The most valuable and prized possession is our health. Without our
health, we wouldn’t be able to achieve the things we want to in our
life, go places we want to go and do things we want to do.Over the last
few decades, as more and more junk food places have opened and lots of
artificially enhanced products created, more and more people have
turned to them and forgotten about their bodies. These poor habits
along with their living standards have created an increase in illness
and lack of peak performance in the body. Due to all of this, we have
literally lost control of what goes on in our body and in our health.
Photo courtesy of darkpatator
For many years, I have been interested in healthy living and getting
my body back into its natural state and how it should function. I
prefer to focus on ‘prevention’ rather than cure and wellness over
illness.
Here are ten tips to take back control of your health and get on the path to wellness:
- Know your reasons. If you’re looking to get
healthier, fitter and look younger, then you’ve got to know your
reasons as to why you want to become more healthy. If you’re familiar
with any work in personal development, you may have heard of Tony
Robbins and his work which states that no matter what goal you set, the
more reasons you have for achieving it, the more you’ll convince
yourself of wanting to achieve it and you’ll go out and get it. Why do
you want to get more healthy now and not before in your life? What has
caused this change? And how committed are you?
- Create your wellness plan. Once you know you
actually do want to invest time, energy and resources into taking back
control of your health and getting on the path of wellness. Creating
your plan requires you to know what you’d like your body and health to
look, feel and be like in about 1-5 years time and then breaking down
that vision into monthly goals of nutrition, exercise and anything else
needed to get you there.
- Get rid of your negative influences. Have you ever
tried to improve one part of your life but find that no matter how hard
you try, it may not seem to work? It’s usually because you haven’t
cleared out the negative energies or things that are conflicting with
it. For example, if you find eating crisps and shortbread biscuits a
negative thing when you’re trying to get healthy but are still eating
it, you’re really inhibiting how well your body could do. Make a list
of things that you are tolerating in your life, things you know you
shouldn’t do or have but are still doing it. And slowly cut down and
get rid of it.
- Drink lots of water. During the course of our
sleep, we lose a lot of water during our breathing and so its important
that when you get up, you have a big glass of water. The vitality our
cells gets from water is very important and useful and will keep our
body working in correct order. Without water, our cells starts to wilt
just like plants without water.
- Eat lots of water-rich content. Our body is made
up of about 70% of water just like our planet and so naturally we
should consume enough water to keep our body hydrated and enough to
recycle our body’s capacity every so often. Consume lots of water-rich
fruits and vegetables every day. I make a fresh juice every morning
with a selection of fruits, and I also try to have at least two big
bowls of salad a day - one at lunch, one at dinner. The simple sugars
from fruits are important nutrients and vitamins for our body.
- Rest well. Without sleep, our body’s clock loses
its rhythm and starts to dysfunction, causing poor habits. Rest well
and consistently each day. Try to keep your timings consistent so your
body can set its routine. If you can’t sleep early, get some
blindfolds, ear plugs, soothing music, or whatever you need.
- Exercise at least 30 minutes a day. This article
wouldn’t be truthful if I didn’t include exercise and fitness in it. If
you don’t exercise, seriously consider the impacts on your body.
Exercise gets your body moving, your blood circulating and your energy
in motion. If you work at home or or in an office, get up every 30
minutes and walk around. If you have a staircase nearby, run up and
down it several times a day. If you can get out for a walk, I highly
recommend it for at least 10 minutes once in a day. The great thing is
that you can break up your 30 minutes exercise a day into 2-3 segments
so you can exercise wherever you are.
- Eat your food slower. The Slow Food Movement
talks about eating your food slower to aid digestion, heighten the
cooking and eating experience and really enjoying your food. I’m in
favor for this because of what it can do to your body’s digestive
system. Research shows that eating slower can make you more fuller and
thus you eat less. Read more about this here on Zen Habits.
- Don’t overeat. Only eat till you are satisfied.
Don’t overeat or over-full yourself. Eat with content and till your
stomach is satisfied. You can always go and eat something healthy later
- and that’s better than overeating.
- Keep a food journal. One of the best ways to
ensure you keep healthy and stay on track is to keep a food journal and
become really aware what you eat. Write down what you eat and drink at
every meal time and in between, as well as what exercises you do and
when. It’s a great momentum-building tool as well.
So there you have it - ten ways to take back control of your health
and get on the path to wellness. If you’re serious about this, you’ll
take on five of the more in one or another in your life. For those
whose health is currently not as important, try to incorporate at least
one of these.
Getting healthy, becoming fitter and looking more younger is all
supposed to be fun, so ensure you keep the fun and excitement in your
progress.