Allright, today I want to give you 7 things that are important in your health journey. These aren’t in a specific order, and while all of them are important, how difficult they are depends on each of us and where we are in our life right now.
Take a look at these and see where you could upgrade your health by investing more in this area. Let’s dig in.
1 Sleep
Sleep! The quality of your sleep directly influences the quality of your health. Getting good sleep helps with weight management, brain function, mood, exercise performance, etc. I’ve talked about this before, and you can check that out, but sleeping well is something you can improve and see immediate changes in your health. Check out the ABCs of health on this, letter S.
2 Protein
Protein can be summarized as: no protein, no you. From enzymes, to organs to muscle, your body needs protein to function. More than you probably think. The minimum recommendation is usually around .8g of protein per kg of body weight, but we know that is the bare minimum, it’s not enough to thrive, especially if you have any desire to increase lean body mass.
In terms of weight management, calories are #1, protein is #2. You will work to stay in your calorie range (however you do this, there are different methods like counting calories, macros, the plate method, etc), and your second priority is your protein intake. Check out the ABCs of health, letter P.
3 Water
Get enough water! Water is essential to life, about 60% of your body is made of water… you need this! How much? You’ll find all sorts of calculators online, and the majority of the recommendations are around 8cups/day. That being said… listen to your body. Your body will give you signs you need to hydrate: you’re thirsty, you sweat a lot, your urine is dark.
I’d say do a mix of listening to your body first, but also being intentional about having water (or a drink that’s not plain calories and sugar) a few times a day. Attach water to something else like having a cup before each meal, for example. For more info see letter H in the ABCs of Health.
4 Gratitude
This one… this is part of the heart work. Simple moments of gratitude spiral into something else. When you begin intentionally being grateful for things in your life, big and small, you begin to focus more on the good. In turn, you begin to raise your internal happiness, the one that is not motivated by external factors.
Gratitude helps us have more joy, it helps us value others and ourselves more, it helps us care better for our possessions. Gratitude puts us more strongly in the present moment, which helps to alleviate our stress.
5 Exercise
I don’t think anyone needs to hear that exercise is important for health, right? It is. Our bodies are meant for more than sitting at a desk and sitting in front of a big screen. Our bodies are designed for movement. Exercise is more than simply improving body composition or how you look. Exercise influences how your body looks, yes, but it also your brain, your mood, your sleep, your performance. Exercise influences your body on a cellular level, and the benefits are much, much greater than simply looking hot.
6 Love
I want you to go listen to the letter T in the ABCs of health. In that interview we talk about love, about self-love. Love is important for our health for many reasons. Let’s start with ourselves… if you don’t love yourself, and this is a practice that can and should be learned, you don’t treat yourself as well as you could.
Loving yourself takes you into respecting yourself and your body and caring for it as you care for the people and things you love.
Love is also part of our health in relationships. The people we love and the people who love us play an enormous role in our mental and emotional health, which in turn influences our physical health.
7 Patience
This is a big one! Patience is hard at the best of times! The reason why patience is important is because our health is not linear, and our health goals are not achieved in the blink of an eye.
Any health goal you have, from loving yourself more to building muscle, from drinking more water to getting in enough steps, from expressing gratitude to increasing your stamina… ANY health goal you have takes time, which means you need to be patient. You need to understand that health is not linear, you will not see the results you want every single day, you will see the trend over time, and in time, you will get where you want to go.
Be patient. With your body.
Be patient. With yourself.
Be patient. With the people around you.
There is no finish line, there are only wins. You’ll get where you want to go, as long as you consistently do what you need to do… and have patience.
Keeping it simple,
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