Maintaining Health While Achieving Sanity - Don"t Swing Too Hard!
After a vacation or long break from the everyday grind, we very often come back full force to get back into the swing of things.
Well sometimes, we swing so hard that we get sick, and cannot seem to get better! Some possible underlying causes could be too much stress...
not enough nutrition...
compromised immune systems...
or all of the above! So let's take a preventive stand and tackle each of these individually.
1) Too much stress There is not a person in America who is not experiencing some form of overwhelming stress.
We live in a VERY stressful society - we are bombarded by stress every second of every day.
We get physical stress from carrying our twenty ton pocket books - our poor shoulders and spines are ready to break from the undue load! Not to mention the horrendous posture we thrust upon our bodies sitting at desks typing away at computers for 8 hours of the day - then we spend the other 8 waking hours on our phones! On top of that we have mental stress - how many thoughts do you have running through your head right now? I bet you have anywhere from 10-15 SEPARATE thoughts running through your mind simultaneously at this very second.
Did you know we have on average over 100,000 thoughts a day? That is almost 2 thoughts per waking second! With that many thoughts running through our minds, it is no wonder why we are mentally exhausted.
The damaging part comes when our brains just keep spinning with no result.
When thoughts just keep zooming around, our brains (and entire beings) cannot be at ease.
If we are not "at ease", we are with "dis-ease" - yes that is right, disease.
Whether it is heart disease, inflammatory disease, autoimmune disease - each is a lack of "ease" in our bodies.
I am not saying that a week of meditating will make it all better.
However, if you were to sit in a comfortable room, completely relaxed with your eyes closed, would you be able to let your mind simply concentrate on your breathing? How long can you do it for? If you find that your brain just keeps buzzing about, that is a sign that you need to practice meditation to get control over your thoughts.
Remember, you are NOT the thoughts, you are the THINKER.
This puts us in a place of control - and we can determine what thoughts we have, and do not have.
As if this were not enough, we plop emotional stress on top of it all.
Emotional stress comes from the feelings we experience day in and day out.
Are you fulfilled in your career? What about your body? How is your relationship? If one of these is not on the right path, it can weave its way into other areas of our life.
For example, if you are not happy in your own skin, will you represent yourself to the best of your ability at your job? Will you walk confidently through your day and attack every challenge that comes your way? Will you approach your boss and ask for a raise if you honestly feel you deserve it? Additionally, if you hate the way you look, will you attract the love of your life? If you are in a relationship, will you allow yourself to be intimate? These are factors of emotional stress and we ALL experience them at some point in our lives.
The ONLY way to feel better is to TAKE ACTION.
Thinking is great, but the fact is - thinking gets you NO WHERE! It is action that makes things happen - action brings on change.
Action takes you from NO WHERE to NOW HERE! *PHEW* I know this is intense, but hang on...
2) Poor nutrition In Holistic Health Counseling, we address primary AND secondary nutrition.
Secondary nutrition is a bit easier to understand, so let's address it first.
Secondary nutrition is what is informally called "nutrition" - the food we actually put in our bodies.
"You are what you eat".
What we put in our bodies...
the stuff that breaks down and becomes the building blocks of our bodies...
actually matters! If you are cramming chemicalized, junk food (read "stuff with an ingredient list longer than the dictionary that you cannot even pronounce") down your throat, it will affect your health.
Thankfully, our bodies are AMAZING machines that can extract the useful nutrition from whatever is put in it.
However, in doing so, we use excess energy and deplete stores of vitamins and minerals needed for daily bodily functions.
On the other hand, if we eat wholesome, nutritionally balanced diets ("diet" meaning the food you eat, NOT the food you restrict yourself from eating) we give our bodies a chance to rest the digestive system - because it no longer has to do that extra work to digest unrecognizable chemicals that we call "food".
Additionally, we are supplying more vitamins and minerals, so we do not deplete our stores, but rather use the vitamins and minerals to grow beautiful hair and nails, rejuvenate the skin, and keep us mentally and emotionally balanced.
Natural Anti-Aging! So must we give up our favorite "vices"? Not necessarily.
If anything - keep them in your diet, that way you never feel deprived.
