With the New Year a mere 7 weeks away, you may be telling yourself that very thing – “I want to get healthy!” But the question then becomes how? Diet? Exercise? Or both? And what determines what “healthy” means to you?
Health is often thought of the absence of disease or illness. Personally, I like the positive spin that the World Health Organization uses to define health as “a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being.” Health is so much more than diet and exercise.
For some, losing weight is what you mean when you say you want to get “healthy.” Perhaps though, you are sleeping poorly, suffering from belly bloat, overpowered by cravings, feeling old and having a variety of symptoms that you chalk up to getting older. Just because you are getting older doesn’t mean you have to suffer from aches, pains, headaches and feeling crappy.
Ultimately, to feel healthy, you need to start with a healthy diet to give your body the nutrients it needs to perform physically, maintain wellness and to fight disease. What you eat is central to your health. It isn’t about a diet, but about nourishing and nurturing your body from the inside out.
According to Shawn Talbott, PhD, nutritional biochemist, “As a general rule, weight loss is generally 75% diet and 25% exercise.” [1] Both exercising and maintaining a healthy diet is important to losing any excess weight and keeping it off. Together, they complement each other and bring about weight maintenance for the long haul. After all, you cannot out exercise a bad diet.
On the other hand, Tosca Reno, author of The Eat Clean Diet books, suggests that the “Body Beautiful/Body Healthy Formula” is 10% genetics, 10% training and a whopping 80% nutrition. [2] Food choices are a critical factor in you feeling healthy. As the adage goes, you are what you eat. [3]
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If you don’t have time to invest in a new regimen of food and physical fitness, then start simple and begin with learning how to nourish your body with natural wholesome foods. Yes, it all begins with your food choices. Sometimes simply crowding out processed packaged foods for healthier choices will help you to feel better. Other times, you may need to investigate what your food sensitivities might be to unlock the door to improved health and wellbeing.
I highly recommend that you don’t pin your hopes on another New Year’s resolution to become healthy. You need to grab that initial motivation to make changes of nutrition and lifestyle, and start today before the New Year. As a nutritionist, I am available to create personalized plans that bring about results any time of the year.
Call me today (403.801.5698) to schedule a free 30-minute discovery chat (value of $75). Come and ask your questions. Together we can plan how you will feel healthier in 2015. I leave a couple time slots every week to meet motivated individuals looking for answers and a place to start.
RESOURCES
[1] Sarah Z. Wexler, “Exercise vs Diet: The Truth About Weight Loss,” Huffington Post, 04/30/2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/30/exercise-vs-diet-for-weight-loss_n_5207271.html.
[2] Tosca Reno, The Eat Clean Diet Recharged! (Mississauga, ON: Robert Kennedy Publishing, 2009) 16.
[3] Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin, a 19th century French lawyer and politician and gastronome, original said, “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you what you are.”