Everyday there is talk in the many forms of media of improving our health. The topics are usually related to the heart. They cannot talk about preventing or decreasing chances of cancer because they haven’t figured out that the same things that one needs to do to have a healthy heart, are the same things that are needed to decrease your chances of getting cancer. 

With that said, I will talk briefly about the following: Exercise, Food, Rest & Relaxation, and of course Mental/Psychological attitudes.

Exercise – it is a well known fact that movement is beneficial. Exercise comes in many forms. You can do it by yourself, with someone else, and/or in groups. The most important part of it is that you enjoy the exercise you do. It doesn’t matter what it is.

If you get 20 minutes every day of some sort of exercise that makes your heart work a little harder, breath a little harder, you are now not only exercising your heart, but you are increasing the amount of oxygen coming into your system, as well as doing some toxin elimination. 

With the wet spring moving into warm dry summer weather, this is a great time to go out to a park, walk along the beach; just do something fun where you are outside. Another benefit is the exposure to sunshine. Assuming you don’t allow yourself to get more than a very mild sunburn, you are getting increased Vitamin D production. 

Food – I am always amazed at how people eat and questions that are posed. Worst of all is when you look at what the American Heart Association, American Diabetic Association and the American Medical Association think good eating is. 

In their minds, if you can control the numbers by drugs than you can pretty well eat what you want. That’s ALL wrong! If you eat poorly and try to manage the numbers with drugs, it doesn’t work. You are still putting a strain on your system to work overtime to try and find a balance.

Let us think about what it is that we enjoy eating: Fruits, vegetables, of course our grains, mostly breads. Sometimes rice is more dominant than wheat. Also, most of us eat, to some degree or another, meat. I have been reading this book called The China Study by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and Thomas M. Campbell II. It concludes that dairy, whatever form it comes in—cheese, kefir, milk, etc.—is the worst food you could consume. 

There is always a rationale as to why it is ok. But this was a very extensive study done by a researcher through Cornell University. 

Rest & Relaxation – Sleep is very important. Our bodies and minds require restful sleep. That is part of the way our bodies recharge themselves.

What relaxation does is allow our minds and bodies to unwind. In today’s society we are all pushing ourselves to do more things at a faster pace and more things all at once.

This is not always done when we exercise. Relaxation is another necessary way of allowing our body to replenish itself and do some of the maintenance that is required for both mind and body. 

Mental/Psychological attitude –Being positive about things allows the tension that we carry to be minimized. In fact a lot of times it is simply a matter of choice.

For example, is the gas tank half full or half empty? There is another part of just loving yourself. Ok – this is not my cup of tea. It is Cathy’s. So I am going to let Cathy Breshears talk about this in her blog: “Body Moving.”