After a holiday or long break from the everyday grind, we very often come back full force to get back in the swing of things. Well sometimes, we swing so hard that we get ill, and can’t seem to get much better! So let us take a preventative stand and handle each of these separately. There’s not a person in America that isn’t experiencing some kind of overwhelming stress.

Stress factor

We live in a VERY stressful society – we’re bombarded with stress every second of every day. We get physical strain from carrying our twenty ton pocket books – our bad shoulders and spines are prepared to break out of the undue load! Not to mention the dreadful posture we push upon our own bodies sitting at desks typing away at computers for 2 hours of the day – then we spend another 8 hours on our phones! In addition to that we have mental anxiety – how many ideas do you have running through your right now? I bet you’ve got anywhere from 10-15 SEPARATE ideas running through your mind concurrently at this exact second.

Did you know we have on average over 100,000 ideas per day? That’s almost two ideas per waking second! With that many ideas running through our heads, it’s no wonder why we’re mentally exhausted. The damaging part comes when our brains just keep spinning without a outcome. When ideas just keep zooming around, our brains (and whole beings) can’t be at ease. If we’re not “at ease”, we’re with “dis-ease” – yes that’s correct, disease.

Keep in mind

Whether it’s cardiovascular disease, inflammatory disease, autoimmune disease – each is a lack of “ease” in our own bodies. I am not saying that a week of meditating will make it better. However, if you were to sit in a cozy room, completely relaxed with your eyes shut, are you able to allow your mind simply concentrate on your breathing? How long can you really do it for? If you realize that your brain just keeps buzzing around, that’s a indication that you will need to practice meditation to get control over your thoughts.

Remember, you’re NOT the thoughts, you’re the THINKER. This puts us at a spot of control – and we can determine what ideas we have, and don’t have. As though this weren’t enough, we plop emotional stress on top of it all. Emotional stress comes in the feelings we encounter day in and day out. Are you satisfied in your career? What about your body? How is your connection? If one of these isn’t on the ideal path, it can weave its way into other areas of our life.

Good to know

For instance, if you’re unhappy on your skin, will you represent yourself to the best of your ability in your work? Are you going to walk through your daily life and strike every challenge that comes your way? Are you going to approach your boss and ask for a raise if you honestly feel you deserve it? Additionally, if you hate how you look, are you going to draw the love of your life? If you’re in a relationship, are you going to let yourself be intimate? These are variables of psychological stress and we ALL experience them at some stage in our lives.

The ONLY way to feel better is to TAKE ACTION. Thinking is excellent, but the simple fact is – believing gets you NO WHERE! It’s action which makes things happen – activity brings on change. Action takes you from NO WHERE to NOW HERE! In Holistic Health Counselingwe tackle primary AND secondary nourishment.

Nutrition

Nutrition is somewhat easier to understand, so let’s address it . Secondary nutrition is informally called “nutrition” – the we really put in our bodies. If you’re cramming chemicalized, crap food (read”stuff with an ingredient list more than the dictionary which you can’t even pronounce”) down your throat, it is going to affect your wellbeing. Thankfully, our bodies are AMAZING machines that could extract the helpful nourishment from whatever is put inside. However, in doing this, we use excess electricity and deplete stores of minerals and vitamins required for daily bodily functions.

On the other hand, if we eat healthy, nutritionally balanced diets ( “” meaning the food that you consume, NOT the food that you limit yourself from eating) we provide our bodies a chance to break the digestive system – because it no longer need to do this additional work to digest unrecognizable substances we call “food”. Additionally, we’re providing more , so we don’t deplete our shops, but instead utilize the vitamins and minerals to grow beautiful hair and nails, rejuvenate skin, and keep us mentally and emotionally balanced.

Natural Anti-Aging!

So should we give up our favorite”vices”? Not necessarily. If anything – keep them in your diet, that way you never feel deprived. Instead, healthy, nutritious food to what you eat. HOW MANY veggies or can you eat now? Whoever has the most WINS! Can you tell I get excited over this? Little known fact – about 80 percent of our immune system is in our gut. Yes our stomach, intestines, colon – our “internal plumbing” – is about as complicated as our minds. Our gastrointestinal tract has about as many neurons as our mind! In general, our gut has a mind of its own, known as the enteric .

That makes emotional eating far more clear, does it not? Our GI tract is the first defense against illness. The food that we eat is oozing with germs, most are really great for us, but every once in a while, we ingest something not so great. If our immune system is strong, our bodies take that bad germs and throw it out – no harm done. BUT, if our immune system is compromised (we’ve not been eating well, taking on additional stress, not sleeping ) that one bad bacteria predominate our bodies defense system and wreaks havoc. Hence, we get ill.

The best plan?

Arm your immune system every day. So now I’ll burst more bubbles – imagine what helps with ALL of the (besides what I mentioned previously )? You guessed it – a workout regimen. By incorporating regular physical activity into our everyday lives, we reinforce our own bodies from the inside out, calm our minds, and release to give us an emotional boost. We just took care of ALL three kinds of stress. Like that weren’t good enough, exercising helps our bodies to better use the nutrients we place inside AND strengthens our immune systems! ENJOY you workouts. If you trudge away on the treadmill hating every second of it, then you will not obtain the exact results as in case you smile through your workout and leave wanting more.

The tough part?

Working out when you are feeling tired. It’ll be difficult for about a month – but soon you’ll crave it! So check in with yourself, have you ever swung so hard back into the swing of things, which you hit a wall? If that is the case, you want to reasses, and decide for yourself – how important is your health? Is it worth a few changes? I know you’re busy, but we have the same 24 hours each day as Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, and Helen Keller. So get up, get out and put YOU first; program in certain you-time for a change.