One of the biggest hills to climb when building a long-term commitment to a healthy life is realizing that good health is not a sprint, but rather an ongoing relay of personal achievement. A healthy lifestyle is not the medal you put on after finishing a race. It’s more of a marathon than a 5K, but it really shouldn’t feel like much of a race at all.
Eating right, exercising and building a resilient body is a personal journey. It’s a process fueled by variables unique to each individual.
What everyone has in common is that we are all essentially training ourselves by making daily decisions that either help or hurt our performance on the course of life. Shaping a healthy life is a well-rounded practice. The best training for maintaining a healthy mind-body balance is one that challenges both while using all of the resources and technology available today.
Shape Up!
One of the most important factors when planning your fitness agenda is knowing yourself and your goals. Are you looking to master a certain skill, cut down on race time or trim your waistline? The sooner you come to terms with the fact that your goals aren’t cookie-cutter shaped, the better you’ll feel on the inside and the better chance you’ll have at personal growth and achievement.
Luckily, there are outlets to support every physical goal on the planet. Affordable but fully equipped gyms like Planet Fitness are a great resource for anybody seeking an outlet to get their lives into gear. Whether your past suggests you are a highly-skilled gym rat or a physically limited couch potato, the knowledgeable yet friendly staff at Planet Fitness makes sure nobody feels the “gymtimidation” to be anything they are not. This gym builds people up, not breaks them down.
With rates as low as $10 per month, locations across the country and a variety of resources to up your game, there’s hardly an excuse to not shape up!
Get That Glow!
The age old adage that beauty comes from within is actually spot on. Feeling great on the inside creates an outward shine. How can you help your insides feel good? Many skin care products offer topical treatment, but Dr. Berni Massari believes beautiful skin runs deeper than that.
Eating clean is how to eat right, and beyond that, a person should be eating for their blood type. That means eating for how your pancreas works.
Have you ever eaten something that didn’t jive well with your stomach? You might have consumed something against what your body can handle. If you feel toxic, that’s probably a red flag that whatever you scarfed down that day is toxic to you personally.
The part that hurts the most is that those toxins are eventually going to show their ugly heads on your skin, hair or nails. Rather than figuring out quick fixes for your forehead acne or cracked cuticles, think about what got you there.
“If you eat against your blood type,” Dr. Berni Massari said, “You’re almost always going to be lethargic.”
Turns out the food comas that follow seemingly delicious meals are proof you are consuming the bad stuff.
Dr. Berni Massari’s Integrative Health Patient Care offers a wide range of services offering hope to patients dealing with diseases and conditions others might not be able to cure. Her homeopathic approach to healing has proven successful for all of her patients.
Listen Closely
Total wellness is not just about looking and feeling fabulous, it’s about enjoying the benefits that all of the senses have to offer. Imagine a flowing river without the sound of water trickling over rocks. Think about the family dinners without comprehending all of the conversation. Running on the treadmill might feel different if you didn’t have the world’s best soundtrack ringing in your ears.
If you literally have ringing in your ears or you haven’t had your hearing tested in some time, you might think about checking out the free hearing screenings offered at Audiology and Hearing Aid Center.
It’s been said that fifty percent of the people over the age of fifty-five will have some degree of hearing loss, but that doesn’t mean everyone needs be afraid of getting older. The important thing is to listen closely. Preparing for a healthy future means paying attention to the little things that only slightly ail you now.
If you find yourself asking others to repeat themselves or you are experiencing differences in your hearing quality, you may be experiencing hearing loss. Luckily, there are qualified people that can help, and many options to help you fully engage your senses.
Know Your Body
Hitting the gym and eating right are a great way to build a fortress of a body, but another way to protect that fortress from unknown battles is with knowledge. Modern science has provided the gift of prevention and education of diseases that were once very bad news.
The days of cancer being a death sentence are over. Susan G. Komen Arizona aims to reduce the current number of breast cancer deaths by 50% in the United States by 2026, and Komen has already helped facilitate a 38% decline in mortality from 1989 to 2014.
While breast health awareness is important for all, the risk differs depending on a person’s own background. Komen suggests taking the proper steps to staying healthy, which includes knowing your risk, getting screened, understanding your own body and making healthy life choices.
Those tips transfer over to other parts of the body too. Don’t be afraid to ask your doctor what you can do to ensure you are taking all of the precautions to keep your body in tip top shape from the inside out.
Don’t Forget to Breathe
Thinking about all of the ways to run a healthy life can be overwhelming, but remembering to breathe deeply will help reduce stress and facilitate focus. Yoga instructors know where it’s at with that.
Breathing easily doesn’t come easily to all, but fortunately there is a sanctuary for those suffering from asthma, allergies and other chronic respiratory conditions including lung infection and cystic fibrosis.
Salt therapy may be a trend, but it’s a lasting one and has been used for years to help folks breathe easier. The salt rooms at Salt Chalet Arizona have recreated a microclimate similar to the salt mines found throughout Eastern Europe. When owner Pavel Gershkovich personally experienced the health benefits achieved by exposure to Dead Sea salt in Israel, he brought that healing power back to the Grand Canyon state.
At Salt Chalet Arizona, patients chill out in salt rooms for 45 minutes while tiny pieces of salt take care of business in their body’s airway passages. The salt works like a special anti-bacterial agent on a mission to dissolve bacteria and pollutants, thus improving respiratory health and lung function. Breathing clearly is a pretty amazing way to feel alive, and these salt rooms make that awesome feeling accessible.
Lead a Well-Rounded Life
When training for a healthy life, it’s important to cover all of your bases. Marathon runners pace themselves so they have enough energy to finish the race. Burning out after the first five miles will only make the long haul feel impossible.
The key to not burning out is to make small lifestyle changes that leave positive impressions on your daily routine. Eventually, those decisions will become routine.
Find what works for you, your schedule and your life. It’s not about getting to that finish line. It’s about getting the most out of the time you are on course while experiencing the benefits of maintaining a healthy and happy mind-body balance.