Mouth, Body, and Mind

When we think of health and wellness, we tend to think of nutrition and exercise. Yes, this is a big part of getting healthy. But there is one more thing that needs to be added, and that is the mind. Let's explore more about this trifecta.

Nutrition
Food. How we love to eat. According to the Journal of American Medicine, about 78.6 million Americans are obese. That, my friend is a lot of people. We have so many food choices from fast food to comfort food and home cooking to any cultural food we want. With all of the options out there, why wouldn't we partake in all of the food. We don't want to miss out on the good stuff. When people think about getting healthy, they seem to think health food has to be bland, boring or just plan gross. Sorry friends, that is false. Nutrition is an important part of health and wellness. We need to eat good, clean, nutrient rich food most of the time. Everything should be in moderation if you want to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Generally, I will say aim for 80% clean healthy foods and 20% other.

Exercise
You can't undo a crap diet. You just can't. You cant workout all day to burn off that burger (see moderation above). Exercise should be incorporated in your health and wellness plan 30 minutes every day. I'm not talking hard core exercise every day, but a mixture of different levels. One day go for a walk, another do a class, try yoga or a cardio class, you can workout from home to (that is what I do most times). The idea is to balance exercise with your nutrition.

Mind- and here is the good stuff
This one is a little more abstract. For nutrition and exercise to fall in place, you also need a healthy mind. This covers everything from why is it important to mental health in general (I'm talking things like depression, low self esteem, sadness, anger, and even happiness). You see, in order to keep you moving in the direction you want to, you need to believe that you CAN do it and have a positive mindset. Let's face it, it is not easy to change. Sometimes you need help (professional and non-professional) and support from friends and family. Sometimes you need personal development that you can find in a book or by journaling. I'm an avid reader and have found a few books that have really helped. Developing yourself and taking the time to work on you can help with changing negative mindsets. (I will include book reviews on personal development books as we go along as well.) At the end of the day, your positive mindset and belief that you can do it will help you meet nutrition and exercise goals (see, they do tie in).

Why did I share this with you? Because for you to meet your health and wellness goals, you need to feed all three. I will post a lot about exercise and meals but you will also see me post about things that make me happy. I invite you to share with me some of your favorite meals, exercises, or just things that feed your mind and make you happy.

References:
http://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/adult.html