As a wellness expert, I work with clients nationally and internationally to move individuals and employees from a unhealthy to healthy status. Wellness is about wholeness and you cannot be whole unless your body is in sync – mind, body, and spirit. Many companies we service have major concerns about their bottom line and high health care costs impacting their bottom line. Our goal at Fortitude Health & Wellness, Inc. is to change the paradigm of health and wellness from diagnosing chronic diseases to prevention – nutrition and fitness.
To be most effective, we look at four critical factors: metabolic processes, unhealthy lifestyle behavior, fitness, and stress. We use four techniques to educate and modify unhealthy lifestyle behavior: Body Composition/Nutritional Assessments, Body pH Balance Tracking, Strength Training, and Stress Reduction to move our clients to total fitness. Once we educate how to reach goals, they work hard to stay fit. It is a lifestyle change that must take place.
Know your body from the inside out
Bioelectrical Impedance Analysis (BIA) is an excellent screening tool that allows us to see what is happening inside the body (metabolic processes). It is a body composition/nutritional assessment that is non-invasive and tells us if you have inflammation, ideal weight, fat-to-muscle ratio, hydration status, Basil Metabolic Rate (how many calories one’s body burns in a resting state), BMI, and cellular health. BIA’s also tells us if you are eating healthfully.
BIA’s help us to track biomarkers within the body. We track eight biomarkers that give a prescription for lengthening one’s health span. One of our goals at Fortitude is to guide and educate clients into a longer, healthier, and more vibrant lifestyle. We do this by analyzing and intervening eight biomarkers of aging. These health markers include: 1) Muscle Mass, 2) Strength, 3) Basal Metabolic Rate, 4) Body Fat Percentage, 5) Aerobic Capacity, 6) Body’s Blood Sugar Tolerance, 7) Cholesterol/HDL Ratio and Triglycerides, and 8) Blood Pressure. Visit us at www.fortitudehhw.com to learn more about BIA’s.
Wellness is also looking at body proportions. We want to be as close to 80% muscle and 20% fat as we can get, and hydration is imperative. We should drink half our body weight in water daily to also help with building muscle. If you weigh 150 pounds, drink 75 ounces of water daily. The body needs water to build muscle, muscle has a high percentage of water – fat has none.
Know your pH balance
Learn to help your digestive system. Drink a glass of lemon water first thing in the morning or a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to better prepare your digestive system for daily caloric intake. This habit also helps you maintain healthy pH balances within your body.
Knowing your pH balance is also important and testing is important because we want to maintain an alkaline body. Cancer cannot survive in an alkaline environment. An acidic body is a body waiting for disaster.
You can test overall pH balance or imbalance of your body through your saliva. Saliva pH can range anywhere from 5.5 to 7.5 or more. If you have enough alkaline minerals, your saliva test should register a nice 7.0 to 7.5; but, if your mineral reserves are too low, acids will overwhelm the system, and you’ll test less than 7.0.
The pH scale goes from 0-14. Zero is very acidic (think battery acid) and 14 is very alkaline (think lye). In general, pH of the human body should be slightly alkaline — about 7.4. A pH reading in the Optimal Zone tells your body it’s doing well, while a pH reading in the Danger Zone might mean you’re at risk for serious disorders. Even a slight pH imbalance can make you feel tired, promote weight gain, give you problems digesting food, and create aches and pains in your body.
Keys to optimal wellness
Fitness also plays a key role in wellness. It is important to exercise at least a minimal of three times per week for 45 minutes. It takes 30 minutes for the body to start burning fat. Also incorporate strength training; weight training should be done at least three times per week.
Last, but not least, is stress reduction. Stress is in our lives daily, whether it is good or bad stress. It is the culprit for many illnesses. People are aware of conscious beliefs and behaviors, but not of subconscious behaviors. We don’t even acknowledge that the subconscious mind is at play.
Take time to look at your life and every person or thing that impacts you. Spend quiet time with yourself, meditate, listen to music, practice deep breathing or physical activity. All of these exercises help us move toward deep thinking and relaxation, which moves us closer to subconscious thinking.
Each new day is a chance to live healthier, mind, body, and spirit. Uncover your path to wellness. Your body will give thanks with good health and longevity!
Tauma says
Thanks for this article Janet! I’m now beginning my mornings with lemon water for ph balance!