Healthy Lifestyle

 

Sound the trumpets and break out the good dishes. I have not swallowed a single aspirin for over 20 years!For some of you, this may seem trivial. For me, given the prominent role drugs (pushed or prescribed) play in most everyone else's lives, I feel blessed.

I am not looking for a medal, though I have a blue blazer that has the perfect area just above the button hole on the left lapel ... Seriously, I just want to share with you how I've gotten to this point in my life. The reason I think my accomplishment is important is rooted in a simple belief; fewer/zero drugs and manufactured compounds in my body is better than more. For me, it goes with living a healthy lifestyle.

Trust me, it takes effort, and at times a lot of it. I've spent a lot of time reading, researching and have gained eye-opening insights through my own personal experiences. From all this, I feel I've made substantial progress in leading an ever-healthier life.

Here are some things that I have come to understand regarding my own health:

• My health is my responsibility, not my doctor's!
• Living healthfully is a way of life - you don't just get well and stay well. It's a continuous, ever-evolving, ever-improving style of living.
• Health is not found in a pill bottle or at the doctor's office - there you might find a patch or a fix for a problem but not a healthy lifestyle, which is intended to avoid the problem in the first place.
• Nature has supplied me with everything I need to sustain a healthy lifestyle - man-made sources cannot duplicate the type of results we get from nature.
• Health is determined not by just one thing but multiple things - healthy body, healthy mind, healthy spirit …
• Not everyone has my best interest in mind when it comes to my health - unfortunately, power and profit have clouded the hearts and minds of most big business. Learn more…" The Future of Food ".

This is the foundation that supports my current lifestyle. This is the life that I have chosen to live and it's my responsibility to make all the appropriate changes along the way, though I do value others' opinions. Have I always been this way? Absolutely not! Do I pretend to have all the answers? Absolutely not! Am I willing to take chances and educate myself in order to better the quality of my life? Absolutely!

Ok, now that I've covered the basic tennets of Health 101, I want to share with you my Top 10 List of Healthy Habits. These are habits that I've incorporated into my life and have given me promising results. Feel free to make them a part of yours, too.

1)      More love and compassion - I crave more of each. Without the love and compassion everything else seems meaningless.

2)      Proper breathing. Proper breathing can affect healing, stress and even our emotional states. Also, it is said that breathing forms a bridge between the body and the mind. More on this in a future article.

3)      A diet of mostly organic, raw foods. My diet is about 90-95% raw. I try hard to keep everything organic. Read "We Want to Live, The Primal Diet" by Aajonus Vonderplanitz for serious inquires about raw foods.

4)      Proper Acid/Alkaline balance within the body. The body functions best in a slightly alkaline state. This can be done by eating the proper foods.

5)      Routinely detoxify my body. I choose to do a 7-day fast about once a year. Sometimes, even a routine, 1-to-3 day fast is sufficient. Read my detox series.

6)      Exercise regularly. I prefer the use of weights 3 times week and some form of cardiovascular exercise on the off days.

7)      Drink filtered water. I drink a glass of steam-distilled water with freshly squeezed lemon juice most mornings. I feel better knowing the harmful chemicals that we normally get from tap water have been filtered out of my water.

8)      Meditate regularly.I meditate once a day. There are so many deeply personal benefits! This will be an article in itself.

9)      A positive mental attitude. I have found that feeling and expressing gratitude and appreciation every day keeps my mental faculties in tact. Journaling also helps to keep me aware of my thoughts.

10)    Recognize my spiritual self. Once I accepted that everything in the universe is connected, my life changed for the better almost immediately.

Here are three incredible books in my library that I recommend. I'm hopefully they can answer some of the questions you might have. If not, I will be sharing further insights to a healthy lifestyle in future articles.

Recommended Reading:

The Tao of Health, Sex and Longevity , A Modern Practical Guide to theby Daniel P. Reid

Wellness Workbook , How to Achieve Enduring Health and Vitality by John W. Travis, M.D. andSara Ryan

Conscious Health , Choosing Natural Solutions for Optimum Health and Lifelong Vitality by Ron Garner