Exercise & Nutrition for TRULY Good Health
When I ask my patients for their definition of good health, most of them say something along the lines of “not being in any pain.” But pain and symptoms, or the absence of them, are not true measurements of health. In fact, sometimes symptoms are a good thing. For instance, if your body gets an infection, the healthy bodily response is to get a fever. The fever may make you feel like you’re unhealthy, but actually it just means that your body is fighting the infection, as it is supposed to do. In the same way, if you ingest something harmful and get food poisoning, for example, your body should respond by vomiting. This is its way of protecting you. And on the other side of the coin, if you have a heart attack one day and had no symptoms the day before, that hardly means that you were healthy the day before. It simply means you didn’t have any symptoms. Because of this, it’s important to remember that just because you’re not in pain doesn’t mean that you’re functioning at the optimum level of health.
The World Health Organization’s definition of health, which I happen to personally agree with, is “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”[1] In the third installment of this blog series, I will address the importance of exercise and proper nutrition in the journey to reaching your best health.
When it comes to strength and endurance, the phrase “Use it or lose it” truly is accurate. If you do not exercise your body, it will inevitably get weaker and, therefore, less healthy. You should do at least 40 minutes of moderate exercise per day. Taking a brisk walk is an excellent form of exercise, because the human body is designed to walk for long distances, just as our ancestors once did. Though running may work up more of a sweat than walking, too much cardio actually breaks down muscle and slows the metabolism (which is the last thing you want to do!). Weight-bearing exercises with resistance, on the other hand, build up lean muscle and continue to burn calories even once you finish your workout.
Proper nutrition is another huge component of good health, and I can’t stress its importance enough. First, don’t think that you can possibly overdose on vegetables. Vegetables have the nutrients we need in our diets, and even higher-calories vegetables have such high nutrient levels per calorie that they are all beneficial. In contrast, think about drinking a can of Coke, which has 139 calories, and ask yourself how many nutrients you’d find in that same can. In terms of nutrients per calorie, vegetables can’t be beat. Fruits are a close second, but you should eat them mainly in the morning hours, and definitely not within 4 hours of your bedtime. This is important because you want to be able to burn off the sugars that are found in fruit before going to sleep. I suggest asking yourself a simple question when picking food to eat: Is this food made by man or food made by God?
In your diet, try to avoid trans-fatty acids, enriched flours (all nutrients, vitamins, and minerals are blended out of these and some are thrown back in again; buy whole wheat or stone ground wheat flours instead), hydrogenated oils, high fructose corn syrup, and any food item with sugar as one of its first three ingredients. If food is sold in a box, it is likely full of processed, reconstituted carbohydrates. Stay away from these! Instead, focus on whole, natural foods (remember: is the food made by man or by God?), and as many organic foods as possible. “Organic” may be the gold standard, but even they can still be processed, so be sure to check labels and see how “organic” a product really is.
Lastly, make sure to get plenty of Omega-3 fatty acids in your diet (from foods like fish, or through good-quality, GMP-certified supplements, which should be sold in glass, amber bottles). Approximately 2.5 grams per day is adequate for maintenance purposes, but I also recommend taking a large dose of Omega-3 supplements instead of an anti-inflammatory like Advil or Tylenol. Omega-3s activate your body’s natural anti-inflammatories, and letting your body do things the natural way is always better!
Our brains are 50% Omega-3 fatty acids, so when you start taking supplements or including more food sources with these acids in your diet, you should notice that you’re able to think more clearly. Interestingly, when man first learned to fish, the human brain tripled in size. While your brain won’t get any larger by taking these supplements or eating more fish, the synapses in your brain should actually begin to quicken.
Health practitioners the world over constantly tell people how much water they should be drinking, and I’ll do the same thing. If you’re thirsty, you are already dehydrated. You should never feel the need to drink water, but in order to achieve this level of satisfaction, you must constantly be drinking it. For every 2 pounds you weigh, you should drink 1 ounce of water per day. For instance, if you’re 130 pounds, you should be drinking 65 ounces of water every day. That’s almost 2 liters. Do the math for your own weight and see if you’re getting anywhere close to the amount of water you should be. My guess is that you aren’t, because most people aren’t. Start carrying a reusable water bottle with you everywhere you go, drinking it throughout the day and refilling it as many times as possible. As I said, you shouldn’t ever feel thirsty.
To sum up, take about 40 minutes each day to exercise, even if it’s just a brisk walk around your neighborhood. And the next time you’re in a supermarket shopping for groceries, remember the tips I’ve provided here and try to implement them into your—and your family’s—diet. If you do, you will be one step closer to embodying the true definition of good health.
[1] Preamble to the Constitution of the World Health Organization as adopted by the International Health Conference, New York, 19-22 June, 1946; signed on 22 July 1946 by the representatives of 61 States (Official Records of the World Health Organization, no. 2, p. 100) and entered into force on 7 April 1948.