Practical Wellness: 10 Tips You Can Use

With this article , you and I move into part two of  practical wellness tips in the longevity series.  The focus  shifts  to information  less disease focused.   My hope is that you’ll adopt a few, or maybe more than a few,  healthy habits and avoid or discard the habits in your life which lead to illness.

The best way to have a long and healthy life is to prevent disease  and promote homeostasis while you adopt  practical wellness tips which resonate with you.

As you  adopt new wellness habits, you empower yourself and   take control of your body and your health.  You’ll be in charge of your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual self.  Practical wellness tips offered in these articles are often easy to adapt to your daily life.

Seeking a long and healthy life is an everyday proposition made easier when you adapt practical wellness tips which may  change through time.  You can always make improvements   as new theories and practices become the norm.

As you adopt new habits, I hope you’ll consider the long term effects of the new directions you’re taking in your life.

Your body  constantly moves and shifts  which means  you are different every single day from your cellular level on up.  These new tips you adopt can change  your life in small or large ways as your body self regulates toward wellness.

Adapt these practical wellness tips and changes to your age.

As a reflexologist and Reiki practitioner, this ability to change, move, develop means much to me.  That is the heart of healing with the modalities I’ve been studying my  whole adult life.

All of this points toward homeostasis – the balance of all body systems.

CHOOSE YOUR FATS WISELY – One of the most challenging  things I’ve done with this wellness blog is tackle oils.  If you go to the early blog posts, you’ll find articles reflecting how complicated life can get as you stand in front of the grocery shelf and choose a cooking oil.

The bottom line in cooking :  Go with organic oils.    Stay away from saturated fats whenever possible.

That means I buy  organic olive oil.

I avoid saturated  fats .   Whipping cream is not a staple in my diet and I don’t eat much red meat.

Beyond that, things get a bit dicey.  I don’t eat margarine because of the chemicals.  I do eat  butter.

Omega 3 Fatty Acids can be consumed by pills or by the spoonful.  Choose your Omega 3 Fatty Acids carefully because they can be contaminated.  I buy mine at the Village Apothecary here in Woodstock at 79 Tinker Street.  I rely on my pharmacist, Neal Smoller, to educate me about which and how many supplements I should take.

How you deal with fats and oils in your diet is up to you, your health, and how comfortable you are with manufactured foods.

Personally, I’m not comfortable with manufactured foods so there’s not a lot of oil variety in my kitchen pantry.

WHAT ABOUT MINERALS? – The body uses many minerals and they don’t get near the attention that vitamins receive.  Four minerals to concentrate on right now include Calcium, Magnesium, Potassium, and Selenium.

Calcium is found in broccoli, dairy products, pinto beans, and spinach.  If you’re concerned about osteoporosis, this mineral is for you.  Eating foods high in calcium is important.

Magnesium is not found in our diets often.  Unless you eat apples, bananas, beans, brown rice,  leafy green vegetables, and nuts, you should take a supplement.

Magnesium holds off heart problems, strokes, and lack of energy.

Selenium boosts the immune system.  Any mineral boosting the immune system is a friend of mine.

Potassium is extremely important and is found in bananas.  I eat a banana twice a week.  Potassium combats hypertension, depression, muscle weakness, and fatigue.

BEWARE OF THE HOSPITAL! – We are all probably going to be in a hospital once or twice (or even more) before it’s all over.  Lots of things can go wrong in a hospital.  It’s your job as the  patient to know as much as you can about the hospital you are going to be in, the doctor who is going to treat you there,  and the condition you are trying to get treated.

I have reflexology clients who visit my table regularly because they feel it’s important for their overall wellness.  They don’t ever plan to be in a hospital.

Regular reflexology sessions definitely promote homeostasis which is good for disease prevention.  But, for a person to categorically plan to never be a   hospital patient can be an unwise move.  You never know when an accident can put you in an emergency room.

It’s important to know about hospitals and to be insured .  It’s important to have a health care professional that you visit at least annually so you don’t get caught in a situation where you don’t know who can help you or how to communicate with the professionals there.

