6 Principles to Health
The following is taken from the philosophy of the CHEK Institute, where I have one of my certifications from. I have changed some of the wording to fit my perspective, but the overall philosophy is all here. This would be an overview of the basics the health, wellness and getting fit. There are of course other technical factors that also need to be addressed, such as hormones, food intolerance, medications, digestive issues and other other factors that could be pushing the system into toxicity and a high physiological load, or stress. All these issues could easily be put in these major topics as sub-topics. Read on and allow this to be some food for thought.
Taking Responsibility For Your Health
Creating the Foundation
Lets face it…most people spend their day running from one thing to the next, only to end their day feeling completely defeated and unaccomplished! As a society, we tend to live in a victim consciousness, unaware of the idea that we have choices…subdued into believing that the only person capable of keeping us well is our doctors…NOT TRUE! The choices we make around our health, and how we CHOOSE to care for ourselves, directly influences our ability to manage the stress of life, increase our vitality, and prevent illness!
In this post, we would like to offer a little insight into 6 principles of wellness that, when practiced, allow you to create your personal foundation on which to build health and live your life exactly as you desire it to be!
6 Principles to Health
Thoughts/Emotions
Each and every day the very first thing we do upon waking is experience a thought! Every feeling, every thought-every emotion we experience sends a message to each and every cell in our bodies. Some messages are more intense and more deeply-seeded than others, but, each cell is nonetheless affected either positively or negatively! As the Law of Attraction states: we attract into our lives whatever it is we think about and dominant thoughts will find a way to manifest
Breathing
After you wake up and have a thought, the second thing you do is breath. Most of us yawn, as well as have an increase in respiratory rate secondary to the release of Cortisol (a stress and awakening hormone). The average person breaths 20K times/day. If you are stressed or you are a chest breather, you breathe 40K times a day. It is believed by many health and medical circles that stress is one of the largest factors in the health and illness spectrum. Proper breathing is one of the primary modes/tools to help decrease stress and circulate the whole system into balance.
Hydration
Most wake up and race for the coffee. What you could do and need to do is go for WATER! You have been dehydrated for 8hrs and coffee is only going to exacerbate that dehydration leading to headaches, constipation, decreased concentration and performance. There are 10K reactions in the body and ALL require water!
Nutrition
You ARE what you eat…and can only be as good as what you put in your body! Over 2 billion cells are replaced every second in your body, those cells are made up of the very nutrients, or lack thereof, that you choose to ingest. As well as quality of foods, quantity, or ratios of macronutrients, is different for everyone as we all possess a uniqueness in the way our bodies are able to breakdown foods. Through the use of Metabolic Typing, we are able to identify exactly what foods and in what ratios are right for ourselves. This process assists in burning fat, restoring energy and vitality and maintaining a proper balance in blood sugar reducing excess load on the body!
Exercise
What are the right types and how much do you need? This is the most confusing area for many. Some work out too much and some don’t work out at all. The CHEK Institute teaches all professionals on taking great care and consideration on an individuals overall physiological load when assessing and designing programs. We each have individual demands we must meet each and every day, this in and of itself will create muscle imbalances, overload the joints and ligaments and eventually leads to injury. Working smarter not harder and the Less Is More principle ensures great results, purpose and increased motivation, eliminates pain and increases functionality and performance!
Circadian Rhythms
This is a fancy word for sleep. The cycles of light and dark that result from the movements of the sun and planets affect nearly all living creatures! Anytime light stimulates your skin and eyes, regardless of the source, your brain and hormonal system are immediately activated and the body releases cortisol. Cortisol is a stress hormone which when activated prepares the body for movement, work, combat or whatever might be necessary for survival. Sleep is our bodies only opportunity to rebuild and repair…if your not sleeping, having interrupted sleep cycles or work graveyard shift, you are not rebuilding and recovering.
Bottom Line
We all can do our own part in keeping ourselves healthy and fit. Maybe this could be part of the solution to the national health care debate! Let’s help prevent ourselves and other people from falling off the wellness cliff in the first place and help one another stay on the playing field of health. We can all be empowered to take care of ourselves and motivated by others around us, if we were to work as a team whether that be your friends, co-workers, family or neighbors. Support yourself to support others around you and the energy will surely come back to you! And remember, we all need different things to stay strong and healthy and its up to us as individuals to discover and respect those differences that make us who we are. It is not an exact science and it does not mean “all or nothing”, a little bit of consistency can go a long, long way. Or there’s the 80/20 rule. Take care of your self 80% of the time and 20% the time give yourself a treat and let loose.
As always, be good to yourself! ; )