Fitness, nutrition, healthy weight, stress management, relationships, mental, physical, and spiritual health.
It’s no secret that living a healthier lifestyle can help you reduce your risk for heart attack, heart disease, being overweight, diabetes, and obesity. Developing a lifestyle responsible for fighting preventable diseases, disorders, and illness is essential to healthier living. We suggest our clients evaluate their lifestyle based on eight elements of well-being, including fitness, healthy eating, healthy weight, stress management, relationships and communication, mental health, physical health, and spiritual health. Please take a moment to consider the following components to, what we believe, is essential to living a healthier lifestyle.
The word fitness used often in magazine ads and websites—what does 'fitness' mean?
In simple terms, fitness is a state of condition. Related to physical fitness—fitness is the measure of ability one possesses required to accomplish tasks ranging from activities of daily living to specific occupational or sport activities. Being 'fit' doesn’t necessarily mean being 'buff.' Fitness is as much a state of mind as it is a state of physical acuity. One might be considered fit if he or she can do moderately active tasks without undue stress on the body’s ability to recover. Just as important—routine exercise of the mind help us to stay sharp and mentally fit.
How does nutrition factor in living a healthier lifestyle?
The food we eat makes us perform, look, and feel the way we do—good and bad. If we eat a moderately well portioned diet we can reap numerous health benefits. Most of us know that eating foods high in saturated fats, sugar, and sodium can lead to a variety of health problems. Most common of these health problems are related to heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. Eating foods rich in vitamins, minerals, fiber, and antioxidants keep our body functioning properly. Nutrient-rich foods have vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients but are lower in calories because these foods are typically low in fat. To get the nutrients your body needs, choose vegetables, fruits, whole-grain products and fat-free or low-fat dairy products most often. Eating lean protein sources such as lean fish, meats, and skinless poultry, will allow you to get essential fats and proteins without additional fat calories that can lead to obesity, being overweight, high cholesterol, and heart disease.
What is a healthy weight—and how does it affect my lifestyle?
A healthy weight is determined by your body’s ability or inability to overcome stress, handle activities of daily living, and expend energy appropriately. Your 'ideal weight' can be calculated by deciphering the difference in bodyweight when eating roughly ten calories per pound of bodyweight. For example, if you weigh 150 pounds you might need about 1500 calories a day. If you’ve been eating 3000 calories a day, you very well could be overweight. Since one pound of fat equals roughly 3500 calories, a combination of exercise and proper portion control of 500 calories a day will yield one pound of weight loss per week (500 x 7 days=3500). If you lose one pound a week until you plateau—you could be at your ideal weight. Notice, no height was given in this formula intentionally. Never guess how much you should eat—always consult your doctor before changing your diet or caloric intake.
How does stress affect my lifestyle?
Most of us feel a level of stress throughout our day. Stress can be good. Moderate stress can 'keep us in the game,' keep us alert, and help us adapt to change. Too much stress, whether in physical, emotional, or mental forms can leave you feeling drained and lessen your body’s ability to fight illness and recover. As most things in life—too much of anything can be bad for you! If you are feeling 'stressed out,' chances are you are not managing stress well. If you are feeling this way more days than not—this is a clear indication that stress management is in order. Obviously, your lifestyle, your health, and attitude can be adversely affected when stress levels are too high and you have little recourse for addressing stressors.
How do my relationships and communication style affect my lifestyle?
Healthy relationships are a cornerstone of a successful, healthy, lifestyle. Think about a relationship you have with a friend, coworker, or even the local butcher—can you imagine having a better relationship with any of these people? Having a relationship doesn’t just mean close relationships like with family or friends, but also with everyday people we meet or casually interact with on a daily basis. Chances are—because we’re human—we can improve many aspects of the relationships we keep. Part of a health relationship is the ability to communicate. Communication is very much a skill. When we communicate with others we are attempting to exchange information. If we can speak and listen, our chances of communicating rise. Our goal is always to listen twice as much as we speak. When we listen, we give respect for dignity to communication. When we respect others, we are better able to build relationships of weight and measure. (more…)
Does my lifestyle affect my mental health?
This is a trick question. Mental health is a state of perspective and survival. Behaving a certain way means very little if we found ourselves in a different culture or survival situation. In the simplest terms, mental health can be described as either a level of cognitive or emotional well-being or an absence of a mental malady. Can mental health be affected by your lifestyle? I would say, yes. Presume for a moment that you worked fifteen hours a day, slept very little, and ate poorly each day. Do you think you would be emotionally well? Do you think you would be executing your task with precision or communicating well with others—doubtful. So yes, our mental health is profoundly affected by our lifestyle. Given the chance, our body responds quite well to normal stress. Our brain processes information and serves as the central computer for all of our bodily function. Treat your body and brain well. Live with moderation, exercise the brain and body, use your skills to help others, and chances are—your lifestyle will improve your mental health.
Can my physical health keep me from achieving a better lifestyle?
For many of the reasons outlined above—yes. However, when we compartmentalize our life and lifestyle, we often separate what is and what could be without respect to what is real. We group risk factors, behaviors, and solutions to life’s challenges with one broad brushstroke. Poor physical health alone will not crush your lifestyle. Just as superior physical health will not assure a well rounded, successful, life. Think of all the people in the world who are challenged by disease, illness, disorder, and injury. Must a person challenged by any of these things be hopeless? No. Hope is all any of us have—healthy or not. This is why it is so important to take advantage of the gifts we have today. If you are healthy today, strive to remain healthy. If you are unhealthy today, strive to be healthier. Obviously great challenges humble our ability to live a perfect lifestyle. But living a healthier lifestyle isn’t about being perfect, is it? If we keep hope in our hearts, kindness in our words, and deliberate action in our days, we can knowingly live a better, healthier lifestyle—period.
Is spiritual health important to my lifestyle?
This is a question all of have asked at one time or another. What is spirituality? Is it religion? Is it a belief in God? Whatever spirituality is for you—it is important to have faith in your life. Rather than share what we believe spirituality is, why not take a moment while your reading these words to think for a moment and ask yourself what spirituality is to you. Do you recognize spirituality in your life. Let’s assume for a moment that you feel spirituality is of no value to you in your daily living. This would mean that your daily living would consist of only what you know to be fact. This would also mean that you would not have to have faith in anything or anyone. Do you see where we’re going with this? Maybe spirituality is believing in something you can’t prove. Maybe spirituality is hope? What if spirituality is trust? One final question—did you trust that the water or food you swallowed today was not poisoned? Without realizing it, you may have been trusting in something you didn’t know to be fact today. You may have believed, hoped, or taken a leap of faith in nearly every part of your day today. Recognizing spirituality is recognizing that none of us have all of the answers—and maybe we don’t for a reason.
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