by Traci Wagner
Restoring your health. What does that mean? Can you actually get back to a healthier you?
Recently at our front desk; a new member filling out the health history questionnaire read the question “When was the last time you felt your best; and how did you feel?” What a question to answer! This question got me thinking:
Many times when we are feeling our best we don’t register it at the time as “I am feeling the best I ever have right now” until we look back, or perhaps see a photo of ourselves and think, “I was feeling my best then.”
What does feeling your best mean to you? And, how can we accomplish that at any age, or better yet, after we have gotten to a point of not feeling our best? For many it means being pain-free and being able to do the things you love. Being able to do the things you love is a huge reason to take the step to remain feeling your best. This can be as simple as being able to play with your grandchildren as you and they age.
So, can we really get back to “when I felt my best?” Not exactly, and as we mentioned last month in the article titled “The Trap of Wanting to Get Back,” getting back to where you once were is in fact a goal we shouldn't and don't want to strive for, but with little changes and the right approach, we can reclaim healthy and feeling our best throughout our life by moving forward and growing and learning from where we are and where we’ve been.
It is no surprise that the health of America isn’t in the best shape. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) 60% of adults are living with at least one chronic disease and 40% have two or more. A shocking 12% of adults are living with five or more chronic conditions, including cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, coronary obstructive pulmonary disease, and hypertension. The way to widespread health change is to learn that these conditions are preventable, manageable, and can even be reversed with lifestyle choices.7
An example of this was seen when an Adirondack Health Medical Fitness Member saw her physician and was told that she was pre-diabetic. Her physician recommended that she see Registered Dietitian, Joni Gerken. After meeting with Joni, she was educated on what is going on with her body and how to eat. That didn’t mean eliminating foods, it meant eating the right combination of macronutrients (proteins, carbs, fats, fiber), paired with the optimum frequency. She also started to go to the gym again and work with one of Adirondack Health Medical Fitness Center’s Certified Fitness Coaches. After a few months, she had blood work again and the results showed she was no longer pre-diabetic. All from moving more and eating right she reversed the trajectory of developing a chronic condition.
The COVID-19 pandemic has played a major negative role in how we feel, and certainly for most it likely hasn’t resulted in feeling the best we’ve ever felt in our lives. But what this pandemic has started to do is shine a light on the importance of feeling our best and doing what we can to prevent chronic disease. A study of thousands of patients hospitalized with the novel coronavirus in New York City found that 94% had one chronic disease and 88% had two or more. In May of this year, the CDC reported that people with an underlying chronic illness had six times more the risk of being hospitalized and twelve times the risk of dying.1 There is no time better than now, to take action and work towards restoring your health, feeling your best, and preventing or even reversing chronic conditions. It is not impossible to do!
Don’t let feeling your best be something that is unattainable or remain something from the past. Feeling good doesn’t only happen when you are young, it can be sustained throughout your life.
Did you know that muscle loss, also known as sarcopenia, starts at the age of 25? This muscle loss can play a major role in leading to not feeling well, but it doesn’t have to. Muscle loss can lead to loss of balance, loss of confidence when walking, reduced ability to recover from near falls, and as we lose strength, we become more inactive – which leads to a further state of not feeling our best and/or even chronic disease. 2
There is no better time than now to start taking the right steps toward finding what feeling your best is, no matter your age. Take Back Your Muscles
You can delay sarcopenia, and even reverse it by lifting weights. You can’t necessarily grow new muscle cells to replace the ones you lost, but you can further develop the ones you already have. The best part is that you can come back stronger and better than you ever have in your life by simply beginning a strength training program. No matter how old you are, it is never too late to start this. And, no matter how young you are, it is never too early to start either.
When you start to lift weights properly, you will notice a transformation in your body. You will have more energy and perform everyday tasks with noticeable ease, greater balance, and more confidence.
By lifting weights, you are also setting up a strong foundation to feel your best not only once in your life but to feel and live your best for your whole life.
Boost Health and Immunity
There is a misconception that our genes determine our health. The study of epigenetics shows that we can change the expression of our genes by the way we think, feel, move and eat.3 Our daily choices can either increase or decrease inflammation in the body, moving us towards disease or back to health.
There is no better time than now to take small steps to improve health and build immune resistance with daily lifestyle choices. There isn’t one cookie-cutter regimen to do this, but with a combination of small changes that include exercise, stress reduction, and eating well, you can begin to boost your health at any age.
Acute & Chronic Inflammation
The immune system uses inflammation to protect us against injury and infections.4 Chronic inflammation lasts a long time, from months to years causing damage to cells, tissue, and organs. When more damage occurs than can be repaired, health problems occur. It is now widely accepted that chronic inflammation is the root cause of most chronic conditions such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, obesity, hypertension, cancer, arthritis, and joint disease. 5
Lifestyle Matters
Deliberate and healthier lifestyle choices can prevent, manage and even reverse chronic inflammatory disease, the most important cause of morbidity and mortality facing people today. 6
Regain your health and vitality by choosing real whole foods, optimizing sleep, reducing stress, being social, and moving more.
Taking Action
Lifestyle changes can feel overwhelming. To help, make any new undertaking more manageable. Think one step at a time. Any journey begins with awareness, willingness to learn, and acceptance of speed bumps along the way. Then, by gradually taking action, one small step at a time, forward progress is made. This journey is where we at the Medical Fitness Center can help you. You don’t have to go at it out on your own.
Learning lifestyle changes that decrease inflammation can be just what you need to get you to feel like the best version of yourself – where you have less pain, more energy, and greater vitality. You can start your journey by:
Reducing stress with deep breathing
Getting good quality sleep by going to bed and rising at the same time
Eating more plant-based foods, rich in rainbow vegetables
Hydrating with filtered water in the morning and during the day
Nurturing relationships and engaging with positive people.
Moving well and exercising properly with good posture and technique
Educate yourself, the more you learn the easier it will be for you to make small changes that lead to big changes in your health.
Feeling our best doesn’t have to be unattainable, and shouldn’t be something that is pined for in fading memory. The past two years have been hard on everyone, whether you are suffering from lingering COVID-19 symptoms, pre-existing chronic conditions, stress, or feeling weak and out of shape, there is no time too late to put your wellness first and start taking the steps to feel better, longer.
We are here for you.
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Referenced Sources:
https://medfitnetwork.org/public/all-mfn/fight-muscle-loss-now/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK493173/
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/23974765/