The New Year is here and with it, so is the most common resolution: To be more healthy. I know that this is one of our goals this year. That’s why the we are starting the new year off with a new blog series on health and fitness. We hope you enjoy! What does fitness and good health mean to you? To me they mean making the most of your body’s potential for wellness. You see, we don’t all start from the same position when it comes to getting fit or being healthy. It’s one of the features of humanity – we’re all different. Because of inherited factors, disease, or disability, some of us are just less physically capable than others, while some have to try a bit harder to achieve the same level of well-being that others reach with ease. That’s why when you embark on any serious fitness and health program you should seek professional advice, from your doctor and perhaps a coach at your local gym or a dietician.
OK, having said that, let’s have a show of hands from everyone who believes they really do make the most of their body’s potential for wellness. Uh-oh. Just as I thought, not many of you. In fact, to some extent, even serious athletes and super-fit people occasionally fall short of their own high standards. As for me, I’m a repeat offender, its human nature; no need to feel too guilty about it. What we want to do in this blog series is to paint a picture of what a fit and healthy you might look like, with some tips on special health issues like allergies, but always bearing in mind the point I just made about everyone being different – and, accordingly, perhaps having different health goals and measures of success.
We’re going to do this by looking at the key components of physical well-being – weight, diet, exercise, blood pressure/blood count, and medicines. Of course, these elements are closely linked to each other – you’re unlikely to be at a healthy weight if you don’t follow an appropriate diet and exercise program for instance – and I’m not going to claim I have all the answers. I’m not a professional health advisor and the information I give here is purely for education purposes, not for diagnosis or treatment of any condition. But I do want to provide you with food for thought (pardon the pun) that might help make a difference to your wellness. At the end of the day though, only you can take the right steps to get you there. So are you ready? Let’s make the commitment to get healthy and fit in 2011!