pillars of health
“Don’t make becoming who you want to be and loving who you are goals for the future, start right now.”
~ Aviva Romm
Nutrition is a foundational pillar of health. What you eat matters, and it matters a lot. Unfortunately, over half of Americans are insulin resistant or suffer from some form of disordered metabolism that is associated with a western diet.
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Our recommendation to combat the deadly triad: cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia is to eat real food. This includes grass fed, free range meats, seafood, and eggs, vegetables and fruits, natural fats, herbs, and spices. Limit your sugar and processed carbohydrates (things that come in cans, boxes, or bags). Limit alcohol and highly processed grains, and avoid nitrates and sulfites.
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See the Whole 30 dietary recommendations for a great meal template that is clinically proven to improve health. Other questions we like to explore are: How is your relationship with food? Is your caloric intake appropriate for the amount of energy you are expending? We help to find a nutrition plan that will work for you and your family by assessing your personal needs and by assessing your social and behavioral needs as well.
Nutrition
Sedentary lifestyles are associated with decreased life span and chronic disease and illness. What types of activities do you do on a daily basis? Are you working on cardiovascular endurance, muscular strength, and flexibility? How is your posture, and are you able to perform self-care activities?
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We recommend exercising 4-6x per week, for 30-60 minute increments, through walking, hiking, jogging, hit training, CrossFit, Barre, yoga, and PT. A short burst of high-intensity exercise daily is associated with metabolic flexibility and combating the epidemic of over-nutrition and metabolic disease. We ask our patients to try for 10,000 steps per day minimum.
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Movement/exercise
What do you do for self-care? How is the quality of your sleep? Are you getting 8 hours of sleep each night? How well do you manage stress? What tools do you use to combat anxiety and depression? How do you bounce back from adversity? Do you practice spirituality or belief in a higher power?
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We recommend finding stress management techniques that work for you. Some of the tools we counsel on are reading, journaling, mindfulness practices, being in nature, working out, going to therapy, or any activity that helps to eliminate stress. We are here to help our patients find healthy coping mechanisms to daily stressors by being intentional about the way we manage stress.
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Stress Management/
Mindfulness
Community is an underestimated pillar of health that has been in the spotlight since covid and mandatory quarantine. Humans have a basic need to belong, or to be in community with others. Are you a part of a community? Do you prioritize time with friends and family? How do you connect with yourself and with others? We know that finding a community of people to share in life with helps with more fulfilling life and also increases longevity.
