PERSPECTIVE (Healthy Life)
Always Now | Climate | The Good Life | Gratitude | Healthy Life | Soul Mates | Twin Flames | Vaccine | Velcro
Always Now | Climate | The Good Life | Gratitude | Healthy Life | Soul Mates | Twin Flames | Vaccine | Velcro
"Hong Ping Guo" ~ "Red Apple" in Mandarin Chinese
HEALTHY LIVING
What could be a definition of the phrase "healthy lifestyle"? What are the current human parameters for a "healthy lifestyle"? What contributes to a non-healthy lifestyle, and what are the potential consequences? Why does a non-healthy lifestyle affect not just the individual, but the person's community and society as a whole? The idea of what constitutes healthy living has changed dramatically over the years. Some historic ideas of “a healthy lifestyle” to our current views are also shared below.
The dictionary defines lifestyle as “the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group.” It seems that the number of small or large decisions we make on a seemingly continual daily basis can result in a healthy lifestyle (or not). Health can be classified into a few categories: Physical Health, Emotional Health, Mental Health and Spiritual Health.
A healthy physical body may entail eating right; good nutrition, being physically fit, getting adequate rest, and adequate stress management. To be mental and emotionally well, most people require self supportive attitudes, positive viewpoints and thoughts and a positive self image or self esteem. Additionally, factors such as forgiveness, love, compassion, laughter (or simply experiencing happiness) and involvement in joyful relationships can add to emotional and mental health. As far as one’s spiritual health is concerned, it is the connection we feel to those around us or perhaps where we live. Being spiritually healthy entails inner peace, openness to creativity and trusting your inner knowing. Of course, the “hard” sciences can more adequately quantify physical, emotional and mental health than spiritual health. Though one’s spiritual health is not easily quantifiable, it is my belief that it is just as important to maintain one’s health.
Living a healthy lifestyle means making everyday choices that create optimal conditions for life (optimal conditions for each and every cell to flourish in your body). Be it eating right, exercising, connection with others, balance of stress or otherwise.
Today, with evidence –based scientific information, it may be easy to discern what is considered completely unhealthy – that which creates negative consequences and a negative environment for our cells/tissues/organ systems. Smoking, for example, is an obvious unhealthy choice for optimal growth conditions. Too much Coca-Cola may also be considered detrimental to health due to the amount of artificial ingredients and the high amounts of sugar contained in the beverage. Fifty years ago, the public perceived smoking as something in-vogue and that 100 years ago, coca-cola was considered a health tonic.
However, things like daily exercise, eating, and nurturing one’s emotional and spiritual well-being are not as easy to decipher, be it today or in the past. It is especially difficult to make a conscious decision on what foods to eat when one does not have presence of mind in today’s fast-paced, technology driven society. Our life style has gone from one that is actively to one that is basically sedentary due to our technological advanced. There are definitely trade offs!
The industrial revolution and the recent computer age are two large contributions that have advanced societies and created more choices. Through manufacturing, we have made food more available and accessible. The computer age has in turn changed our society from laboring in the fields to sitting in front of a monitor.
So we need to work harder in some ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In the past, we struggled to put food on the tables and to fight diseases. Today’s sedentary lifestyles need to be complemented with exercise in order to create balance. Availability of packaged food, fast food options also make it difficult to stay healthy due to the amount of ingredients added to keep the food edible for an extended period of time.
The World Health Organization issued parameters for healthy eating which includes eating a nutritious diet based on plants rather than animals, consuming breads, grains and rice or potatoes several times a day, a variety of vegetables, control of fat intake, maintaining adequate body weight, limiting alcohol intake, selecting low fat/low salt milk and dairy products, low sugary drinks, and low salt diet.
The United States Food and Nutrition Service advise a diet based on a balance of food groups (My Pyramid Project http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/).
However, having more available food may not mean having a healthy lifestyle. We need to conscious of and work hard to create balanced-conditions that are conducive to a healthy physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life.
