By Mikkie Mills

While humans have become fit as a necessity for much of their history, modern health and fitness is more of a decision that must be made. With all of your needs easily met, it’s easy to neglect your body and, with it, your mind. In order to live a healthy and happy life, you need to take matters into your own hands. Here’s what you need to know.

Healthier Dietary Choices

Many modern people have poor diets, and that’s largely a result of depending on fast food a little too often and buying highly processed food items without thinking too hard about it. Everyone knows that fast food in particular isn’t great for the body, but it’s fine in moderation. It’s the processed staples in the grocery store where the problems truly start. You might not realize initially that these items are chock full of empty calories in the form of filler ingredients chosen to reduce the costs of production and the in store prices. They also tend to rely on added sugar and salt to make them more appealing to consumers. It’s important to read nutrition labels in order to ascertain the nutritional benefits or risks associated with the items you buy, because many of them aren’t as healthy as you might have thought. 

Carbs are often demonized, but it’s simple carbs in particular that contribute heavily to weight gain. These processed carbs are digested more quickly and result in weight gain when the energy they impart goes to waste. Complex carbs, on the other hand, release that energy more slowly and are a perfectly fine option for gaining the energy your body needs.

Nutritional Supplements

In addition to overhauling the foods you eat on a regular basis, you can take advantage of various nutritional supplements to further manage your dietary needs. Many of Gundry MD’s offerings provide a number of health benefits by offering the most pure forms of the vitamins and nutrients your body needs without the less well known auxiliary nutrients that you may not want. Protein powder is another great example, because it offers the protein from dairy without the high fat content of the milk from which it’s made. Vitamin and multivitamin supplements can help you make up for deficiencies of these essential nutrients, as well. For example, vitamin D and C deficiencies are fairly common and result in some detrimental symptoms such as fatigue and a weakened immunity to disease, but these are easily taken care of by ingesting the corresponding vitamin supplements.

Mind and Body Benefits of Yoga

While yoga can be seen as a baseless trend, this isn’t the case. Yoga is not only a great form of exercise, but also a powerful means of relaxing the mind. That means that it has applications both in terms of physical fitness and mental health. While yoga may seem too casual to provide the workout you need, it is nonetheless demanding, as any newcomer can attest. Moreover, it also helps to relax the muscles as it works them, providing a much needed release of built up tension. The foundation of a session of yoga is deep, steady breathing, which is where the calming effect comes into play. Most importantly, yoga is a form of exercise that takes into account the way that physical and mental health play off of each other. The endorphins released within your body during exercise helps your brain regulate your moods, and poor mental health results in symptoms like fatigue and aching muscles. Yoga addresses the fitness of the body and the mind by engaging with both of them.

Taking care of your body is the key to living a longer life, but also a much more fulfilling life. It can be easy to get distracted from what your body and mind are trying to tell you, but you have to listen to their needs and provide for those needs. These tips provide you with a great foundation for a healthier lifestyle, but there is always more to learn.

Leave a Reply
