What I am about to tell you I am sure you have heard before. It may have been from your mother or it may have been in second grade, but these things don't change. What does change is that we grow up, become independent, we grow to dislike the medium in which we learned this thing from and soon enough we don't do it anymore. I GET IT. I have been there.
However, there are somethings about the human body that people have grown to accept that we really shouldn't settle for. Here are some assumptions that really work my nerve and ARE NOT TRUE that I have heard from my direct surroundings be it work, friends, students parents, etc.
You are supposed to gain weight when you grow old. (Known as weight creep - this is a hormone issue - easily fixed by balancing hormones)
It's okay to live in pain (uhm, no it's not. Pain leads to inflammation, inflammation is the leading predecessor to many forms of cancer, heart disease and chronic disorders like diabetes, asthma and allergies).
Actually, in order to see body gains and improvement, you should feel pain ("No pain, no gain" --- the biggest lie any coach has told their athletes).
If it's good for you, it tastes bad (WRONG - if you actually ate what's good for you, then what's bad for you would taste like shit because it's synthetic, processed and packaged. It's just that you eat the bad stuff so the good stuff taste like dirt.. because that's where it came from. Not a warehouse or chemical lab)
If you have never been able to touch your toes, you will never be able to. (Also WRONG. It won't happen today, tomorrow or in 2 months, but if you keep at a good yoga and stretch regimen, you will probably lengthen the hamstrings AND GET RID OF THAT BACK PAIN. That a sneaky one these people usually don't tell me on the first go around. 9/10 times they have back pain because they can't touch their toes!)
I'm not thirsty so I don't need to drink water (Yes, yes you do.)
I can do what I want to my body because my body will be able to handle it (right, until you abuse it so much that it can't function anymore and this leads to inflammation)
I don't need to eat vegetable because I take a multivitamin. (again, yes, you do need to eat your vegetables for sloughing off the inside of your intestines! Maybe if you ate enough, you wouldn't need the dietary synthetics)
My doctor has an eye on my Blood Pressure for 2 years now and I'm on meds to fix it (Oh, really? If the medication is supposed to fix the problem and you have been on it for two years, don't you think you could come off of it at this point?)
I can't workout because I hurt (Everyone needs physical activity and there are plenty of things you can do to not hurt - but the best case would be working out that part and realizing that, you don't hurt with the increase in movement!)
I don't get 8 hours of sleep but I take a nap in the middle of the day so it all adds up (No, it really doesn't. It's not a cumulative effort. You may have oxygen issues or digestive issues and that's why you are spending nights away and days at sleep)
So, back to the matter at hand. What does your body need daily to feel good? These go for everyone! This is not necessarily a "one size fits all", some things will need to be modified. If you aren't doing something on the list, maybe you could try it out? See what differences you feel after a week or two of incorporating them.
Human Body Needs 101
Nutrient dense food - real food. Not the packaged stuff. Dark leafy greens, carbohydrates that come from the ground like fruits and veggies, animal rick amino acids - REAL FOOD. Plant based would be great but not totally necessary.
2. A thicker lunch meal, a lighter dinner meal. It's been floating around that you should eat your carbs earlier in the day so that you have all day to digest them which is sort of true. However, what this really helps is out sleeping patterns. If we eat a lighter dinner, the body can actually spend our sleep time digesting the emotional and physical work that we have done, not the content of our stomach. Think about it this way, energetically, if the body is busy digesting the food, it can't digest the inflammation, the pain, the allergens, the stimulants, whatever it is that we need to. Don't believe me? Why do you think the phrase "Sleep on it" helps with mental turmoil???
3. Sleep. The body needs sleep - a lot of sleep. Going to bed earlier is how to get more sleep! Sleep is not cumulative, it's based on how many hours you hit in one night's session. During our sleep, like I just mentioned above, the body goes through on a cellular level and cleans up the dead cells that aren't doing their jobs. Also, the mind uses this time as categorizing and filing away the days memories and learned tasks. When you don't get a good nights sleep, brain function is diminished the following day and this is compounded day after day. Ultimately, too many days with sleepless nights will lead you into adrenal fatigue (How do I know? I have this :) Sleep is your friend - it's not a waste of time and "You'll sleep when your dead" is the most bogus things I have ever heard! You will die earlier without enough sleep in your lifetime. Stop. That. Dumb. Thought.
