Healthy Living and Lifestyle

Food vocabulary is the backbone of this topic. Group it into food types and drinks so you can build a meal description quickly.

Spanish	English
la fruta / la verdura	fruit / vegetables
la carne / el pescado	meat / fish
el pollo / el huevo	chicken / egg
el arroz / la pasta / las patatas	rice / pasta / potatoes
el pan / el queso	bread / cheese
las golosinas / los dulces	sweets
la comida rápida / la comida basura	fast food / junk food
el agua / la leche / el zumo	water / milk / juice
el café / el té / el refresco	coffee / tea / fizzy drink
el azúcar / la sal / la grasa	sugar / salt / fat

The three meals are el desayuno (breakfast), la comida or el almuerzo (lunch) and la cena (dinner). Their verbs are desayunar, comer and cenar: Desayuno cereales y ceno pasta.

Opinions on food use gustar-type verbs, which agree with the food, not with you. Use gusta/encanta for a singular food and gustan/encantan for a plural.

Spanish	English
me gusta / me encanta el pescado	I like / love fish
me gustan las verduras	I like vegetables
no me gusta / odio...	I don't like / I hate...
no soporto la comida basura	I can't stand junk food
prefiero la fruta	I prefer fruit
una dieta sana / equilibrada	a healthy / balanced diet
comer sano	to eat healthily
sabroso/a, rico/a — asqueroso/a	tasty, delicious — disgusting

Worked example: Me encanta la fruta porque es sana y sabrosa, pero no soporto la comida rápida porque tiene demasiada grasa. (I love fruit because it is healthy and tasty, but I can't stand fast food because it has too much fat.) The verb is encanta (singular) for la fruta; it would be encantan for las fresas.

Sport and exercise let you show a range of verbs. Hacer, jugar and ir cover most activities.

Spanish	English
hacer deporte / hacer ejercicio	to do sport / to exercise
jugar al fútbol / al baloncesto	to play football / basketball
ir al gimnasio	to go to the gym
correr / nadar	to run / to swim
montar en bici	to ride a bike
entrenar	to train
mantenerse en forma / estar en forma	to keep fit / to be fit
el equipo / el partido	the team / the match

Say how often with a frequency phrase: todos los días (every day), dos veces a la semana (twice a week), a menudo (often), nunca (never). For example, Hago ejercicio tres veces a la semana. Use para + infinitive to give the purpose: Nado para mantenerme en forma (I swim in order to keep fit).

To describe feeling unwell you mainly need doler, tener dolor de and estar. Doler behaves like gustar: it agrees with the body part that hurts.

Spanish	English
me duele la cabeza	my head hurts
me duelen las piernas	my legs hurt
tengo dolor de estómago / de garganta	I have stomachache / a sore throat
tengo fiebre	I have a fever
estoy resfriado/a / tengo catarro	I have a cold
la gripe	flu
toser / la tos	to cough / cough
estar enfermo/a — estar sano/a	to be ill — to be healthy
estar cansado/a / estresado/a	to be tired / stressed

Worked example: Hoy estoy enfermo: me duele la cabeza, tengo fiebre y no puedo ir al instituto. (Today I am ill: my head hurts, I have a fever and I can't go to school.) Remember that doler matches the body part, so it is me duele la cabeza but me duelen los ojos.

Lifestyle habits and advice are where you use modal and impersonal verbs followed by an infinitive. This is the highest-value structure in the topic.

Structure	Example	English
hay que + inf	hay que comer sano	one must eat healthily
deber + inf	debes beber más agua	you should drink more water
tener que + inf	tengo que dormir más	I have to sleep more
es importante + inf	es importante descansar	it is important to rest
para + inf	para adelgazar...	in order to lose weight...

Useful habit vocabulary: fumar (to smoke), beber alcohol (to drink alcohol), las drogas (drugs), engordar (to put on weight), adelgazar (to lose weight), dormir lo suficiente (to sleep enough), relajarse (to relax), evitar el estrés (to avoid stress).

To sound persuasive, chain advice with a purpose: Hay que hacer ejercicio para estar en forma y evitar el estrés.

Memorise these frames and change the food, sport or advice to fit the question.

• Para llevar una vida sana, hay que comer fruta y verdura todos los días. — To lead a healthy life, you have to eat fruit and vegetables every day.
• Me encanta el pescado, pero no soporto las verduras porque son asquerosas. — I love fish, but I can't stand vegetables because they are disgusting.
• Hago deporte tres veces a la semana para mantenerme en forma. — I do sport three times a week to keep fit.
• Creo que la comida rápida es sabrosa, pero tiene demasiada grasa y azúcar. — I think fast food is tasty, but it has too much fat and sugar.
• Cuando estoy enfermo, me duele la cabeza y tengo que descansar. — When I am ill, my head hurts and I have to rest.
• No fumo porque es malo para la salud. — I don't smoke because it is bad for your health.
• Debes beber más agua y dormir ocho horas cada noche. — You should drink more water and sleep eight hours every night.

1. Making doler agree with the person

Doler agrees with the body part, not with you. Say me duele la cabeza and me duelen las muelas. Writing yo duelo is wrong.

2. Making gustar agree with yourself

The same trap hits gustar. It agrees with the food: me gusta el pan but me gustan las patatas. Do not say me gusto.

3. Missing the infinitive after hay que and deber

Hay que, deber and tener que are followed by an infinitive. Write hay que comer sano, not hay que como.

4. Confusing ser and estar with health

Health states use estar: estoy enfermo, estoy cansado. Using ser here (soy enfermo) changes the meaning to a permanent trait.

5. Forgetting para before a purpose

To say why you do something, use para + infinitive: hago deporte para estar en forma. Leaving out para breaks the structure.