Health & Wellness
Principles:
Brain & Body:
Whether you are a person of faith or not, I strongly urge you to consider that you must nourish your “spirit”. You have a brain and a body, but your beliefs are very important and impact your health. All three (the brain, the body, the beliefs) must be nourished and regarded as important. If you are only eating and learning and not nourishing your inner self, you are not completely nourished and are missing out on a very important aspect of your overall health and wellness. Furthermore, if you are not living with the habits and decisions which reflect what you believe, you are creating conflict in yourself, and this conflict creates stress which negatively impacts your health and your emotions. This gives you more negativity to deal with as you navigate through your life. Properly and routinely nourishing all three aspects of your person – the brain, the body and the beliefs – sets you up for positive growth and healing.
It is not just enough to “eat”. We must consider what we are eating, what nutrients our food contains, and in fact, if we are truly eating “FOOD”. Much of what we are offered to eat and what we do eat, is not nourishing at all and can be considered an “antinutrient” which actually rids our bodies of other nutrients. Consider what you eat in a day – how much fat, fiber and protein are you getting? When do you eat? How do you eat? How often do you eat? Why do you eat? Where do you eat? These all matter and your reaction to these matter. How does what you put in your mouth affect your body? Does it make you feel energized or sluggish? Does it affect your sleep? Does it make you want to eat more? Does it make you crave? Does it give you anxiety? Also consider what you drink? Good hydration is so important. It helps regulate your blood sugar; it helps detoxify your body; it helps keep you energized; it helps you down to the cellular level. Don’t forget how important the basics are. Sounds simple, yet most people say they know they don’t drink enough water. It costs us nothing to drink more. Start today; just up your intake of water by 8 or 12 ounces and see how you could improve just this simple aspect of your health.
Many people think they must buy a membership to a gym and go there everyday and brutally exhaust themselves for hours. In fact, this could be harmful to their bodies. While cardio workouts, HIIT sessions and weight lifting all have positive benefits for our health (and I encourage everyone to partake in these), we can be assured that simply moving is good for our bodies. Do not be disheartened if you are not at the gym working out everyday. Find any movement (walking, swimming, gardening, etc.) which you enjoy and just be consistent in participating in it. 30 minutes a day can do wonders. Not only does exercise improve your physical health and strength, but it also does wonders for our brain health and mood. The benefit of exercise for long term physical and mental health is acknowledged by all who promote health and wellness. In fact, brain health experts say that exercise is “miracle grow for the brain”. Don’t fall into the trap that it doesn’t matter or that you are too weak or busy to make exercise a habit. Every effort you make to command your health will produce a positive consequence for you to enjoy.