Seven Pillars of Optimal Health

Pillar 1- Reduce Your Risk Factors for Chronic Disease

A risk factor is any lifestyle or biological quality or characteristic that can increase your likelihood of developing a disease. For example - smoking is a risk factor for lung cancer. There are many risk factors for chronic disease, but too often you'll hear that health problems can be corrected by changing only one or two aspects of life. For example, you often hear that the keys to good health are proper diet and regular exercise. Diet and exercise are crucial to optimal health, but they are only two of the risk factors for chronic disease. We need to know and address them all.

Pillar 2- Exercise Daily

Yoga is both an ancient religious practice and a contemporary fad. Traditionally, it is the practice of assuming various postures to assist in meditation, and it is common to Hinduism and other Eastern religions. In American and much of Western culture, yoga is presented merely as a form of an exercise. "Exercise of daily living" is highly beneficial for reducing risk of chronic disease. For example -

• Take stairs instead of escalators or elevators.
• Park on the outer edges of parking lots and walk the rest of the way.
• Carry your luggage instead of using rollers.
• Take dancing lessons.
• Play outdoor games with your kids or friends.

Activities like these benefit cardiovascular health and burn calories throughout the day, which helps you maintain or lose weight. Science has shown that cardiovascular exercise reduces the risk of many diseases and adverse health conditions, including diabetes, colon cancer, heart disease, strokes and others.
Adding dietary supplementation with antioxidants to exercise provides even greater anti-inflammation effects. In short, the benefits of exercise in attaining optimal health are proven and profound.


Pillar 3- Take Good Macro and Micro Nutrition

Macronutrition describes the nutrients that make up most of our nutritional intake by weight - carbohydrates, fats and proteins. Good macronutrition consists of eating the right types and percentages of these nutrients.
There are good and bad sources of proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The Institute of Medicine recommends that the ranges of macronutrients in adults daily diets should be -

• 45 - 65 percent carbohydrates
• 20 - 35 percent fats
• 10 - 35 percent proteins

A balanced diet must also include good daily sources of fibre. To be optimally healthy, consuming as much food as possible from organic sources is best (and may also be more nutritious) especially free-range organic sources of proteins. Always remember, keep eating your seven to nine servings of fruits and vegetables daily because their massive phytonutrient load seems to be of greater benefit than the risk of the chemicals they may contain.
If macronutrition relates to the bulk of your diet, micronutrition is the stuff that comes in tiny but critical amounts in our food. This includes not only vitamins and minerals, but also phytonutrients. The prefix "phyto" derives from the greek word for plant. Phytonutrients are active nutrients found in plants that are not defined as vitamins and minerals - for example, lycopene. As with vitamins and minerals, we can also get phytonutrients from food supplements, though it is best to get as many micronutrients as possible from food; that's a big part of the definition of a healthy diet. In short, most of us need supplements to win optimal health.



Pillar 4- Have Positive Attitude

We have known for years that happy and hopeful people are generally healthier and longer-lived than the perennially depressed, angry, fearful and pessimistic. This phenomenon is not miraculous. Recent scientific research has finally been able to pinpoint the physiological cause and effects. Depression triggers two hormonal pathways that worsen our overall health. There are now over 1200 studies that reveal that people with sound committed faith live longer and better.
So, just do it and give it a try. Exercise your faith as you would your body, and apply it to your health. If faith isn't your thing, then accentuate the positive in your life in every way you can. Whether you practice spiritually or not. If you are chronically depressed, fearful, anxious, angry or pessimistic, please accept that your state of mind will damage your physical health and probably shorten your life.

"SO , PLEASE THINK POSITIVE AND ALWAYS SMILE BECAUSE IT COSTS NOTHING AND WILL GIVE YOU A POWER TO FIGHT WITH NEGATIVE SITUATIONS."

Pillar 5- Take Adequate Rest

This pillar may need the most shoring up because people in modern civilization don't get enough sleep.
It is believed that in mid-ninteenth century people averaged around nine and a half hours of sleep per night, very difficult to believe. But you have to understand how radically different life was then, even in the most technologically advanced societies. most people did hard physical labor all day, so at night they were dog-tired. There was no Television, no radio, Lamp oil was expensive, so was heating fuel. People doused the lights, banked the fire and go to sleep. But today, most people living in industrialized societies average six hours sleep per night or less
Keeping up with work, driving our kids to all their activities, staying connected with family and friends - the demands on our time are huge. And the one bank from which we can always steal a little time is our sleep. For eg., the hormones leptin and ghrelin are affected by the amount of sleep we get. Sleep deprivation is associated with decreased leptin levels and elevated ghrelin levels, both of which results in increased appetite. So a little more sleep may result in a little less compulsive eating. The optimal amount of sleep to get is between seven to eight houirs of sleep a night appears to be the best for the vast majority of adults.

Pillar 6- Take Good Medical Care

"Those who think they have no time exercise, will sooner or later have to find time for illness..."

Now stating an example ...
"I run twenty-five miles a week and eat handfuls of vitamins, and I'm so healthy I haven't seen a doctor in twenty years."

I wince when I hear people say things like that.
 I mean.... if you haven't seen a doctor in twenty years, how can you know whether you are healthy?
This is another example of people thinking that there are only a couple of risk factors that stand in the way of optimal health. Infact , there are several risk factors for heart disease and cancer that can only be assessed by a physician through the use of blood tests.

It’s simple to live healthily — and it’s not expensive either !

There are only seven major ingredients in a plan for good health:


• Exercise: Work up to a regular aerobic ( endurance) exercise programme.

• Diet and nutrition: Everything in moderation – and cut down on the fat.

• Weight Control: Maintain a healthy weight, avoid gaining and losing it.

• No smoking: Consider smoking as enemy number one.

• No Alcohol intake.

• Avoiding injury: Use your common sense (for example, by using seat belts, or opting only for safe sex).

• Disease prevention: This can be achieved through periodic check-ups, immunization and health risk appraisals.



Pillar 7- Have Healthy Environment and Good Hygiene