Instead, ADD wholesome, nutritious food to what you already eat.
Challenge yourself, forget the minimum...
HOW MANY fruits and/or veggies can you eat today? Whoever gets the most WINS! *Can you tell I get excited over this?* 3) Compromised immune systems Little known fact - about 80% of our immune system is in our gut.
Yes our stomach, intestines, colon - our "inner plumbing" - is about as complex as our minds.
Our gastrointestinal tract has about as many neurons as our brain! All in all, our gut has a brain of its own, called the enteric nervous system.
(That makes emotional eating much more understandable, does it not?) Our GI tract is the first defense against illness.
The food we eat is oozing with microorganisms, most are actually good for us, but every once in a while, we ingest something not so good.
If our immune system is strong, our bodies take that bad bacteria and toss it out - no harm done.
BUT, if our immune system is compromised (we have not been eating well, taking on extra stress, not sleeping enough) that one bad bacteria defeats our bodies defense system and wreaks havoc.
Hence, we get sick.
The best plan? Arm your immune system daily.
Give it all the TLC it needs by providing a healthy diet, restful sleep, a wellness and fitness practice, and most of all a PMA (that is...
a Positive Mental Attitude).
So now I will burst more bubbles - guess what helps with ALL of this (besides what I mentioned above)? You guessed it - a workout regimen.
By incorporating regular physical activity into our daily lives, we strengthen our bodies from the inside out, calm our minds, and release endorphins to give us an emotional boost.
We just took care of ALL three forms of stress.
As if that were not good enough, working out helps our bodies to better use the nutrients we put in it AND strengthens our immune systems! All bases covered.
BUT there is a catch...
you actually have to ENJOY you workouts.
If you trudge away on the treadmill hating every second of it, you will NOT get the same results as if you smile through your workout and leave wanting more.
The tough part? Working out when you feel tired.
It will be hard for about a month - but soon you will crave it! So check in with yourself, have you swung so hard back into the swing of things, that you already hit a wall? If this is the case, you need to reasses, and decide for yourself - how important is your health? Is it worth a few changes? I know you are busy, but we have the same 24 hours a day as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Helen Keller.
So get up, get out and put YOU first; schedule in some you-time for a change.
Well sometimes, we swing so hard that we get sick, and cannot seem to get better! Some possible underlying causes could be too much stress...
not enough nutrition...
compromised immune systems...
or all of the above! So let's take a preventive stand and tackle each of these individually.
1) Too much stress There is not a person in America who is not experiencing some form of overwhelming stress.
We live in a VERY stressful society - we are bombarded by stress every second of every day.
We get physical stress from carrying our twenty ton pocket books - our poor shoulders and spines are ready to break from the undue load! Not to mention the horrendous posture we thrust upon our bodies sitting at desks typing away at computers for 8 hours of the day - then we spend the other 8 waking hours on our phones! On top of that we have mental stress - how many thoughts do you have running through your head right now? I bet you have anywhere from 10-15 SEPARATE thoughts running through your mind simultaneously at this very second.
Did you know we have on average over 100,000 thoughts a day? That is almost 2 thoughts per waking second! With that many thoughts running through our minds, it is no wonder why we are mentally exhausted.
The damaging part comes when our brains just keep spinning with no result.
When thoughts just keep zooming around, our brains (and entire beings) cannot be at ease.
If we are not "at ease", we are with "dis-ease" - yes that is right, disease.
Whether it is heart disease, inflammatory disease, autoimmune disease - each is a lack of "ease" in our bodies.
I am not saying that a week of meditating will make it all better.
However, if you were to sit in a comfortable room, completely relaxed with your eyes closed, would you be able to let your mind simply concentrate on your breathing? How long can you do it for? If you find that your brain just keeps buzzing about, that is a sign that you need to practice meditation to get control over your thoughts.
Remember, you are NOT the thoughts, you are the THINKER.
This puts us in a place of control - and we can determine what thoughts we have, and do not have.
As if this were not enough, we plop emotional stress on top of it all.
Emotional stress comes from the feelings we experience day in and day out.
Are you fulfilled in your career? What about your body? How is your relationship? If one of these is not on the right path, it can weave its way into other areas of our life.
