The 7 Keys to Health and Wellness
Reaching and maintaining optimal health and wellness requires an understanding of the many different aspects that affect our health and well-being. We often get confused by the loads of information fed to us daily from the media and health experts telling us to do this that and the other in order to stay healthy.
The truth is there is no single factor that can measure optimal health and wellness. Good health comes from following a protocol of several different practices, all of which have an impact on your overall health and wellness. The things you may hear on the news or from your favorite radio show may be great tips that contribute to good health, but you should not view them the only factor in the equation that will lead you to optimal health and wellness.
This article will outline the 7 keys to achieving and maintaining great health, and why each is important to your health. Some of these tips are easy to carry out; others will require visiting the gym and your doctor to determine what is best for you. However, understanding the main factors that affect health and wellness will help you incorporate as many of these important practices into your lifestyle as time permits.
The 7 Keys to Health and Wellness
1) Proper Nutrition
Proper nutrition is arguably the most important factor in good health. The body requires vitamins and nutrients, which are the building blocks for energy, growth, repair, and reproduction, to function properly.
Vitamins are the backbone behind a variety of reactions that take place inside the body, most importantly the conversion of food into energy and cellular tissues. Minerals are needed for maintenance, repair, and growth of bodily structures, and play an important role in other bodily functions.
While it is true that you can get the majority of essential vitamins, nutrients, and minerals from a well balanced diet, it is also extremely difficult to do on a daily basis. A 2007 CDC study suggests that less than 1/3 of Americans are eating the recommended amounts of fruits and vegetables (which are packed with the nutrients the body needs) on a daily basis. This is the main reason why 5 out of 6 doctors are now recommending supplemental vitamins to their patients.
If your body does not receive the necessary nutrients it needs to function optimally on a day-to-day basis, the bodily systems that keep us healthy start to function less than par. This can lead to a whole host of side effects, including a lack of energy, degenerative diseases, and accelerated aging.
As the good old saying goes, "You are what you eat." There is a whole lot of truth in this statement, because the body utilizes the nutrients in our diet to function properly. If the nutrients are not there, your body will not function properly, leading to less than optimal health.
Consider consulting a nutritionist or dietician if you need help developing a nutritional protocol and program that is right for you.
2) Chiropractic Care
Chiropractic treatment helps keep your body in alignment and, as a result, makes it work properly. When your body is out of alignment, such as joint misalignments in the back, neck, hip, ribs, knees and other important areas, it cannot properly heal and repair itself. Joint misalignments can cause pain and restricted blood flow, causing certain parts of our bodies not to receive the nutrient rich blood necessary for proper function.
Joint misalignments can cause a pinched nerve or other stress on our nervous system. This is the most serious side effect of joint misalignments. Pinched nerves are called 'silent killers' because sometimes people do not know about them until the organ affected by the pinched nerve has failed.
When our nerves are pinched or stressed, they cannot effectively deliver nerve impulses from the brain. Certain parts of the body that rely on nerve communication do not receive the proper signals from brain, causing them to not function as intended by the brain. This has a whole host of negative implications on the body's organ systems.
Pinched nerves can cause serious pain, hot flashes, heart palpitations, and many other symptoms that people would commonly see their medical doctor for treatment. The problem with this is that conventional medicine cannot effectively treat problems caused by pinched nerves. Most of the time, doctors will simply give the patient prescription drug therapies, which do nothing to solve the underlying problem behind the pain or symptom.
Chiropractic care and proper alignment of the body is an extremely important factor for good health, because if the body is not aligned properly, it will not function properly, leading to many serious side effects that conventional medicine cannot remedy.
A popular question related to chiropractic care is: "How often should I get adjusted?" The answer to this question is different for every person, because it all depends on how often your body goes out of alignment. Consider visiting your local chiropractor to determine a realignment schedule that works with your body's needs.
3) Enzyme Balance
Enzymes are a vital part of our health and well-being because they control every biochemical reaction inside the body. These biochemical reactions keep all organs inside the body, including the skin, functioning properly. Without the proper enzymes, our body will slowly deteriorate and become susceptible to disease and illnesses.
Understanding enzyme levels and the need for supplemental enzymes it very important, and becomes even more important as we age. Our bodies have a limited ability to produce enzymes necessary for digestion, elimination, proper organ function, and healthy immune system reactions inside the body ONLY if it receives the enzymes necessary for enzyme production from the foods we eat. In other words, the body relies on the foods we eat from our diets to produce its own enzymes needed for proper functioning. If the body does not obtain natural enzymes from foods, it cannot produce its own enzymes necessary for digestion.
However, the older we are, the fewer enzymes our bodies are able to naturally produce (even with enzymes from foods), and the faster we age. This causes the metabolic processes inside the body to slow, giving us less and less energy and slows the body's ability to perform vital tasks that are necessary for optimal health.
Related to this topic is that fact the majority of the foods we eat today are processed and cooked at high temperatures. When you process or cook food (above 118° F), you kill all the natural enzymes inside the food. This puts stress on digestive system, which in turn stresses the pancreas and liver, because these organs rely on receiving enzymes from the foods we eat to manufacture enzymes, function properly, and keep free from infection.
