Are You Neglecting Yourself? - Fitness Incentive

“I am talking about something we have steered away from: self-care! Self-care means eating nutrient-dense foods, paying attention to ingredients, drinking pure, high-quality water, exercising, and mitigating stress…”

Angela Corso

Prioritizing Self Care

Today’s world is fast-paced; with so many commitments ranging from work to families to upholding relationships, we are juggling too many things. We live in an era where everything is instant, from fast food to instant messaging. Technology has provided our society with many luxuries, convenience being the main one. It also weighs heavily on our culture, both literally and figuratively. We have traded our health for ease; we’ve also relinquished the responsibility for our health and placed it in the hands of so-called experts. The perils of this are palpable as we all know someone who is sick or ailing or someone who has neglected themselves to a point where they have lost their own identity. The sad truth of our world nowadays is ignorance is no longer blissful. We should set heedful patterns such as reading labels, learning marketing schemes on the foods we buy, and making as many informed decisions as possible to prevent premature maladies. What if I told you that genetics is only 5% of what we are predisposed to? Genetics loads the gun, and our lifestyle pulls the trigger. Hopefully, I have piqued your interest and triggered some self-reflection. If so, then I am doing my job in motivating you to hold yourself accountable. Making time for yourself must be a priority to foster optimal health!

Take Matters into Your Own Hands!

Now that we have some awareness of how often we neglect ourselves to keep up with our busy schedules, what do we do about it? Knowledge is power! What we do not know can sometimes hinder our growth. Let us embark on this journey of being knowledgeable together. Let us start with toxins!

Avoiding and Overcoming Toxins

We are inundated with chemicals and poisons daily. Processed foods, adulterated water, tainted beauty products, noxious cleaning agents – you name it. There is not much that isn’t rife with pollutants. The question is, how do we combat this epidemic? By making mindful choices such as detoxing! I do not mean going on a master cleanse (which is not a terrible idea, by the way). I am talking about something we have steered away from: self-care! Self-care means eating nutrient-dense foods, paying attention to ingredients, drinking pure, high-quality water, exercising, and mitigating stress, even if that requires eliminating emotional vampires from your life! Self-care means providing the essential environment for our bodies to do what they were built to do, which is to maintain homeostatic conditions despite a deluge of contaminants.

Getting Down to The Logistics

Let’s hit the ground running. We constantly need to nourish our bodies with clean, mineralized water—you know, water with magnesium, potassium, calcium, and salt. Doing that helps promote digestive health, regulate blood circulation, hydrate your cells, and strengthen your bones! Studies show that we should drink about half our body weight in ounces daily. So, if you weigh 150 lbs., you should drink 75 ounces (about 2.13 kg) of water every day.

Get Your Lymphatic System Pumping!

Breaking a sweat by exercising helps release toxins. Rebounding, AKA “trampoline bouncing,” is an excellent way to help stimulate lymphocyte activity by activating the lymphatic system, commonly referred to as “the garbage disposal of the body.” The jumping movement of rebounding turns on the “garbage disposal” that forces the lymphatic fluid to drain, which is considered a full-body detox. Do not forget you can also try to sauna 3 – 4 times a week. Remember to wipe off your sweat so your skin doesn’t absorb the toxins it has just released.

Go Organic and Ditch the Sugars

Eating organic, NON-GMO meals prepared at home or buying foods without excessive amounts of added ingredients is an essential part of the process. Please be aware that anything you buy with more than 5 to 6 ingredients may contain toxins. Added sugars are dangerous and typically include components of dextrose, fructose, sucrose, high fructose corn- syrup, and malt syrup. All of these are simple carbohydrates that rate exceedingly high on the glycemic index chart and are responsible for spiking insulin levels. If not used for energy, they are stored as fat and can cause inflammation. Table salt is a refined poison, heavily processed with bleach and anti-caking agents, stripping it of its essential minerals. Celtic and Himalayan salt are healthier choices, which contain up to 100 trace minerals.

Watch Which Oils You Use

The oils that we cook our food with are critically important. Certain oils have different smoke points. When an oil exceeds the smoke point, it changes its molecular structure and denatures vital nutrients such as antioxidants. This also means free radicals are released and can be harmful if consumed. Another key factor is how oils are processed, which can also be a detriment to oil. Avocado oil is a healthy choice to cook with.

Detoxify With These

Foods and drinks that can help detoxify your liver and kidneys include apple cider vinegar, lemon and lime juice, beetroot juice, milk thistle and green tea, ginger, turmeric, cucumbers, pineapple, carrots, pomegranate, blueberries, cilantro, and parsley—anything that incorporates fresh, fibrous fruits and vegetables. Legumes, nuts, and seeds are also helpful.

Last But Far From Least: Exercise!

Finally, and I cannot stress this enough: exercising is like the fountain of youth. I mean running, aerobics, yoga, cycling, boxing -all of it, across the board! It profoundly helps maintain the length of our telomeres (our DNA aging sequence) and age-related decline. This is especially true with strength training! It makes you happier, and happiness is essential to health and wellness. Exercise promotes better sleep, increases energy, helps with cardiovascular health, and activates osteoblasts (the cells that form new bones and grow and heal existing bones), which help prevent osteoporosis. The benefits are abundant!

Your body is a temple, so let’s pay it some respect. Now, let’s get our muscles warm and our bodies into optimal shape!! Health is wealth!