At Faithfully Guided Health Center, our mission is to help you achieve optimal health and abundant life. We do this by helping you achieve a balance between five lifestyle areas; we like to call them the Five Pillars of Health:

• Spiritual Foundation
• Excellent Nutrition
• Stress Management
• Optimal Movement
• Restorative Sleep

Research has shown that by addressing 4 out of 5 of these lifestyle factors we can prevent, reverse and eliminate more than 80 percent of chronic disease.

Our previous newsletter covered the Spiritual Foundation pillar, which sets you up for success in all other areas. Today, let’s focus on Optimal Movement in your life. Our culture promotes exercise as the key to health, but it’s only a corner of the foundation. We can’t out-work a bad diet or lose restful sleep to prop up this pillar. Optimal Movement encompasses physical fitness and exercise, but it doesn’t have to look like endless hours on the treadmill.

Faithfully Guided Health Center works with you to customize an individual wellness plan that best suits your lifestyle and health goals. Because physical activity and daily movement are so important for overall health, let’s take an inventory of your current movement habits:

1. Are you moving every day?

The key to regular exercise is doing it every day! For cardiovascular health studies show 150 minutes of exercise per week. You can break that up however you like, but that equates to about 20 minutes per day. For clients who are starting from a sedentary lifestyle, we recommend just 5 minutes of movement every-single-day. After two weeks, increase to 10 minutes per day, then 15 minutes – you get the picture. The important part is creating a habit so your body will prompt you to move it each and every day. #sittingisthenewsmoking

2. Do you enjoy your current movement routine?

Make a quick mental list of a few activities you enjoy doing. Do you love the outdoors or playing sports? Do you like walking, body-mind exercises, weight training or fast-paced, interval training? The key here is identifying an activity or two that you enjoy and will look forward to doing. Moving daily boosts physical and mental health. Start slow with just a few minutes every day and gradually build on that as you discover what you enjoy and how you begin to feel.

3. What obstacles tend to get in your way?

If you haven’t exercised in a while, it’s a good idea to look at what usually gets in the way. What are your excuses? What feeds those excuses? Too busy? Lack of finances for a gym membership? No support from your family? Instead of looking at the problems, start focusing on solutions! We are social beings created to have and be part of a community. Whether you need someone to text for accountability or a group of people to exercise with, it’s important to identify those needs and reach out for help.

4. What is your motivation?

When it comes to fitness this question is a big one. Are you exercising so you can lose weight or eat whatever you want? Our goals need to be optimal wellness for our entire body – not purely for cosmetic reasons. We need to view ourselves and our bodies as God views them – a temple of the Holy Spirit. We have been given these bodies, and we can replace negative thoughts by choosing to honor God with our bodies. When we develop a positive view of our bodies, we are more likely to take care of them. And, when we take care of our physical bodies, we will notice better moods, clearer minds, more energy, and increased strength. Ultimately, we will be more equipped to serve God where He has us. (See how the Spiritual Foundation ties into everything?!)

5. Have you identified your fitness goals?

Remember: Health is a journey, not a destination. Identify the areas you want to work on: Do you want to get stronger? More flexible? Better endurance? Improved posture? Start small and begin to develop healthy habits. Create one reachable goal at a time to build from. For example, start standing and stretching several times throughout the day if you find yourself sitting a lot. Then, build on that by adding in a few minutes of walking each day. You get the idea. Creating small, accessible goals will encourage you and help build healthy habits.

At Faithfully Guided Health Center, we will work with you to develop an individualized plan, along with talking through your temperament to determine specific needs and the best ways to meet them.

Do you need help in this area? Please call at (352) 512-0631 and schedule an appointment to complete our Collaborative Intake where we will develop a personalized Wellness Plan addressing all five of these pillars, starting with Spiritual Foundation.