If the pancreas and liver do not get enzymes from foods, the body is not able to digest the foods we eat. In addition, as we age, these organs become depleted and lose their ability to manufacture the enzymes required to digest the foods we eat. A lack of enzymes can lead to unwanted gas, bloating, loose stools, constipation, leaky gut syndrome, and a whole host of other side effects.
This is an important concept to understand, because it is one of the factors behind the aging process. When the body's organs are deprived of the right enzymes they need, they do not work right. For example, if the skin does not have the enzymes it needs, it loses if the ability to maintain its elasticity, tone, and appearance, leading to wrinkles and other blemishes we associate with aging. Thus, maintaining proper enzyme balance through dietary intake of enzymes and/or enzyme supplements is extremely important in maintaining optimal health and wellness.
Finding professional enzyme assistance can be difficult, as there are very few enzyme specialists scattered throughout the country. Most chiropractors are not certified to give their patients enzyme therapy, so if you are concerned with your body's enzyme levels and need consultation, make sure the doctor you visit is certified in enzyme therapy. One of the best certified enzyme specialists in the country is Dr. L.H. Webb, out of the Pittsburgh, PA area. You can contact him for a free consultation by visiting his website here.
Lastly, if you do purchase enzyme supplements, make sure that the product is manufactured from plant-based enzymes, and not animal-based ones.
4) Physical Conditioning
Physical conditioning and regular exercise is tremendously beneficial for long-term health and wellness. There are so many health benefits of regular exercise and physical activity. Here are a few:
- Reduces the risk of diabetes, premature death, developing heart disease, high blood pressure, high cholesterol levels, and developing certain cancers
- Helps maintain body weight and keeps body fat under control
- Keeps the lymphatic system moving, thereby removing toxins from the body
- Reduces stress levels, depression, and anxiety
- Improves self esteem
- Enhances physical performance
- Protects and keeps the brain healthy
The above points clearly illustrate the need for physical conditioning. It is recommended to engage in rigorous exercise at least 3 times a week for optimal health benefits.
5) Revitalizing Sleep
Sleep is an absolute necessity to life, as it is important for maintaining healthy functioning of the body. Without enough sleep each night, it is difficult to concentrate during the day, and stress levels increase. The reason is because when we sleep, the body repairs itself of any damage that has occurred during the day.
If the body cannot effectively repair itself, say due to a lack of enough sleep, the brain may not function correctly and waste products build up in the body's cells. This causes the cells to perform at sub-par levels, leading to a lack of energy and overall less than optimal health. In addition, hormone production is regulated during sleep. A lack of enough sleep each night can lead to hormonal imbalances in the body, which has many serious side effects that affect our health. Therefore, getting at least 8 hours of sleep each night is a key factor in long-term health and wellness.
6) Body Cleansing/Detoxification
If you are chronically sick or lack energy, have tried many things to correct the problem, and nothing seems to be working, it may be time to consider a total body cleanse (aka detoxification therapy or whole body detoxification).
Detoxification is the process of clearing or neutralizing toxin buildup inside the body. Body cleansing is a completely natural process, and is one of the best ways to get you feeling healthy again. The benefits of body cleansing are numerous; a renewed feeling of energy, improved metabolism, better sleep, reduced cravings for food, and a stronger immune system just to mention a few.
Along with feeling better and healthier, detoxification can also help reduce the susceptibility of disease and illness as we age. One of the primary causes of disease and illness is the accumulation of toxins and waste inside the body's cells. In today's society, everyone is exposed to a plethora of toxins on a daily basis.
When toxins and waste build up inside the cells, the cells can become confused and lose their ability to function properly. This is thought to lead to a number of degenerative diseases, including cancer.
Literally anyone can benefit from a detoxification protocol. However, those who are overweight, take medications, have unhealthy diets, consume alcohol several times a week, have health problems, and are exposed in an increased level of chemicals in the workplace have an increased need to detoxify their bodies.
Always consult your local natural health doctor if you are considering a detoxification program. It is extremely important to get expert advice when cleansing the body, as one can do more harm than good if they do not properly undergo the detoxification process.
7) Positive Attitude
A positive attitude is not something many would consider being on the list of keys for health and wellness. However, the psychological aspect behind health has a greater effect on whether one will achieve his or her health goals than most would suspect. The relationship between the mind and body and how each effects health is rather compelling if you actually think about how great of an effect the mind has on the body.
The mind is responsible for controlling many factors that affect our health. This including things like managing stress, exercising to lower blood pressure, not smoking, limiting alcohol use, eating a good diet, and the way we naturally respond to various stressors in our lives. All of these things are controlled by the mind, but have a direct effect on the health of the body.
Conventional and alternative medicine therapies can only go so far in treating various conditions and problems. The last piece to the puzzle of good health and wellness is the actual individual and his or her mindset. A person who does not have a positive attitude towards health will often let the mind take over and do things that are not good for the body.
Often times, this is simply because the individual is not well enough educated on the things that have a great effect on health and well-being. But now that you have read this article and understand the 7 keys to health and wellness, you can start to prepare your mind and create a positive attitude towards improving your health by incorporating as many of these keys to health and wellness as possible into your lifestyle.
Having a positive attitude towards health and wellness will help lead you to your goals of optimal health and wellness. We encourage you to prep your mind and develop a positive attitude towards these 7 keys to health and wellness, and if you have any questions or need help achieving your health and wellness goals, please feel free to contact us.
To Your Health,
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