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Taking Health and Wellness for
Granted: Survival of the Fittest
ROBLEDO MEDICAL & WELLNESS CENTER
Darwin coined the phrase “survival of the fittest” to describe how living organisms, through good nutrition and physical activity, survive. Life has become so busy, have we lost our focus on survival?
Do you love to eat? Of course! Food is central of family, social events and celebrations. We even comfort or reward ourselves with food when we are feeling down, stressed or tired. Food is necessary to sustain life…we feed our babies, our dogs and cats on a rigid schedule. Animals in the wild and fish in the sea all eat to survive. So when does food stop becoming necessary to good health and start becoming the cause of poor health? That is what we are going to explore in this first newsletter.
-Is food necessary for wellness or responsible for illness?-
What is the difference between animals, babies and American adults? Quite simply, we are fortunate to be able to focus on activities other than survival. The shift in American life has gone from working to feed, clothe and house the family to enjoying a fulfilling profession, or at the very least, working toward goals above and beyond survival – movies, theater, home entertainment and recreation, vacation or spa services.
Children, at a very young age have the opportunity to learn languages, dance, sports, theater or an instrument. We occupy nearly every moment of our own days, and the schedules of our children. Why? To extract the most we possibly can out of this one life.
Schedule Wellness
Every day, we schedule appointments, classes, meetings and extracurricular activities. Our children have “play dates,” school schedules, bath time, story time and bedtime.
We must schedule wellness. What does this entail? Deliberately choose your foods and take the time to enjoy meals and snacks. Stop what you are doing and pay attention to your nutrition. Plan you food around upcoming activity.
Add activity to your day. Schedule an afternoon walk for 15 minutes to rejuvenate your mind and body and improve your productivity at work or home. Take an evening walk after dinner. Take 2-5 minutes to stretch each evening before bedtime and each morning.
See your doctor and plan to take responsibility for your health by changing your lifestyle. Visit Dr. Robledo or Patty to discuss how you can schedule health into your busy life.
Eat Deliberately
We are what we eat. We heard it from our parents, our teachers and on the television. This is difficult to imagine but by focusing on how you feel in relation to what you eat is an exercise you can use to understand the impact nutrition truly has on your health.
-Keep a daily food diary-
What does the way I feel have to do with what I eat?
If you eat cardboard and sawdust for breakfast, it is fairly obvious you wouldn’t feel well. Your mouth wouldn’t enjoy the grit, the cardboard might cut your throat, your stomach might complain with indigestion. An exaggeration? Yes, but the point is to realize that what we put in our body has an impact on how we feel and our general wellness and health. So where do we begin? Keep a daily food diary and bring it in to your doctor to discuss. Be sure you write how you are feeling throughout the day.
Food is fuel. The amount and types of food you eat should be chosen, keeping in mind your upcoming activity level. Marathon runners know that they need to prepare their bodies for competition nutritionally. They know that they will need both readily available energy for sprints and speed as well as stores of energy for endurance. They eat proactively and deliberately - carbohydrates, fats and protein, in proportions relative to the upcoming activity.
-Eat in preparation for your upcoming activity level-
If you go to bed at 9:30 at night, eating a heavy meal full of fat and calories doesn’t make sense. The food you eat prior to a relatively physically inactive periodultimately gets stored as fat. This may be sugar, carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread or potatoes, or fat. If these energy sources are not used to fuel your activity, they are stored in your body as fat.
Healthy Habits Associated Symptoms
Eat breakfast daily Sense of well-being
5-6 small meals Waking Refreshed
Sit down, enjoy! Improved bowel health
Put down cell phone Improved energy, pain
Eat over 20 min Clarity of focus
Shut off the TV Increase muscle
Savor every bite Decrease fat
Take the stairs, walk
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