The Art and Practice of the Holistic Approach to Health

Should medication always be the go to solution when we're feeling ill? At what point do we really need to see a physician?

Why can't we simply just take a holistic approach to our health? Alternative healing, nutrition, physical exercise, and great levels of sleep, could possibly contribute to this inflammation were experiencing.

I love the statement by Melissa Hartwig, author of "It Starts With Food." Hartwig said, "genetics is what loads the gun; environmental factors is what pulls the trigger."

To break it down simpler, a portion of our diseases come from genetics, but the other portion is from our lifestyle. I like to use this analogy of going to the gym, when comparing how medication works. I can't just go to the gym and expect to see results based off that one factor, I also have to eat right to see optimal results.

Let's take medication for example. You can't just take medication and solely rely on just that one pillar to reach optimal outcomes. You have to eat well and stay active at the same time. If we rewind backwards, we can think about how you got the disease or condition in the first place: bad lifestyle habits. To curtail that issue from happening again, we have to stay on the healthy track.

I've always been inspired by my theme that I like to call the pharmacy athlete. As you can probably get an idea, i'm a pharmacy student and I'm fitness fanatic.

I enjoy staying healthy and being well. It's always been my goal to bring a complimentary skill set to the healthcare industry. I like to break things down for people to help them get a better understanding of how this delicate body system of ours works. My model is "You either try and live healthy now, or you will be forced to live healthy later.”

Little do we realize that nutrition, sleep, and activity play a pivotal role to our health and how we feel. Inflammation is the top catalyst to chronic illnesses and diseases.

We ask ourselves where inflammation comes from. The key word is stress; however, as we know, there are so many different levels of stress. We have nutritional stress, sleep stress (deprivation), or activity stress.

To jump right into my topic, it's important as individuals that we start educating ourselves on health and wellness because at the end of the day, we are responsible for our own health. In the bible; in the book of Hosea, it states "our people are destroyed from a lack a knowledge.”

I love this statement, because it truly speaks volume on how we have to really self-educate ourselves. With access to so much free information, we should truly take advantage. Let’s jump right into things and see how everything connects.

Our body assimilates nutrients through movement, so when you move, your body activates these biochemical pathways, which in turn, is a big contributor to you getting well. It doesn't even have to be high intensity workouts. It could be something as simple as going for walks in the morning or a slight jog.

Keep it simple, you don't have to complicate things. I like to recommend mornings, because it increases the hormone in our body called cortisol (our stress hormones) which leads to energy throughout our day. When our cortisol levels are too high it can create stress, which can lead to a cascade of other impairments. Our ultimate goal is to try and keep our primary hormone levels in balance because once one is thrown off, it can lead to hormonal imbalance that causes these systemic conditions.

Sleep is another factor that plays into our daily lifestyle of being healthy. It allows our body to rejuvenate and eliminates metabolic waste, to allow our bodies to stay healthy. When we sleep, our body goes through these physical changes that help us with being well and looking well.

I encourage people to go out there and win, to feel good and live well. It starts with simple measurable steps, nothing needs to be complex.

Too busy in the mornings to eat a healthy breakfast? Pick up fruit, which is convenient and easy to eat on the go. If you want your protein, boil eggs while you’re getting ready in the morning. I do this daily, since it requires little effort. And a tip for thought, eggs are super nutrient dense and a good source of a variety of nutrients.

I can go into a whole another topic of healthy foods, but I wanted this article to be simple and straight to the point of my message.