Nine Health Habits for 2009

Nine Healthy Habits for 2009

1) Eat More Foods that Grow on Trees & Plants...
Eat less foods with Labels & Barcodes
-Average American-51% of Calories from Processed Foods
(cereal, bread,soft drinks, cookies, chips, ect.)
& Only 7% of Calories from Fruits, Vegetables, Legumes
-The Average Hunter Gatherer-65% of Calories from:
Fresh fruits and Vegetables, Legumes (2 lbs. of vegetables per day)
-Add, Add, Add so their is less room for the Bad
-Increase Health, Decrease susceptibility to illness, fatigue, & Lifestyle Diseases
-Bag of apples Challenge

2) Eat your Fats! Health Omega 3 Fish Oils
-Omega 3 is to your Nervous System like Calcium is to your bones
-Mountains of evidence for anti-inflammation properties
-Heart Health, Cognitive & Mood Improvement, Skin & Hair, and much more
-Supplementation-Nordic Naturals, Salmon-Wild & Organic, Walnuts, Canola, Flax
-www.omega-research.com

3) Get your Vitamin D
-Good News-It’s Required, Better News...It’s Free, Get outside
-Not Just for Bones-Research is showing it helps for the Immune system, Diabetes
Prevention, and Heart Health
-Supplementation may be necessary, Check with your Medical Provider on Dosage

4) Start a food Journal for 1-Week Every Other Month
-Bring a Consciousness to What You Eat
-Studies show those who kept a food diary lost more weight than those who didn’t
**Write down your mood after you eat each meal! Happy, Energy, Lethargic, Bloated!
For a 5 Day Food Journal, log onto www.TheSportsAndWellnessDC.com, tools tab

5) Manage Your Stress-Set Downtime each day
-Take time out each day for Mind Quieting Exercises
-Dis-engage from all forms of technology-email, cell phone, TV, internet, radio, ipod.
-Get outside in Nature, Listen to relaxing upbeat music, and Power Nap (20-30 min.)
-Meditate, Positive Visualization, ect.

6) Learn Something New! Lifelong Learning
-Read More Books than you did in 2008
-Take an Extension Course, join a group www.Meetup.com, Start a New Hobby
-Join a Non-Profit-Create purpose or become a Mentor...find a Mentor

7) Exercise-the most important meal of the day
Exercise is not a tool to be used to lose weight, its a requirement to express health
Your body requires motion and caloric expenditure to keep all of your systems running
properly and for longevity
The most underutilized and underestimated form of healthcare
-Benefits Directly with Increase Mortality, Decreased Lifestyle Diseases (Cancer, Heart
Disease, Diabetes, Obesity, Osteoporosis)

8) Enhance Flexibility & Balance
-Use it or Lose It!
-The odds of falling each year after age 65 in the United States are about one in three
-These Activities Help: Exercise, Tai Chi, Hiking, Sensible Shoes, Dancing
-Utilize Balance Challenging Devices-Swiss Ball, Balance Disc, Dyna-Disc, Foam rolls
vibration plates, or just 1 legged exercises

9) Practice Gratitude with a Gratitude Walk
-Best of Both Worlds, exercise-spirituality-stress relief wrapped up in one
-Take 10 minutes each day, amongst your busy schedule, & take a 10-15 minute walk
-Utilize these 10-15 minutes to focus on things you are grateful for- start at the basics.
Sight, hearing, walking, family, friends, employment, freedom, shoes, food, ect.
-You should feel mentally & spiritually energized! And you are exercising!

Now go and have the best year of your life! We only have one ticket on this ride called "Life", make it count!

"You can never get the right answer if you don't ask the right question!"

This statement holds truth and relevancy when it comes to your health and well-being. As a society, we are constantly bombarded with advertisements and commercials that litter us with health and medical conditions. They all start with "Do you have...(diabetes, restless leg syndrome, irregular menstrual cycles, allergies, headaches, ect. ect....you have seen them all). They follow up with "...then you need ..(new drug, pill, creme, spray, ect. ect.).

Our society has been programmed to attach themselves to a diagnosis, and some collect them proudly as if they "earned their stripes". Instead of Joe Healthy, people begin to identify with their diagnosis and see themselves as Joe Diabetes, or Jane Tendinitis. If you don't want to keep it, don't name it.

Ninety Percent of the conditions are not a disease, syndrome, genetic bad luck, or so called Pathology. They are Adaptive Physiology, you body's attempt to adapt to it's external and internal environmental stressors. When you body expresses itself with a condition, the incorrect question is not "What do I have? How can I get rid of the symptoms?". You must approach the matter differently

The Million Dollar Questions

• "What is my body lacking or deficient of, and what is the toxicity I am being exposed to?"
• "What do I need to add to be sufficient of what I am lacking, Which items are pure that I can add to my body"

The answers are simple yet complex.

In order to achieve balance, or homeostatic cell function and body function, we must "Move Well, Eat Well, and Think Well". Pure and Sufficient Movement, Nutrition, and Belief Systems will always move you closer to balance. Toxic and deficient movements, processed foods and chemicals, anxiety and negative internal dialogs will move you away from balance and health. So next time you find yourself on the verge of acquiring a new label, catch yourself and ask the million dollar questions.

Enjoy,

The Sports and Wellness Doc