What is ‘Healthy’?

I don’t watch much television.  Many shows just don’t interest me.  The other day however, I was running on the treadmill at my favourite gym, and the TV’s were all on.  About 6 TV’s, all on different stations and I was astonished by what I saw.  There are now television shows with morbidly obese actors and actresses (as defined by the World Health Organization’s Body Mass Index scale), which poke fun at, and portray poor eating habits (eating bags of chips or cookies, shoving hamburgers into their mouths, gobbling down overly-sized drumsticks).  Does this make it ok?  Flipping to the other extreme, another station, an entertainment program, was reporting on the next actress who developed an eating disorder.  Are these due to the pressures of Hollywood? Or do they come along with trying to fit a particular profile and not being successful resulting in starvation?  Then there is the television show that “encourages” overweight and obese individuals to lose weight….for money!  Money will motivate some people to do many things.  Are they truly learning and adapting real lifestyle behaviours? Or is the money fueling the weight loss…..all to come back on again.  In between are all of the commercials that fill in the TV shows —or should I say the numerous diets out there the media wants you to jump on the bandwagon of, or a new “low fat, low sugar, low carb, high protein” food product filling our shelves in the grocery store, mainly filled with preservatives.

All of these pictures moving through my head made me ask myself, “no wonder why people are so confused these days! What really is ‘healthy’ ”?  And to me, it’s simple, but yes, I understand I am also surrounded in the fitness and nutrition industries.  What healthy is NOT are those pictures that were portrayed on the television sets.  Unfortunately, this is what most people see, especially children, which makes it very harmful to the future of their health.

Take a moment now to think about your day and answer the following questions:  When did you wake up? How did you feel? Did you get enough sleep?  What was the first thing you did? What was the first thing you drank or ate?  How long after you rose did this happen?  Who are your responsibilities in the morning (kids, husband, wife, parents, grandparents, etc)?  Was the sun shining or not? How did the weather outside make you feel? Did you get in any activity? How did that make you feel?  If you did work out, were you present, or was your “things to do list” floating through your mind?  How long did you drive to work?  How did you feel at work? Were you pulled in multiple directions? Did you attend all of your meetings and take part, being present in the actions of the meetings? Did you leave work feeling accomplished?  What was your routine after work? Was it rushed? Did you take time to eat your dinner? Did you make your dinner? Did you have any help? How was your overall nutrition throughout the day?  Were there no sweets, treats or snacks, or did you have one at 11AM, 3PM and 8PM?  How much water did you drink throughout your day?

I know! Enough with all of the questions already! However, this is the first step you need to take to see how you can make your life more “healthy”.  Looking at a day, YOUR life, YOUR lifestyle and seeing where, if there were any hesitations or negative responses above, or any “I know I need to do that” or “I know I can do better”, you can make some sort of small change.  Acknowledge your positive accomplishments, and then looking at where you may be able to make improvements is the first step to understanding what little things make you feel good, and what things, after you’ve completed or not completed them, or after you’ve eaten the wrong food, makes you feel sluggish, groggy or not 100% yourself.  That in the end, is what YOUR “healthy” is.  Being able to wake up feeling well rested.  Having energy to carry out your daily activities, focusing on YOU when you take a trip to the gym or go for a walk outside.  Considering healthy nutrition throughout the day, eating when you are mindfully, truthfully hungry (as opposed to out of boredom), and when you want a treat, enjoying it.  Not feeling guilty about it, because, well, when it comes down to it, we’re human!

What is healthy nutrition? The easiest, best defined, most well laid out way to think about it is following Canada’s Food Guide (http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/fn-an/food-guide-aliment/index-eng.php).  Health Canada didn’t make it for no particular reason.  There is research behind the needs for each gender at the different age groups to ensure optimal nutrition is obtained.  Now, as I say to all of my clients, it’s a guide.  A starting point.  Some people have intolerances, allergies or sensitivities and require alternative food sources.  Some individuals are athletes, trainers or have increased needs from some other capacity and require more.  But for the basics, Canada’s Food Guide is your best friend!

Whether it’s the food you feed your body with, or the activity you put your body through (to strengthen your muscles, heart, and mind), the 80/20 rule allows us to give focus to what is important the majority of the time, but allow us to be guilt-free when we want to indulge during a special occasion or take a day or two of rest from the gym.

Healthy is feeling good!  It’s being able to wake up in the morning with energy, and most often with about 7 hours of sleep.  Some people need less, some need a little more, but you should not need to sleep for more than 8 hours a night if you have put your body through a little activity the day before and fed yourself with the proper nutrients throughout the day.  You may have a flaw here and there, or be working towards a goal of some sort of weight loss, but sadly what the majority of the media portrays these days to be “healthy” is a FAR stretch from what is REAL!