The Basics of Nutrition & Lifestyle
Within the system I use for Health and Wellness I encourage clients to focus on the six Foundational Principles for health. They are as follows (in no particular order):
- Breathing
- Positive Thoughts
- Exercise
- Nutrition
- Hydration
- Sleep
If you’re able to balance these six principles Health and Vitality are practically impossible to avoid!
1. Due to the stressful lives we lead in today’s world we often become stuck in a chest breathing pattern. As you’re likely aware, breathing should be diaphragmatically (into your belly) in order to ensure optimal oxygenation of all cells and systems in the body. Because stress is so ‘normal’ in today’s world, it’s very easy to lose the ability to breathe diaphragmatically without consciously thinking about it because when we become stressed breathing becomes quicker and more shallow. This done consistently results in a faulty breathing pattern and can be very hard to correct. It’s very much like learning an exercise with poor form, doing it for years, and then trying to change it within a few sessions. As you probably know, this is very difficult. One of the easiest ways to help improve this is by doing the Foam Roller Longitudinal each night for 10 minutes before bed and to consistently practice it throughout your daily life.
2. All thoughts have a physical manifestation. A sick mind equals a sick body so it’s very important to try to think positively wherever possible. This can be practiced by consciously trying to find positive aspects in anything that you perceive to be bad as and when it happens. Another thing that helps this very much is ensuring that you do things that make you happy. Being happy always results in a positive mindset.
3. Movement, or exercise, is very beneficial when done correctly. It’s very important for keeping the body mobile, strong, flexible and healthy, etc. This can include resistance training, cardio, yoga, etc… but it’s important to ensure that whatever training you are doing is relevant to your goal or you’ll likely find you’ll get the wrong results or no results at all
4. We build our body’s integrity from the raw materials we put into our mouths. As the saying goes “You are what you eat”. Many professionals have actually taken this a step further to by stating, “You are what you effectively Digest and Absorb”. Quite often, nutritional intake can easily account for around 80% (and sometimes more) of the results you get. More often than not it’s the difference between those that succeed in achieving their health goals and those that fail. As the saying goes, “You can’t make chicken salad out of chicken shit!”, so the best thing you can do is stick to ‘real’, unprocessed whole foods such as Meat, Fish, Vegetables and Fruit.
5. Where possible is ideal to have a whole-house filtration system to minimise exposure to heavy metals, chlorine and other waterborne toxins. We absorb up to 60% of any fluid makes contact with skin so you’re basically drinking it, so it’s ideal to make sure the water you bathe in is as clean as the water your drinking. If you do not have a whole-house filtration system the next best thing to drink is a good quality bottled water. Research shows that when drinking water the hardness factor should be 170mg/L or greater and should have a total dissolved solids (TDS) of 300 or greater. Most waters these days have this information on the side of the bottle. Good quality waters include Evian, Vittel, Volvic (add a little unrefined sea salt) and Fiji. For more info on water and what comes through our taps, click here.
6. We repair and regenerate during sleep. On a basic level prolonged lack of sleep or lack of good quality sleep can affect memory and mental performance, increase the risk of common colds, it can hinder insulin sensitivity (contributing to fat storage) and prevents adequate production of growth hormone which impairs regeneration. It is ideal to get to bed by around 22:00 – 22:30 because we go through our physical regeneration phase (approximately) between 10pm and 2am, and our psychological repair phase between approximately 2am and 6am. What is key to remember here is that any time you miss, you never get back.
A few tips for a good night’s sleep are as follows:
- Get a quality bed
- Make your room dark. Really dark!
- Make your room as quiet as possible
- Leave your mobile phone or any other electrical device in a different room
- Set a schedule and stick to it. The body loves routine.
So, pretty simple really and only 6 things to focus on to achieve unlimited health & vitality.
Your friend in Health & Performance,