In the beginning of the year many people are looking for ways to create healthy living behaviors in their lives. What is healthy living and how do you create healthy living in your life? I believe that healthy living requires you to have qualities of happiness and contentment in your life.
My definition of healthy living is creating a lifestyle where you feel balanced mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually. Healthy living definitely has it roots in creating and maintaining a healthy body to make it possible to carry out daily activities and have the energy to enjoy special occasions too.
Healthy living also required that mind and spiritual aspects of your life get appropriate attention as well. This combination of mind, body, heart and soul attention is the key to healthy living.
I have come to this definition of healthy living after several years of seeing patients and helping them evaluate what goals for their health create the foundation they are searching for. As a result I have four areas of healthy living that I incorporate into every treatment that I design for my patients.
I refer to this foundation as the Four Pillars of Health -- nutrition, movement, listening to your intuition (spiritual wisdom) and creating and maintaining loving and supportive community.
When patients come into my practice, they are usually looking for help in creating or strengthening at least one of these four pillars. As we create a plan that integrates all pillars into their lives, their health goals are reached exponentially.
Let’s start with nutrition. It is the first pillar or foundation for healthy living. The Free Dictionary defines "to nourish" as "the process of nourishing or being nourished, especially the process by which a living organism assimilates food and uses it for growth and for replacement of tissues. The science or study that deals with food and nourishment, especially in humans. A source of nourishment; food."
Nutrition can be food or any way we need to nourish ourselves. Food nutrition focuses on what we are putting into our body. Our food, or fuel, affects everything in our being from our energy, to our attitude, to our ability to heal quickly or endure illness longer.
The care we take in feeding ourselves is the way we nourish ourselves on every level. Paying attention to ourselves enough to eat well is an important way we nourish ourselves.
We also have to nourish ourselves by honoring our goal, dreams and desires for things other than food. This creates the balance for healthy living I was talking about earlier.
The second area or pillar in my plan is movement. I choose to use the term movement instead of exercise. Exercise makes me think of going to the gym to do aerobics or weight lifting. Neither of those activities makes me happy.
However going swimming, or walking in the park with a friend or an hour of yoga give me a lift and high every time I do them. Each person has some form of movement or physical activity that improves the quality of their health through mental clarity, sex drive, improve sleep and lift depression.
Movement on a daily basis helps keep us flexible and agile as we move through life and get older. It keeps our minds and bodies strong. It is recommended that we move for 30 minutes of moderate exercise at least six times per week.
In my next blog I will continue describing my approach to healthy living with my patients by discussing the last two pillars. Until next time ...
Live Vibrantly,
Dr. Dae
http://twitter.com/drdae
https://www.healthydaes.com
https://www.facebook.com/healthydaes
Sources:
"Exercise and Physical Fitness: MedlinePlus." National Library of Medicine - National Institutes of Health. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2012. http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/exerciseandphysicalfitness.html
Mayo Clinic Staff. "http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/MY00431/DSECTION=healthy-diets." http://www.mayoclinic.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2012. www.mayoclinic.com/health/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/MY00431/DSECTION=healthy-diets
"nutrition - definition of nutrition by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.." Dictionary, Encyclopedia and Thesaurus - The Free Dictionary. N.p., n.d. Web. 9 Jan. 2012. http://www.thefreedictionary.com/nutrition
Dr. Dae's Bio:
“Dr. Dae" (pronounced Dr. Day) Daemon Jones is a Naturopathic Physician who treats the whole person using safe and effective combinations of traditional and natural methods to produce optimal health and well-being in the lives of her patients.
Reviewed January 10, 2012
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith