Create Optimal Health and Wellness to Live a Great Lifestyle

Optimal health and wellness is a subjective phrase. Period.  If you ask 100 health care professionals what it means to them, you would most likely get many different answers.  What does this phrase mean to you?  And how important is it to you, your family and your future?

The phrase can be broken down really quite simply.  In the chiropractic profession the term “wellness” consists of basically 3 ways to live your life.

Eat Well. Move Well. Think Well.

In this blog post I’ll break down each of the of the terms above and give you some “real” life advice you can use, to help you and your family live a supersized life (not McDonalds supersized! LOL!)

How can optimal health and wellness help you?

According to http://www.eatwellmovewellthinkwell.com we have a chronic illness pandemic. Humans are now the sickest species on the planet. We have the sickest children, the sickest teenagers, the sickest adults, and the sickest elderly in the history of our species.  Over half of our entire population has a chronic illness, over 80% of our workforce has chronic illness.

Chronic illness is responsible for 9 days of absenteeism per employee per year and up to 91 days of lost productivity per employee per year. Chronic illness is the leading cause of death and suffering; 80% of our population is dying and will die from chronic illness. The black plague only killed 30% of the population.

Why don’t people strive to live an optimal health and wellness life?

Obesity has been on the rise for some time now…our children are FAT… and our children our unhealthy.  Many of the health gurus out there today have hypothesized that metabolic syndrome will be the number killer in the next 40-50 years.  Not heart disease, and not cancer.  Follow the three simple steps listed in this blog post and you will greatly decrease your family’s chances of developing this disease.

It’s easier to be unhealthy than it is to be healthy…look to your left…now look to your right.  Everywhere you look is an advertisement for “fast food.” Which sparks our interest because we want everything as fast, cheap, and convenient as humanly possible.

We’re all tired at the end of the day and it’s so easy to go through the drive thru at McDonalds and have an instant meal without going home to prepare a good healthy meal.  It’s hard to live an optimal health and wellness life because it’s hard to get up and go to the gym everyday and it’s hard to come home from work and cook a good healthy meal.  It’s much easier to do what’s fast, easy, and convenient.  I hope this blog post changes your thoughts on your lifestyle habits.  Trust me…it will be worth it to eat well, move well, and think well.

Eat Well.

In my many years of treating and helping patients and clients I’ve found the average person doesn’t know what to eat during the day.  Many are in fact “clueless” when it comes to making healthy food choices.  Many don’t even read the nutrition facts on the box they got from the grocery store.

For “optimal health and wellness” this is a good starting point.  Read the nutrition facts on your groceries and get familiar with calories, fat, carbohydrates, and protein.

In our office we teach our patients how to follow the anti-inflammatory diet.  Inflammation is the root cause in many serious diseases including heart disease, cancer, arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes, and more.

Broken down very simply fresh fish, lean meats, fruits, vegetables, and nuts and a good starting point.  For a more detailed list of what to eat get my anti-inflammatory guidelines here.

Move Well.

You need to move well to have an optimal health and wellness lifestyle.  Moving well can be broken down into subcategories: posture, cardiovascular training, and strength training.

Posture:

Maintaining good posture can save your spine from abnormal forces places upon specific joint levels.  If posture is lost injury becomes almost certain.  Bad posture can result in degeneration of the spine, weakness of the muscles, over activity of the muscles and improper habit formation.   If you know you have a problem with posture your town chiropractor can teach you how to maintain good posture at work, and at home.

Cardiovascular Training:

Get moving! Human beings were not made to be sedentary, so get up and get your buns in gear.  Training your heart is part of an overall optimal health and wellness lifestyle.  If you are new to exercise or have never started an exercise program it’s a good idea to visit your local physician to make sure you’re healthy enough to start a program.

Speaking of programs…the best place to start is a simple walking program.  Go for a brisk walk for 30 minutes a day to start with and build your way up.  You can go for time or distance and get creative with it.  If you’re already familiar with cardio training start a new program today!

Strength Training:

Your muscles are made to use…so let’s use them.  To fully live an optimal health and wellness lifestyle you have to be strength training, which is the same thing as resistance training.  Strength training and using weight or resistance to train or body can increase metabolism, increase bone density, increase muscle strength, decrease fatigue, increase anaerobic output, and make you look DARN GOOD in the process.  So, why not start a strength program today?

Think Well.

Have you ever heard that you can think yourself well? I’m not sure if science can back up that theory but it can prove that a positive mind can do big things.  When you can control your mind and your emotions your body will follow for an optimal health and wellness lifestyle.

There has been a great deal of research on the subject of the biopsychosocial model. This model is the combination of both physical and psychosocial issues. Even though most patients begin improving quickly from back pain with the right care, both recurrence rate and dissatisfaction with medical care is high.  Causing people to worry more than normal.

A healthy mind is part of an overall healthy well-being. I’m not saying we can think ourselves well with positive thinking, but that combined with eating well, and moving well can make a difference in your life.

The best way to make changes in your life is to start slow and implement healthier choices starting today.  As you start your new lifestyle you will begin to feel better both physically and mentally.

Ready to start living an optimal health and wellness lifestyle?

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