Body and Mind

7 Tips to Improve Your Health

By Joe Marchelewski ⋅ April 10, 2008 ⋅  Email this post ⋅  Print this post ⋅ Subscribe By Email ⋅ Post a comment

Good people aren’t selfish, they care for others, give to others and put everyone else higher on their list of priorities. But, when it comes to health, the list should be the other way around.

If you want to be able to take care of your family, your aging parents, your employees and so on, you need to manage your own health as a primary concern. Does this mean drinking all the orange juice in the house and yelling at your spouse if you get less than seven hours sleep? No, but it does mean you need to realize that your body is a machine, and machines need a certain amount of care in order to run properly.

Here are some tips to keep your own body running like a well oiled machine:

1. Quit the leaf! Whether it’s tobacco, chewing tobacco or even marijuana, these things have harmful affects on your body. Legality aside, the harmful chemicals brought into your system as a result of using these items are known to cause cancer, emphysema and other serious medical conditions.

2. Green is your favorite color. And not just for the environment, green should be the color of most of your food as well. Raw leafy greens are fantastic forms of vitamins, anti-oxidants, nutrients and more. Spinach, broccoli, asparagus, romaine lettuce and all their wacky cousins will give your body what they need.

3. Don’t be a juicer. No, I’m not talking about steroids, I mean orange, apple, pineapple and cranberry juice. Check out the sugar content on the label of your favorite drink and you’ll see that you’re ingesting high amounts of fructose, high fructose corn syrup and all sorts of unnatural items. Water, tea, natural juices (check the label) and other drinks low in sodium and sugar are where it’s at.

4. Find your happy place. You need 30 minutes of alone time a day, not matter how hard it is to find that time, you need it. Find it in your car, the bathroom, a closet, wherever and whenever you can get time to clear your head, read the bible, zone out and whatever else you need to do. There will always be needy people, but you need time to yourself as well.

5. Know your booze. A glass or two of red wine is actually healthy, even a beer now and then isn’t bad. However, three Red Bull and Grey Gooses every Thursday through Sunday is gonna turn your liver into mush and ruin just about every other organ as well. Hard liquor can be enjoyed in moderation, but moderation means high quality liquor once a month, tops.

6. Quit fast food, as fast as you can. Watch “Super Size Me.” Then, after you’ve finished cursing McDonalds, make an eating chart that you keep in your bedroom or bathroom. Keep track of every item you eat during a month and see how often you eat out, that means pizza, Taco Bell, Burger King, restaurants and so on. Eliminate as much garbage from your diet as you can, especially if it’s made by people wearing silly hats offering you fries with your meal.

7. Practice the three R’s: Reading, reading and reading. Yes, television is the cheap whore who will give herself to you as often as you want her. But, it’ll ruin your physique, cause you to lose your vocabulary and even keep you on the couch eating chips so much that you’ll forget what the sun felt like on your skin. Subscribe to two magazines you like to read, make a list of books and try to bang one out a month and set one night aside in your home to focus on reading something, maybe even out loud.