Healthy Lifestyle Campaign, USDA Food and Nutrition Service. http://www.fns.usda.gov/eatsmartplayhardhealthylifestyle/
Nutrition: A Healthy Lifestyle, World Health organization Europe. http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/disease-prevention/nutrition/a-healthy-lifestyle
"Lifestyle". Dictionary.com
(Rev. 11/2010)
What could be a definition of the phrase "healthy lifestyle"? What are the current human parameters for a "healthy lifestyle"? What contributes to a non-healthy lifestyle, and what are the potential consequences? Why does a non-healthy lifestyle affect not just the individual, but the person's community and society as a whole? The idea of what constitutes healthy living has changed dramatically over the years. Some historic ideas of “a healthy lifestyle” to our current views are also shared below.
The dictionary defines lifestyle as “the habits, attitudes, tastes, moral standards, economic level, etc., that together constitute the mode of living of an individual or group.” It seems that the number of small or large decisions we make on a seemingly continual daily basis can result in a healthy lifestyle (or not). Health can be classified into a few categories: Physical Health, Emotional Health, Mental Health and Spiritual Health.
A healthy physical body may entail eating right; good nutrition, being physically fit, getting adequate rest, and adequate stress management. To be mental and emotionally well, most people require self supportive attitudes, positive viewpoints and thoughts and a positive self image or self esteem. Additionally, factors such as forgiveness, love, compassion, laughter (or simply experiencing happiness) and involvement in joyful relationships can add to emotional and mental health. As far as one’s spiritual health is concerned, it is the connection we feel to those around us or perhaps where we live. Being spiritually healthy entails inner peace, openness to creativity and trusting your inner knowing. Of course, the “hard” sciences can more adequately quantify physical, emotional and mental health than spiritual health. Though one’s spiritual health is not easily quantifiable, it is my belief that it is just as important to maintain one’s health.
Living a healthy lifestyle means making everyday choices that create optimal conditions for life (optimal conditions for each and every cell to flourish in your body). Be it eating right, exercising, connection with others, balance of stress or otherwise.
Today, with evidence –based scientific information, it may be easy to discern what is considered completely unhealthy – that which creates negative consequences and a negative environment for our cells/tissues/organ systems. Smoking, for example, is an obvious unhealthy choice for optimal growth conditions. Too much Coca-Cola may also be considered detrimental to health due to the amount of artificial ingredients and the high amounts of sugar contained in the beverage. Fifty years ago, the public perceived smoking as something in-vogue and that 100 years ago, coca-cola was considered a health tonic.
However, things like daily exercise, eating, and nurturing one’s emotional and spiritual well-being are not as easy to decipher, be it today or in the past. It is especially difficult to make a conscious decision on what foods to eat when one does not have presence of mind in today’s fast-paced, technology driven society. Our life style has gone from one that is actively to one that is basically sedentary due to our technological advanced. There are definitely trade offs!
The industrial revolution and the recent computer age are two large contributions that have advanced societies and created more choices. Through manufacturing, we have made food more available and accessible. The computer age has in turn changed our society from laboring in the fields to sitting in front of a monitor.
So we need to work harder in some ways to maintain a healthy lifestyle. In the past, we struggled to put food on the tables and to fight diseases. Today’s sedentary lifestyles need to be complemented with exercise in order to create balance. Availability of packaged food, fast food options also make it difficult to stay healthy due to the amount of ingredients added to keep the food edible for an extended period of time.
The World Health Organization issued parameters for healthy eating which includes eating a nutritious diet based on plants rather than animals, consuming breads, grains and rice or potatoes several times a day, a variety of vegetables, control of fat intake, maintaining adequate body weight, limiting alcohol intake, selecting low fat/low salt milk and dairy products, low sugary drinks, and low salt diet.
The United States Food and Nutrition Service advise a diet based on a balance of food groups (My Pyramid Project http://www.mypyramidtracker.gov/).
However, having more available food may not mean having a healthy lifestyle. We need to conscious of and work hard to create balanced-conditions that are conducive to a healthy physical, emotional, mental and spiritual life.
Healthy Lifestyle Campaign, USDA Food and Nutrition Service. http://www.fns.usda.gov/eatsmartplayhardhealthylifestyle/
Nutrition: A Healthy Lifestyle, World Health organization Europe. http://www.euro.who.int/en/what-we-do/health-topics/disease-prevention/nutrition/a-healthy-lifestyle
"Lifestyle". Dictionary.com
(Rev. 11/2010)
