 Our health is our most valuable asset and, if we invested a fraction of the time in our own health and wellbeing as we do in our businesses, careers, and families, I believe that chronic disease in women would decrease drastically. One of the greatest misunderstandings when we talk about “getting healthy” or “health and wellness” is that we think it means fad diets and losing weight. Well, that is not correct. Losing weight (if there is any to lose) is the end result or by-product of a healthy lifestyle. It can be broken down like this. We are made up of many different types of cells; skin cells, blood cells, and stem cells, just to name a few. The average adult human body has around 37.2 trillion cells; amazing. Also, we are born with a certain amount of good cells and bad cells also known as cancerous cells. (Sorry to bore you with the science but this stuff is important). What if we looked at those cells as currency? That means you are the trillion-dollar woman. When put in this context, how likely are you to take better care of your body? When our health declines we lose a great deal. We lose time with our families, sick days from work and that is if you work for a company that provides sick days for their employees, and if you are a business owner you can lose a lot more. We as women have to understand our value and come into our power. Without us, this world would fall apart. So, how do we get healthy, you ask. By using the same determination, mindset, and will it took for you to start your business, career and/or family. You put yourself first! The four areas of life I focus on when starting the journey of health and wellness are mental, emotional, physical and spiritual. Mental HealthMental health is very important and there is a lot of conversation, particularly when we consider the current societal climate of our country, about mental health as a crisis. When it comes to having a healthy mind you want to feed your brain. That’s right; feed your brain. Let's examine; around 20% of the food we eat goes to our brain. So, guess what? If we eat crap then our brains will be crap. Remember the commercial with the fried egg in the pan and the slogan was "this is your brain on drugs"? Same concept with eating crappy food and refined sugars. The brain needs good fuel to maintain concentration throughout the day and needs certain nutrients to stay healthy. Those nutrients are omega-3 fatty acids and antioxidants. Omega-3 fatty acids help build and repair brain cells. Antioxidants reduce cellular stress and inflammation, which can cut the risks of Alzheimer's disease and neurodegenerative disorders. Foods that are high in these nutrients are berries (especially wild blueberries), oily fish such as salmon and sardines (wild-caught), dark chocolate (make sure that it contains at least 70% cacao which contains flavonoids, an antioxidants), nuts and seeds (rich in vitamin E), broccoli ( which helps produce Isothiocyanate that may reduce oxidative stress and lower risk of neurodegenerative diseases) , and kale - which is a cruciferous vegetable like broccoli. Emotional HealthIt is said that people who are emotionally healthy are in control of their thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. Even though they still feel stress, anger, and sadness, they are able to cope with life's challenges. Research shows that emotional health is a skill, and there are many ways to improve or maintain good emotional health.
Physical HealthThere are two components to good physical health and they are diet and exercise. Great physical health starts with feeding the body properly. Good health is said to be 90% diet and 10% exercise. Since this is the case, you want to add plenty of vegetables for phytonutrients, foods rich in antioxidants, healthy whole grains and healthy fats. Moving you body is very important. Adding a cardio routine builds your heart muscle, creates stamina, and assists in weight loss. Weight training is essential to physical health because skeletal muscle is the force needed to move the body. When you strengthen your muscles it strengthens your movement. Spiritual HealthSpiritual Health is achieved when you are at peace with your life. It is having hope and comfort in good and bad times. It is what sustains you as you go through life's experiences. We achieve mastery in so many areas of our lives, but it also important for us to achieve mastery in our health and wellbeing. What are you doing to achieve mastery in your health and wellbeing? I'd love to hear about it! Drop a comment below.
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