Living a healthy lifestyle is always one of the New Year’s resolutions for everyone who wishes to change their way of living and their physical appearance.
People always try by all means that at the beginning of the year, they remain positive about healthy lifestyle resolutions by sticking to their new diets, going to the gym, participating in sports as well as drinking water often.
South Africa’s National Health Department in 2020 came up with five elements of healthy lifestyle campaigns to galvanize all South Africans to participate in them and tackle the dangers of obesity and physical inactivity as risk factors to the population.
Those elements include:
. promoting good nutrition
. tobacco control
. interventions against alcohol and substance abuse
. regular physical activity
. promotion of safe sexual behavior.
VM Radio spoke with a few members of the Embo community in Durban, KZN about how they make sure that they are living a healthy lifestyle and how they maintain it that way.
Zodwa Duma (55) said it is hard and challenging to maintain a healthy lifestyle if you are an old woman who lives in rural areas just like her.
“It becomes even worse when you have grandchildren and their parents who are unemployed who usually wait for you to put food on the table.
A healthy lifestyle is expensive and tiring, it doesn’t matter how committed you might be.”
Duma says if she had maintained her healthy lifestyle she would never be obese as she is now and she blames the place she lives in which has so many hills and said she can’t even take a walk to exercise.
“I only exercise when I go to a taxi stop where I take a taxi to work Monday to Thursday.”
“We eat whatever we can afford to but especially canned food and a lot of stash plus adding acid and fizzy drinks on top of that.”
Themba Mkhize who is a teacher of life orientation and life science said living a healthy lifestyle one must make it a habit.
“To live a healthy lifestyle starts by doing small things, such as getting enough sleep, having breakfast every morning, making sure that you wash your body every day, drinking at least eight glasses a day, and also decreasing a little in alcohol and cigarettes or stop using if you might.
Thereafter, other things like maintaining your diet, and taking care of your body as well as physical looks will come after you have first managed to do minor things which I have just mentioned.
Health experts say that consuming healthy food helps the body prevent many unwanted non-communicable diseases, such as sugar diabetes, stroke, obesity, heart disease, and many others.
They advise that eating healthy may not be the popular trend but it is certainly the best for one’s body.
A qualified Personal Trainer and Nutritionist, Mbali Mthethwa said if one wants to live a healthy lifestyle he or she must have a vision, inspiration, and a goal and most importantly pray about it, also focus on forming a lifestyle that will last forever.
“Your lifestyle is highly influenced by the people close to you, don’t be afraid to encourage everyone to practice a healthy lifestyle. It is important to keep your household empty of bad food, don’t tempt fate, by filling your pantry with unhealthy food, because if you buy it you will be tempted to eat it, so it is better to not buy it at all. When it comes to workouts, choose a time that will keep your workouts consistent, and make exercise a priority and part of your everyday routine.
Furthermore, consistency is the key to success, lay out a plan and execute it every single time whether it be morning, afternoon, or at night, get your heart rate up any way you can,” explains Mthethwa.
Healthy Living Alliance (HEALA) says for decades, the public has been fed the myth that what we eat is our choice and they believe that has shaped stigmatizing and shaming narratives that lay the blame for non-communicable diseases such as obesity and diabetes squarely at consumers feet ignoring the larger food system.
Their website Feather says today, South Africa’s food industry continues to wield great power in shaping what the nation eats and consequently the future health of it and its citizens, while half of South Africans remain unemployed, and sufficient nutritious food remains out of reach for many.
That is why Heala aims to advocate for equitable access to affordable nutritious food in South Africa and runs campaigns such as sugar tax and front-of-package labeling to urge the Government to strongly regulate the food environment of unhealthy food and help consumers make better choices and live healthier lives.