Hospital is its own language. If you don’t do these things to know the language, you may not  have the vocabulary or understanding to make the best decision for your own health’s sake.

A healthcare advocate is important if you have a major encounter in a hospital  setting.  When you are injured in an accident, or are ill, you may not be alert enough to protect yourself.  And, if you haven’t kept up with modern medicine, you may not be strong   enough to protect your self.

INJURIES, FALLS,  AND  CAR ACCIDENTS – For every person who dies in an accident, fifty or so are injured and live. These fifty or so people may sustain minor injuries or multiple injuries or major injuries. A few of them will be disabled and/or have their lives shortened by the injuries received during the accident.

If you are interested in a long and healthy life, you do not want to be a part of those statistics.  Because most injuries are preventable,  accident awareness can be important to you.

Are you interested in avoiding accidents?  If so, think  back on the things your family and teachers cautioned you about when you were young.

Never drive buzzed.

Always wear your seat belt.

Never swim alone.

Keep stairways free of clutter.

Put non-skid strips in your bathtub.

I think you get the drift here.

DON’T BLAME YOUR GENES! – They count but the choices you make in your daily life count more.   You are in charge of you.  Your longevity is all about knowing that the things you do today affect your future.

If you read  about something which everyone says is good for you and you disagree,  follow up on your feelings.  Ask questions. Get to the heart of the matter.

GET TO KNOW YOURSELF. – Spend a couple of months getting to know yourself and your body better.  Ask yourself some questions and pay attention to the answers you share.  Take some notes.  The goal is to get a close look at your body.  It is unique, the only one like it in the world.

How do you feel in general?

How well are you sleeping?

Do you have any aches and pains?  If so, where are they?

Do you feel healthy?

Is it hard for you to get out of bed in the morning?

How bad is your stress level?

Are you happy?

What do you  want to change in your life?

Ask  your own questions.  based on your individual  age, physiology,  values, beliefs, and  your own personal circumstances.

TAKE SOME MEASUREMENTS! – This should be fun if you are into apps.  Or, if you’re into a fitness watch.  Mine keeps me active throughout the day as it reminds me when I’ve been sitting too long.

With a Fitbit or a Garmin, you can track  everything  you do throughout the day.  This may not be such a bad thing.  The point is that you become more aware of your physical, mental, emotional, spiritual self.

Once you  track  your body’s clocks, you can control  your homeostasis patterns.  Your can track your waking/sleeping cycles,  eating times,  physical activity  patterns,  and medication schedules.

When you do this, your body will function much more efficiently.  It  will  have the opportunity to become finely tuned.

EAT REAL FOOD –  If you can’t understand the words on the ingredients list, the product you are holding in your hand is probably not food.  Most likely, it is a selection of chemicals that have been manufactured and blended for human consumption.

Stay away from these manufactured products if you are interested in health and longevity.

Ideally, the food you eat will be just that:  food. Select foods that are fresh or flash frozen.This means you will shop mostly from the produce aisle or frozen food aisle.

MAKE THE PRODUCE MANAGER, THE BUTCHER,   AND THE WOMAN BEHIND THE FISH COUNTER YOUR BEST FRIENDS –  They will tell you where the food came from, which selections are the best buys.  They know the farmers and ranchers who supply the supermarket with the food you are buying.

When you go to the farmer’s market, get to know the people selling the food in the stalls.  These are the people who are supplying you with the best available, locally grown  foods.

You just can’t get better than this.

EAT THE FOOD THAT WORKS FOR YOU –  Every time I go into my local book store, I see a new selection of cookbooks promoting another new diet/eating lifestyle.  Their practical wellness tips may or may not be included in these cook books.  It all depends on the ingredients that the author suggests in the recipes.  The truth is that I support the diets that depend on fresh, locally grown food.

Important for any diet you adopt:  You must enjoy what you eat.  Traditional diets will outrank any diet that relies on manufactured ingredients.  Processed food is not good for anyone.

Thank you for reading this article.  I hope you enjoyed it.  And, I hope you’ll share it with your preferred social media network.

Thurman Greco

Woodstock, New York

 

 

 

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