Health as Categories

Written by Mary May

So … Health (in my mind) categorized as follows:

Nutrition:

• Water — drink lots of it. Add lemon. Add lime. Add vitamin C tablets. Drink it. (The opposite, which you should never do, is drinking soda or fruit drinks of any form)
• Coconut oil — 3–4 Tbs a day. Start slow, ½ a tsp at first, or it will make you sick, which seems counterintuitive to even taking it at all, but trust me, do! Cook with it, put it into smoothies, soak your hair in it, use it as moisturizer, swish it in your mouth for 20 minutes a day, everyday. Really. (The opposite of coconut oil is using canola or sunflower or corn oil… Don’t use those ever again)
• Kefir Milk and Water (think super charged awesome fermented probiotics) — Start a culture of each and keep them going. Learn how to make it. It’s easy. Drink Kefir water. Use Kefir milk in place of yogurt. It has X amount more probiotics compared to yogurt. No idea how much more X is, but in anatomy class, we made slides of each, and Kefir milk was chock full of good bacteria compared to the yogurt! I use raw milk (yep, not pasteurized nor homogenized) to make the milk Kefir, and coconut milk to make another batch. Awesome stuff.
• Cut out the gluten. Just go cold turkey. Do it. It’s not a big deal. Honest. Stops stomach aches and you get rid of the visceral fat. Visceral fat (this link is not a pretty picture!) is that muffin top everyone talks about. Bad stuff. Linked to diabetes and spiking of blood glucose levels. Cut the gluten and in a few months, that muffin top goes away…
• Cut refined sugar. Period. Obvious so not even going to elaborate.
• Eat more fat. I know I know I know…say what?! You need fat. Your brain is what, 60% percent fat or so. Your neurons are lined with fat insulation (think Schwann cells). Your body is clever and will convert that fat into what it needs. Much easier and better for your body to be working with fat than glucose/refined sugar!
• Cut transfats. Obvious. No more needs to be said.

Movement:

• Exercise. Work out a schedule and stay with it, always, each day, each week, each month, each year, no matter where you travel to or live or who you are with. Do what inspires you to move. Bike, hike, run, swim, tennis, hockey, golf whatever.
• Aim to get your heart going, like really going, often. Make that muscle work so it stays healthy and wants to continue to work.
• Walk. Constantly. Everywhere. Take the stairs (but never alone as that is dangerous and only in places you know are safe!), don’t use those moving sidewalks in airports, get up and walk around every 25 minutes if you are studying or working or just being lazy!
• Stretch. Yoga. Do it. It is a great thing in life. Start now and never stop. Get the app — Yoga studio, and commit to 30 minutes every day (yes, on top of exercise everyday.) Start as a beginner and work your way up over the months or years. I have been doing intermediate classes for a year now. Alternate between the various yoga programs on Yoga studio.
• Breathe. Think about how you breathe as you move. It matters. Slow your breath. Take deep breaths. Fill your lungs. Sometimes, when life is tough, you forget to breath.

Connect:

• You must connect to others. Even if you are an introvert and thrive on being alone. Make yourself. For your health and well-being. Here are ways to connect to others
• Family. You were given these people and most often they are a gift to be treasured. Treasure them. Eat together. Share meals. Talk. Communicate. Let them know they are treasured. Sometimes you are given people who need to be treated with kid gloves. So … treat them with kid gloves…and love them.
• Friends. Don’t search for them. If you do, you often end up with the “wrong ones”. Do what you love. Your passions, whatever those are, be them reading or music or writing or running or cooking or homeschooling or raising chickens … When you do what you love and care deeply about, you will find others who feel the same. Those people are yours. Love them.
• Belief. You should believe in something. It matters. Take the time to think and meditate and read and talk and debate and learn and be humble and learn some more. Through your belief you will find amazing people who will be friends.
• Never miss a party. Spoken by Sam Berns. He is right. I apply this now or, as a stoical introvert, am in the process of applying this philosophy. I aim to always go where I am invited, even if exhausted. Afterwards, I rarely regret investing the time and energy into sharing other peoples’ lives and love.

Thoughts:

• Be mindful. This is a buzzword these days…mindfulness. Examine what it means. If it doesn’t mean anything to you, it should. It will affect your health.
• Make those thoughts positive. Write three things you are thankful for each day. On sticky notes. Put them into a planner. Tear some up and thrown them away. Give some to people who need to be thanked…
• Don’t spiral downwards. If you find that is happening to you, MAKE IT STOP. Fight for your life. Fight for your health. Figure out WHO to go to for help. Stress activates oxytocin, which is a social hormone, to push us when we are stressed, to go get help. If that big black dog encroaches on your life, do what you must to heal. Quit that job, leave that group of people, travel, soul search, read, write…do something to spiral up and out into the light.
• Smile. Make yourself. Force it, even if it is false. Practice that amazing smile that is all yours in the mirror before you leave your house. Make that smile work again. It may be rusty or a bit worn so give it some oil (coconut that is) and put it to use! Smile.

Give:

• Give your time. Volunteer. Help others. Tutor. Lead a class. Visit a retirement center, an orphanage, help a single mom (who is always in need of help, believe me!), assist a widow with her yard work. Train your dog to be a therapy dog and go provide therapy. Sing. Play an instrument. Give.
• Give some of your wealth. Tithe. Whatever you want to call it. Give. It matters…to your health. Give either because it is your belief or because it is the right thing to do…whatever. You will be amazed at the good vibe hormones that kick into gear in your body when you give.

Outdoors:

• Be outside as often as you can. It makes everything real again. Birds and frogs and bugs don’t care if you didn’t get that raise, or failed that test, or cried in front of a bus full of people you don’t know.
• Breathe the air. Smell the grass. Feel the leaves. Run your hand across the surface of a stream. Watch the water bugs jump and swish, forward and back, never sinking, calmly holding their own, unaware they should not be able to do exactly what they are doing…

Health is the Chairs and Tables theme for 2015. We pick a theme for at least four seasons and s-l-o-w-l-y release a report on it. For a full list of writers, the editorial team, and more on the subject and themes for previous years, hit open sesame.