4. The early bird gets the worm & "Early to bed early to rise makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise" - THEY AREN'T LYING. Ask any CEO you know - or - read any autobiography of someone really successful, they wake up before 7 and have a ritualized morning routine. It looks something like this
6:00 - Wake Up, change, brush teeth, drink 16 oz water, exercise
6:45 - Take shower, moisturize body and face, prepare breakfast, read positive thoughts, journal, meditate and map out the day.
8:00 - Poop
THEN THEIR DAY STARTS AND THEY CAN TAKE ON THE WORLD! Why? Because they're energized, clean, nourished, hydrated, they have a positive mindset and they're eliminated what they don't need!
5. Movement and air. Your body isn't made to be still. It's a machine. it's taken 5 billion years to perfect this machine you call your body. It's better than any space shuttle and it's more complex than the deep ocean. You are a moving, breathing, thinking, feeling body. Exercise and movement are so important, not only from a physical joint stand point like range of motion and muscular development; not only from a hormonal stand point like increasing the feel good hormones and reducing stress; not even from the calories in versus calories out and weight loss stand point. Exercising increases your heart rate. An increased heart rate increases your respiration rate. While you are breathing more, your blood is bringing more oxygen to your extremities and organs. THIS IS NOURISHMENT. Our bodies need oxygen and you are increasing this with every step you take, every move you make. Sing it Sting!
6. Sitting in silence. I have said it before and I will scream it from the rooftops! YOU CAN'T OPERATE ON FULL STIMULATION ALL DAY. The body needs quiet. Your brain is more than likely already overstimulated by a demanding family, a difficult job, a question demanding an answer you just don't know how to respond to, a deadline, financial issues... whatever. This is what leads to anxiety. You've heard of the cute analogy that a woman's mind looks like a computer search engine with 50 tabs open. This is bad and she shouldn't be living like that. Having some space to think, in quiet stillness is necessary for high level functioning. It's time to process. It's time to figure it all out. By growing more and more in touch with yourself, you become better at self awareness, self discipline and self discovery. Investing time in yourself is never time wasted. Before you say "I don't have that kind of time," take your phone out and look at your screen time. If you are on your phone for more than 2 hours a day and you don't use your phone for your job, you just found a whole lotta time!
7. Human Touch. There are documented and recorded events over the last hundred of years that as we have grown into a technological, entrepreneurial world, we have lost the nature of human touch. Human touch used to be treated as a healing drug - it was a medicinal approach to pain in the body. These people were physical healers and this was before the industry of massage therapy. Cultures used to teach their children how to massage their feet, their hands, their stomachs - for distress and pain yes, but on a daily basis to promote healthy and vibrant tissues. Then, modern culture saw as strange, a waste of time, inconvenient, or not even available in certain disrupted childhood cases. Then, this was only accepted when mother's did it for their children. Now, we are so disconnected from human touch that we have to pay $1.00-$2.00 per minute to be touched! When historically, this happened in intimate, loving relationships within families and the self. Self massage is so important for lymphatic drainage but to also maintain supple tissue. You can actually feel where the abhorrent tissue is and work into it to create blood flow and healing. You can be the healer in your own physical body.
8. Sensory Organ Care - being good to your eyes, ear, nose, mouth and skin. Oral care - flossing, brushing, scraping and swishing. Eye care - setting the phone up early and not over stimulating the cones and rods. Ears - honoring if something is too loud and turning it off or down. Nose- not over abusing Affrin and other intranasal sprays which disrupt the microbiome - the bodies first defense to pathogens.
9. Opportunities to learn and grow. Your body is an ever changing body - when the brain reaches complacency, it starts to diminish. Everyday learning something new stimulates brain growth and neuroplasticity. When you are growing, you refuse complacency. Ultimately, the goal here is to prevent and keep dementia away.
10. Stress free living. Being in a flow state, knowing what is happening, being in tune with your body, not throwing it through loops - this is a state of ease. When the body over works or overcompensates to reach homeostasis, this is considered distress. Distress leads to disease. Dis + Ease. Not easeful. Hard. We should have a hard life. We shouldn't be force to live in pain, or distress, or discomfort.
This is your only body in your one life. This is the body you need to treat well to get the most years out of it as possible. Any sort of deviation from the generic healthy habits I summarize could lead to disease, discomfort, stress, inflammation and ultimately, could shave off moments and even days or years off your life.
I'm not a doctor. I am well read. I work with teenagers and adults. I have so many certifications I can put the alphabet behind my name - these are some summaries and some rituals/habits/actions to incorporate to the healthy side of living.
Who wants to know more? Follow along with the conversation on my constantly evolving group here.
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