For example, if you are not happy in your own skin, will you represent yourself to the best of your ability at your job? Will you walk confidently through your day and attack every challenge that comes your way? Will you approach your boss and ask for a raise if you honestly feel you deserve it? Additionally, if you hate the way you look, will you attract the love of your life? If you are in a relationship, will you allow yourself to be intimate? These are factors of emotional stress and we ALL experience them at some point in our lives.
The ONLY way to feel better is to TAKE ACTION.
Thinking is great, but the fact is - thinking gets you NO WHERE! It is action that makes things happen - action brings on change.
Action takes you from NO WHERE to NOW HERE! *PHEW* I know this is intense, but hang on...
2) Poor nutrition In Holistic Health Counseling, we address primary AND secondary nutrition.
Secondary nutrition is a bit easier to understand, so let's address it first.
Secondary nutrition is what is informally called "nutrition" - the food we actually put in our bodies.
"You are what you eat".
What we put in our bodies...
the stuff that breaks down and becomes the building blocks of our bodies...
actually matters! If you are cramming chemicalized, junk food (read "stuff with an ingredient list longer than the dictionary that you cannot even pronounce") down your throat, it will affect your health.
Thankfully, our bodies are AMAZING machines that can extract the useful nutrition from whatever is put in it.
However, in doing so, we use excess energy and deplete stores of vitamins and minerals needed for daily bodily functions.
On the other hand, if we eat wholesome, nutritionally balanced diets ("diet" meaning the food you eat, NOT the food you restrict yourself from eating) we give our bodies a chance to rest the digestive system - because it no longer has to do that extra work to digest unrecognizable chemicals that we call "food".
Additionally, we are supplying more vitamins and minerals, so we do not deplete our stores, but rather use the vitamins and minerals to grow beautiful hair and nails, rejuvenate the skin, and keep us mentally and emotionally balanced.
Natural Anti-Aging! So must we give up our favorite "vices"? Not necessarily.
If anything - keep them in your diet, that way you never feel deprived.
Instead, ADD wholesome, nutritious food to what you already eat.
Challenge yourself, forget the minimum...
HOW MANY fruits and/or veggies can you eat today? Whoever gets the most WINS! *Can you tell I get excited over this?* 3) Compromised immune systems Little known fact - about 80% of our immune system is in our gut.
Yes our stomach, intestines, colon - our "inner plumbing" - is about as complex as our minds.
Our gastrointestinal tract has about as many neurons as our brain! All in all, our gut has a brain of its own, called the enteric nervous system.
(That makes emotional eating much more understandable, does it not?) Our GI tract is the first defense against illness.
The food we eat is oozing with microorganisms, most are actually good for us, but every once in a while, we ingest something not so good.
If our immune system is strong, our bodies take that bad bacteria and toss it out - no harm done.
BUT, if our immune system is compromised (we have not been eating well, taking on extra stress, not sleeping enough) that one bad bacteria defeats our bodies defense system and wreaks havoc.
Hence, we get sick.
The best plan? Arm your immune system daily.
Give it all the TLC it needs by providing a healthy diet, restful sleep, a wellness and fitness practice, and most of all a PMA (that is...
a Positive Mental Attitude).
So now I will burst more bubbles - guess what helps with ALL of this (besides what I mentioned above)? You guessed it - a workout regimen.
By incorporating regular physical activity into our daily lives, we strengthen our bodies from the inside out, calm our minds, and release endorphins to give us an emotional boost.
We just took care of ALL three forms of stress.
As if that were not good enough, working out helps our bodies to better use the nutrients we put in it AND strengthens our immune systems! All bases covered.
BUT there is a catch...
you actually have to ENJOY you workouts.
If you trudge away on the treadmill hating every second of it, you will NOT get the same results as if you smile through your workout and leave wanting more.
The tough part? Working out when you feel tired.
It will be hard for about a month - but soon you will crave it! So check in with yourself, have you swung so hard back into the swing of things, that you already hit a wall? If this is the case, you need to reasses, and decide for yourself - how important is your health? Is it worth a few changes? I know you are busy, but we have the same 24 hours a day as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Helen Keller.
So get up, get out and put YOU first; schedule in some you-time for a change.
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