes prior to meals we
tend to eat an average of 75 fewer calories at that meal. In another study drinking
two glasses of water before meals resulted in a 44% greater weight loss over 12
weeks than in a non-water control group. This is astounding news! So, we should try
to ditch our old habit and opt for water, not coffee, or soda.
As we all know, we live in a busy world. For many of us our jobs have become
our lives. We hurry from place to place, hammer away at our laptops and make
phone calls all day long. More than often, we take our work home with us and are
always worrying about the next day. This stressful lifestyle will surely take a serious
toll on our health. So many a times, most of us are so hooked on being busy that we
forget about lifes most important priorities. We need to find a balance so we can
maintain healthy lives physically, emotionally, and spiritually.
In order for our body to work at the maximum level, the cells in our body need
restoration. Besides, restoration of cells requires rest because sleep allows the body
to renew itself. Early to bed and early to rise is a vital health principle and a healthy
lifestyle makes this principle easier to maintain.
An individual with continual lack of sleep had their system swamped with
stress hormones which inhibits learning, increases the risk for disease and
depression as well as saps mental and physical energy. Meanwhile, those who had
quality deep sleep are proven to have longer life, improved energy, mood, mental

function, and performance. Sufficient sleep also lowers the risk for obesity, diabetes,
heart disease, high blood pressure, cancer, and many stress-related disorders.
By making sure we have a totally dark room, we can create an environment
for a good nights sleep. It is not recommended to leave bright lights, TV screens or
computer monitors on. If we need to get out of bed for the bathroom, we can use dim
red or blue light. Engaging ourselves in active exercise daily is the best way to
counteract emotional and mental fatigue. We should maintain a regular schedule of
going to bed and getting up. On the other hand, slowing our evening pace signals
also helps to signal to our body and brain that it is time to tone down, rest, and
revitalize for a new day. Do not make ourselves to believe that we are too busy to
take care of our health. The above-mentioned methods could be practiced by busy
people to manage their multiple priorities and hectic schedule.
Now that I had shared what a balanced plant-based diet, enough pure
drinking water and also quality rest should be, I hope that it has helped you and
myself to understand the importance of health in everyone's lives. These points that I
had put forth are the foundation for achieving balance while striving for personal,
family, and professional success. They are essential and achievable whether we are
a busy traveling professional, harried housewife, or stressed student.
With these being said, I end my speech. Thank you for listening.