Good decisions now make for a bright future tomorrow.

Junk food, a sedentary life, smoking, binge drinking, unmanaged stress, and insomnia: ingredients that add up to disease and premature death.

You may think you’re missing out on life if you avoid the ingredients above, but the opposite is true. It may sound bland, but healthy lifestyle habits do more than prolong your life. They improve it.

Follow these five steps to live the safest, healthiest life possible.

1. Be a Picky Eater

Mama was right. You are what you eat. Fill your body up with fats, empty calories, and processed foods and you’ll feel-well…fat, empty, and drained of energy. A diet of fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, and low-fat dairy gives your body balanced nutrition for optimal health.

Foods high in fiber will not only fill you up, but they’ll lower cholesterol and protect your heart, control your blood sugar and protect against diabetes, and help keep you regular. Chow down on foods with antioxidants and you’ll protect your body against heart disease, cancer, and atherosclerosis.

Eating a balanced diet is also the key to maintaining a healthy weight. Since being overweight or obese is at the root of countless health conditions, being picky about what you eat will keep your weight in check (which also keeps you ready for swimsuit season year-round) and fend off a host of unsavory medical conditions and diseases.

2. Get Moving

Want to live a long and healthy life? Stop sitting around and get moving! The list of benefits associated with regular physical activity is extensive. It helps you maintain a healthy weight; gain confidence; improve your mood and the health of your cardiovascular system; decrease your risk of Alzheimer’s disease; boost your immune system; reduce high blood pressure; improve your sleep; lessen arthritis pain; and lower your risk of type 2 diabetes, osteoporosis, stroke, heart attack, and certain cancers.

Want to slow the aging process? Exercise can help there, too. Research has shown that exercise improves eyesight, strengthens lean muscle, improves bone density, and lowers blood pressure and cholesterol. It also helps you look and feel better!

3. Avoid Risky Behavior

Smoking, binge drinking, illicit drug use, and sex outside of marriage all pose great risks to your health. The long-term consequences of participating in these activities can be devastating to your health, relationships, finances, and mind, causing your quality of life to spiral to depths unknown. So if you are addicted to smoking, alcohol, drugs, or risky sexual behaviors, seek help from a health care professional and find the life you deserve.

4. Manage Stress

Everyone experiences stressors in life, whether on the job, in relationships, or in the bank. Your body responds to stress by producing stress hormones. Long-term exposure to these hormones can negatively affect your health, putting you at risk for sleep problems, heart disease, depression, digestive issues, skin problems, obesity, and memory lapses. And in case you weren’t sure, none of these improve your quality of life.

To manage the stressors in your life and avoid long-term consequences, determine what’s causing your stress then try to lessen your exposure to the stressor if possible. Talk to a trusted friend or therapist to get your feelings out. In the event your stress level gets painfully high, take a time out. Physically and mentally distance yourself from your stressors for 10 minutes or even better, for an entire weekend. Can’t get away from stress? Practice breathing techniques and learn to keep a balance of work, family, and fun. Of course, if you’re not getting much exercise, get to it.

5. Get Good Sleep

Quality sleep enables your body to fight inflammation, infection, and stress. Without adequate amounts of sleep, you’ll be cranky, prone to illness, depleted of energy, and forgetful. Not exactly the best life you can have.

If you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep for 7 to 10 hours each night, practice relaxation techniques before bed, exercise early in the day, avoid the TV or computer before bed, and keep your bedroom cool, dark, and quiet.