by Lyn Hogrefe
After working with thousands of women over the past 8.5 years at my Happy Hormone Cottage, and conferring with Jeff Hogrefe, FAARM, RPh, it is my belief that many of us take good health for granted until we get sick or face a health crisis.
People don’t always realize that disease often begins about ten years before symptoms appear. Choices made every day impact our health and risk for future disease. The fact is that what we do every single day is critical to tomorrow’s health. I like to think of it as a 401K or an IRA for future health. Smart advice would be to set aside some amount of money per month with the goal of having a nice pool of funds to retire with in 10, 20, or 30 years.
Meeting this financial goal involves discipline every day. So why not have a 401K for our health? Staying committed to a healthy lifestyle, every day, will improve overall health in future years. This may mean skipping that office donut, avoiding a fast food lunch, or blowing off a workout—all these things matter!
Think about this- when we look at people in their 70s with chronic disease such as heart disease, diabetes, arthritis, and Alzheimer’s, it isn’t that they had a horrible lifestyle. It is that they made the same poor choices we all make every day for many years.
So, rather than give in to these daily temptations, or telling ourselves they don’t really matter, I propose that we become more disciplined and proactive in our approach to making good health choices daily. Instead of sharing the typical “eat right, get plenty of sleep, avoid smoking, and limit alcohol,” I am going to provide specific strategies for fine-tuning that warrior in you.
- Foods to avoid include: wheat (including whole wheat), processed foods (foods that come in a box or a bag), trans-fat, and high fructose corn syrup.
- Consume at least 2 grams of omega 3 DHA daily.
- Perform moderate exercise for 30 minutes, three to four times weekly (weight training, cross fit or yoga.)
- Eat plenty of good fats: avocado, macadamia nuts, and olive oil.
- Fill your plate with 2/3 vegetables and 1/3 protein.
- Cut back on your sugar consumption.
- Drink at least 64 ounces of Kangen water daily. Marilyn says to drink your body weight in water every day!
- Of course, working with us at our Happy Hormone Cottage to achieve optimal hormone balance in sex hormones, adrenal glands and thyroid is critical for a higher quality of life for the long haul.
Investing in specific health strategies like these today, proactively promotes a healthy quality of life in the future. The choices we make for our health today really do matter for tomorrow. Knowing that I can decrease my risk of heart disease, Alzheimer’s, dementia, osteoporosis, diabetes, breast cancer, insulin resistance, and many other chronic conditions-by the choices I make now-motivates me to make the best, healthiest choices I can. As brain specialist Dr Daniel Amen says so eloquently, “We must become warriors for our health.” I do want to be a warrior for my wellness. I’m worth it, and so are you!
To schedule a step one consultation ($25) call us at 513-444-6343 or 937-773-1778. Note: we are happy to do your step one phone consultation over the phone for our out-of-state clients BUT we can only treat clients who come into see our nurse practitioners in person.
