March is Kidney Month
Though not the flowers & chocolate ‘heart month’ that might be on your mind at the moment. While the hallmark holiday certainly does remind us of the blood pumping organ in our chests, its wellbeing is often overlooked despite its importance.
Much like the rest of the body, the heart requires some love in order to function optimally. Abuse will only result in inadequate, and likely unwanted ‘side effects’. Regular exercise combined with a balanced diet & a healthy weight is a great place to start…
But what does that even mean?
- Regular Exercise: Aim for an active lifestyle. Our bodies are not designed to sit at desks all day. If they were, we would find desks scattered throughout forests everywhere. It’s entirely a man made problem. Sitting kills. Try to spend some time moving your body every day (yes, every day). Go for a walk on your lunch break, borrow the neighbours dog after work, or hit the gym: do something. Commit yourself to a 30-day challenge and it’ll be like habit before you know it. Set a worthy reward for the end & invite a friend to keep you motivated. We can recommend a personal trainer if you’re interested!
- Balanced Diet: You know your body best. If you feel better when consuming high amounts of protein rather than sticking to vegetarianism, then do that. The body will naturally crave sugar, fat & salt as these things are not found in great abundance in nature. Our environment today has no shortage of these things, though our built in desires for them are still present. Don’t try to convince yourself that you feel best when consuming Ben & Jerry’s for breakfast. We have a holistic nutritionist on staff if you need help with this one.
- Healthy Weight: Chances are you’ve heard of the BMI (body mass index) before. While it’s a guideline for targeting an ideal weight for your body, it’s not perfect or absolute. Our office does offer weight loss programs if you’re interested in making some adjustments to your waistline.
The bottom line is that preventing problems with your heart lies in your lifestyle. And correcting problems once they’ve occurred is far more difficult than preventing them in the first place. Making adjustments to your day to day habits to incorporate more green things, more movement & less of the opposite will make a world of difference not only in your long term health, but also in the way you feel in the short term.
We must care for ourselves in many different ways: body, mind & spirit. Taking care of the physical heart beneath the sternum is one thing. Exercising the mind in a way that challenges us to do things outside our comfort zone, perhaps putting our heart in a vulnerable position is important as well. Caring for our soul through yoga aids in opening the heart to new experiences, feelings and of course love. After all, love is all you need!
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