How do you become healthy after living so unhealthy?

Make a list of things you like.

Don't exclude these things from your diet, but if they are high in sugar, high in carbs, high in fat, or high in calories, it's best to enjoy them in moderation. (Nobody will stick to a diet if they don't like the food)...

Try and kick the soda habit....drink lots of water (or if you are like me, and like taste, some Powerade Zero, or Vitamin Water Zero, etc.). The regular versions of these drinks have a lot of sugar, but the Zero is basically slightly flavored water. Soda is bad...even diet soda (though not as bad as regular)....

Include more veggies in your diet (if you like salads, this is even easier). Personally, about the only way I like veggies is in a salad or stir fry, so I've just worked more of these into my weekly food choices. The pain is, they don't keep though, so you have to shop more regularly...

Moderate. I like steak, but I eat a much smaller steak these days, etc. (and pile up more veggies).

Exercise. Something I don't currently do nearly enough, but I'm trying to find something I will enjoy doing, that won't kill me in Florida's heat. Indoors would be cool, but most gear takes up room I don't have. (I just feel silly doing aerobics, and all that, though I think I'll give the Wii Fit another try, if I can do it with my wife).

Get a full night's sleep (your body needs to regenerate and heal).

Don`t eat anything packaged with stamped ingredients on the side, if you can avoid buying stuff from supermarkets all together that would be great. Buy from your local grocery store if it's all growm locally and organic, if you live near a natural spring get your water from there, if not which is most probable, go for the healthiest water option...i.e: not tap water! Don`t drink fizzy drinks, packeted fruit juice, no , no, no: freshly squeezed.

Excersise, think positively, set yourself goals, park your car further away from your destination to use those legs. Breathing excersises and meditation.

don't worry about it. me personally, i have had unprotected BLANK with at least ten or eleven girls, taken a whole lot of prescription BLANKS in the past, sniffed BLANK also made it into the smokable form known as BLANK and smoked it repeatedly sometimes for up to five days with no sleep food or BLANK, i have had car accidents, been beaten up, drank myself into a stupor for days at a time, got in fights over money, got in fights over BLANK, got the crap kicked out of me for breaking into a garage, took a BLANK in a bucket, slept in a laundry room, slept in a bush by an apartment building, slept in a stairwell, took a bath out a bucket, and went for days and days without food multiple times throughout life. now look at me, i'm 23 years old and i know exactly what NOT to do and believe it or not i got my BLANK on track mostly. some people learn this lesson later in life and it hits them HARD. they lose their jobs, their families, they end up 40 and homeless and die a drunken lonely death. we on the other hand, we know better. now i just smoke a couple BLANKS every now and then, have some doritos, maybe take a walk, a far cry from the life i lead just a few short years ago. no partying here. look man either you are going to be alive in ten years or you won't, either way the world keeps turning like it or not. if i was going to die i wouldn't even want to know. we all die one day, the only thing promised to each and every one of us is that one day everyone that we love, even ourselves, are going to be dead and rotting back in the ground from which they came. first it giveth then it taketh away, forever and ever and ever, amen.

by the way i feel great, better than i did even as a teenager, and i think a two or three year BLANK binge will do a world of good for anyone who is considering it.

[edit on 28-8-2010 by 2weird2live2rare2die]

originally posted by: Maddogkull
I have lived let’s say...unhealthy in the past and still do. Now I want to change this lifestyle; live healthy, eat right. I have done a lot of stupid things in the past. Smoke, McDonalds. I have had a few CT scans, and now know that in the future my risks of getting cancer rise significantly since I am in my early 20s. Now I want to reverse this. I need the ATS medical experts to help me out on this one. Hopefully this does not get downgraded to BTS (as most people know once they go to BTS no one will post in them). What can I honesty do? Become a vegan? Vitamins? Anti- Aging pills?

A little late replying to this I realize, but these things still apply and might benefit someone else.. so

I suggest getting a really good high performance blender, for starters.

Then you just experiment in the making of superfood smoothies with powders, liquid vitamins/minerals, fruits, veggies (skin on), water, ice. You can also add various superfood powders, greens, sea vegetables, it just goes on and on.

You are what you eat.

Supplement, supplement supplement - do the research and make a hobby out of rebuilding your body from the cellular level on up, and be sure to also detox your liver. Milk Thistle and Selenium (found in brazilnuts) helps with this.

If you have the money, just go out and blow a couple of grand to get yourself all set up and rolling, that's what I suggest.

That and exercise, which for max efficiency you do some sort of HIIT or high intensity interval training (while taking tons of antioxidents in the superfood smoothes, which protects the cells from damage), where for example you get on a stationary bike, warm up for a couple of minutes at a low resistance level (say 3), then, for half a minute at the highest resistance you can handle (ie: 12, or 13) you go all out, as if a bear was chasing you or, you're going to win 100,000 dollars for winning the race, then go back into rest mode, pedalling at a lower RPM for a minute and a half, then back to all out on high resistance, for half a minute - repeating this 8 times, which is just before your ass falls off if you were to try one more.

Then, before your heart rate completely slows down, say after a minute or two, head into HICT or high intensity circuit training right across all the major muscle groups (weight training) but in such a way that you never allow your heart rate to fall below a certain level ie: wait only half a minute between sets, with maybe only about 10 -12 reps total, but only enough weight so that each time your this side of the cusp to fail on the 10th or 12th rep.

The bike work takes about 15 minutes, and the circuit training, about maybe 30 minutes to 40 minutes and then your out of there within one hour.

That only needs to be done two or three times/per week to get and stay in peak shape, maybe with a daily brisk walk or something to get the body moving daily.

And that's it - a path to perfect health and regeneration.

Best,

Ankh