Ode to Healthy Living

This is not my Diet Plan.  This is not my Exercise Plan.  This is not my Weight Loss Plan.  This is my Ode to Healthy Living.

So.. I feel lucky that I was born to a family with healthy living habits.  Regular meals, no extremes of eating, regular movement, a love of getting outdoors, and no pressure to look a certain way.  But in college I did feel a bit of pressure.  Then later I let the pressure of the world get in my head too much.

Here's what I've learned about Healthy Living these past 20ish years:

1) Use moderation and consistency.  Today's media glamorizes the opposite of these - excess and getting what you want when you want it.

2) Keeping your weight down is 80% diet, 20% movement.   That being said, we are made to move our bodies, not sit for eight hours a day!  Walk, squat, push, pull, throughout the day.  And by diet we mean real food, not packaged, processed stuff.  How much real food do you eat?

3) Live your life!  I don't believe God put us on earth to obsess over how many calories we ate today or if we got in 30 minutes of cardio or 30 minutes of strength training.  What is your higher purpose?  Be engaged in your life and search for that higher purpose.

4) Get outside.  Too many of us in 'civilized' nations have 'Nature Deficit'.  We are too disconnected from nature.  Science has shown the healing effects of nature.  So get outside and walk.  Plant a garden.  Hike, bike, notice the plants and animals and birds in your area.  Become more connected to the nature in your corner of the earth.

5) See the people around you.  Research shows that the people with meaningful connections to other people in their life are the happiest and heal the best from sickness.  Reaching outside of ourselves to serve others helps us to grow and keeps us healthier.

So these are my Top 5 Things I've Learned about Healthy Living.  Give them a try.