Following is the second half of your ABC to better health. Followed as it should, your health could never be better.

Never give up. No matter how absurd it looks, no matter how many times you fail, don’t give up. Get back on your feet and try again.

Overall Picture: It’s always best to have the entire view of what your goals are, rather than being restricted to the here and now. This will help keep you going even when things go off a bit, instead of giving-up.

Plan: It’s been said that ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’ How true this is! When you do things spontaneously, the doing won’t last for long. When you have a plan, you have a guideline of what needs to be done, and how it needs to be done.

Quality vs. Quantity: A whole day of exercise or a whole day of healthy eating will never be as effective as a sustained plan, no matter what the quantity. Actually, short acts, over a long time have been proven to yield better results than a long one-time deed.

Rest: If you subject your body to exercise everyday, you tend to get muscle-tension. Over a period of time, your output will be affected. You can exercise three alternate days a week so that you give your body time to rest and get rejuvenated.

Stress: No matter how much care you take concerning your health, if you get subjected to stress, this will in the long-run adversely affect your health. If your stress is work-related, try as much as possible to leave it at the workplace, so that it doesn’t spill over to other areas of your life.

Temptations: You will always face the temptation to skip just one day of exercise, or indulge in that unhealthy snack. Unknown to you, giving in once to temptation paves way

to keep on giving-in, until you will no longer think twice about doing it. Resist the first one, it will be easy to resist the second one, and so on.

Unwind: Once in a while, take some time off doing strenuous thinking and relax. Listen to slow relaxing music, go for a walk or take some long unhurried bath. You will be surprised at how well this will improve your day and raise your spirits.

Vegetables: Most of us take vegetables for granted and don’t include them in our meals unless it’s really necessary. If only we knew how much value these foods have. They have nutrients which help our bodies fight diseases, which would otherwise cost us so much in treating them - not just in terms of money but also in terms of our health and happiness.

Water: Take as much water as possible. It cleans up your system and leaves you feeling fresh. It also helps in digestion, and provides a way of removing waste-products from our bodies e.g. sweating, leaving our skin pores from being clogged by the waste. Try the tried and tested method of taking at least eight glasses of water a day. It works!

Xcellence: Seeking out excellence in everything you do keeps you in high spirits. This affects your general well-being and the way you feel about yourself. Feeling good about yourself is the key to looking good.

Yoga: In contrast to the other forms of exercise which involve the muscles, yoga helps keep the mind right. It enables you to reach into your inner being, relax, and take your mind off the strenuous day-to-day issues. As much as our bodies need the physical exercise, mental exercise is just as vital.

Zeal: Be zealous about your health and don’t overlook even the seemingly most minor detail concerning it. That detail could be your weakest link. Forget-not that the strength of a chain lies in its weakness!