WANT OPTIMAL HEALTH? IMPROVING YOUR LIFESTYLE IS THE PLACE TO START!

It is clear, by improving your lifestyle, you can and will, slow the aging process.

By slowing the aging process, you will have the ability to attain optimal wellness.

While improving your lifestyle what should be the major area of focus?

“Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food”-Hippocrates (377-460 BC), the “Father of Medicine” was on to something, unfortunately 2400 years later, we in America have not followed through.

We view drugs as our medicine and that premise has left our country the richest, but the sickest in the world. Much of Hippocrates wisdom transcends all time as even now the Hippocratic Oath governs the ethical conduct of physicians today.

How much better would our health be today if we just followed that one simple quote, “Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food”?

So its settled, improving your lifestyle will glean the greatest results by improving your nutritional intake.

PROPER NUTRITION

When taking on the challenge of improving your health and fitness levels, there are three major components that must be monitored: Nutrition, Resistance Training, and Cardiovascular Respiratory Training. Now this may surprise you, but the most important component is simple and clear, you must begin with NUTRITION. Here is the reason why. If you eat properly for your genetic and environmental make-up, you not only can keep disease at bay but you can also begin the process of disease reversal. Before I work with anyone on any Lifestyle and Wellness Program, I require an initial session that goes over proper nutrition. Following a proper nutritional program is by far the most difficult of the three components to follow because it is 24-7-365, but the benefits can be remarkable. To follow the basics of a properly created nutritional program you must focus on these three variables first: 1) Quality, 2) Frequency, and 3) Fat, Protein, and Carbohydrate Combinations. Then and only then, when you have mastered these three variables do you begin to really focus on portion size. If you begin to eat foods with an increased nutritional value (quality), more often (frequency), and combine them properly (macronutrient combinations), not only will your health improve, but a by product of proper nutrition will be an improved physique or fitness level.

Improving your lifestyle by prioritizing nutrition will reap the greatest benefits concerning your overall health.

Improving your lifestyle would not be complete without implementing a resistance training regimen.

PROPER RESISTANCE TRAINING

Proper nutrition should be, and is, the most integral component when creating a lifestyle of improved health and well-being. Though proper nutrition is considered first in my mind, I consider a proper resistance training program to be a close second; here is why? The benefits of a proper resistance training program are numerous:

Adds muscle increasing your basal metabolic rate

Challenging your muscles safely improves bone density

Develops functional strength

Burns body-fat

Changes the shape of your physique

Strengthens the cardiovascular system

Stimulates the release of Human Growth Hormone and Testosterone

The truth is, if your goal is to be healthy and fit, and you have time restraints, you should be spending your precious time on a resistance training program, not an aerobic program.

Aerobic exercise not only does not add muscle, but can actually slow one’s metabolism by catabolizing muscle mass and by causing chronic stress issues for your muscles and joints.

Aerobic activity should only be added to a proper nutritional and resistance training program, not replace them. The results from a properly executed resistance training regimen far outweigh that of an aerobic program. It is important to understand that after the age of thirty, because of hormonal changes, a sedentary person begins to lose five pounds of muscle mass a decade. This lost muscle mass decreases our metabolism noticeably, and causes a decline in our physical shape and contour.

Resistance training can be a safe and quick answer to a slowing metabolism and bone density issues.

Improving your lifestyle does not have to be difficult, but it will take a little work. And who can argue with the results? Another area of focus while

improving your lifestyle is sleep; we need to prioritize the quality and the quantity. (Go To-"Quality Sleep")