Currently viewing the category: "optimal health"

In his book, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, Dr. Deepak Chopra discusses a study done on longevity where the factors leading to longer life were outlined. One of those factors was one’s self-perception of health. That is, both men and women who believed that their health was better at the time of the study than it was fifteen years earlier tended to live longer than those who thought their health was worse.

This concept, in my opinion, is crucial to achieving optimal health, wellness and longevity. I also understand that some people might find it ambiguous. One might say, “People who are healthier will naturally see themselves as healthier–this proves nothing.” That’s a very real possibility from a skeptical point of view; however, I am certain that our perceptions color our reality. What I mean by this is, if you see yourself as financially well off, you are. It’s all relative, isn’t it? There will always be somebody who considers you richer than they are, and others who consider you less so. What difference does their viewpoint make? Who would be right anyway? All that matters is what you see.

This is true with your health, too. If you see yourself as healthy, your body will first respond energetically; and if you are wise enough to carry out the right activities–health enhancing behaviors–then you physical body will respond in kind. I know that this sounds rather obvious, but there is a subtle, yet powerful, component that makes it all reality–your state of mind!

Think about this for a moment: If you don’t believe in your ability to experience great health, do you think you’ll realize it in actuality? What the hell can you achieve without believing in it first? Space travel? High-speed internet? Wireless communication? Seven Tour de France wins? Billions of dollars? An African American U.S. President? What?

It’s the same with health. And it’s the message I most want you to walk away with from this blog, and all my writings for that matter. Your body, the human body, is capable of incredible things, particularly healing. We can accomplish miracles, but first we have to believe. You want to be a skeptic? Go ahead, be my guest. But you’ll achieve nothing that way; you can count on that. If you have the desire to achieve optimal health, and all the many benefits that come along with it, then you’ve first gotta see yourself as healthy. You’ll also have to do healthy things, but I’ll never stop telling you what those are, so keep reading this blog.

Note: If you want more health info, check out my experts page at Bizmoms.com!

OK, this is it; my final fitness update. It couldn’t come at a more opportune time as I have just turned 40 today. Woohoo! As my brother told me, I have officially entered an age where each year will seem to pass in six month increments. Woosh

I made my proclamation to become Fit in 90 Days on September 5th, so officially, my run should have ended December 5th. I was vacationing in Palm Beach at that time, so I actually needed another 14 days; which is probably the amount of time throughout the whole endeavor that I did nothing. No worries, 90 days, 100 days, it’s all the same.

As I’ve been reporting, I tried to exercise (gym) three times a week. I did several private yoga sessions with an instructor, and fined tuned my practice, which I carried out faithfully every day (OK, nearly every day). That was huge. I resolved some fairly irritating muscular imbalances that were causing low back discomfort, and I also did quite a bit of work on my shoulders. My new yoga routine improved my posture. I feel the difference.

I kept a regular chiropractic regimen–very important with all the moving and stretching and lifting and hiking. A combination of yoga and chiropractic is powerful, indeed.

I followed a pretty solid nutritional program–ate more fresh fruits and vegetables, drank lots of water, and took my daily vitamins. As usual, I was diligent about taking my essential fatty acids and alpha lipoic acid, the powerful anti-oxidant.

I think the most profound health habit I adopted through all of this, though, was seriously minimizing my consumption of refined sugar (started November 8th). As I described in an earlier post, I had a brief roller coaster ride with regard to my energy levels, but that evened out. Once I got over that withdrawal stage, my energy skyrocketed. And I lost weight as a result. Before “no sugar,” I lost four pounds (to 163 lbs.); afterward, eight pounds (to 155 lbs.). Nice. So in total, I’ve lost twelve pounds. Twelve pounds in twelve weeks. Very healthy.

Let’s review my goals: I wanted to lower my weight by seven pounds–I beat that. I wanted to lower my body fat. Oops, forgot to check it for this update. Sorry. I wanted to do unassisted handstands–didn’t do it (remember what the Yogi said?) Wanted to run Runyon Canyon. Nope, didn’t do that either.

So, you might wonder, what did I accomplish then? In my mind, I just made my routine a regular habit; I really am happy with that. It’s not a cop out. What I want from a health regimen is improved or maintained health. What I really want is optimal health. Without a doubt, I’ve accomplished that. I know with complete certainty that by putting this kind of consistent and careful attention into my body, there is no other possible outcome to be had. But as serendipity has it, I happened to take a blood test as a part of a life insurance policy I was pursuing, and they were kind enough to send me the results. I normally don’t put too much stock into these tests, because, as I’ve said, I know that if I do the right things, I’ll have a good functioning and healthy body. But hey, I was happy to check it out; I mean, it is my physiology. Here are the results:

  • Cholesterol–217 mg/dl. Between 200-239 is considered borderline high.
  • Triglycerides–58 mg/dl. Anything under 150 is normal. Hmmm.
  • HDLs–68 mg/dl. Anything above 40 is desirable, above 60, very good.
  • LDLs–137 mg/dl. Should be under 160 if have only zero or one risk factors.
  • Chol/HDL ratio–3.20. A desirable ratio is under 5; optimum under 3.5. Booyah.

Remember, the amount of cholesterol is not nearly as important as the amount of HDLs in your blood, and even less important than the cholesterol/HDL ratio (read the post, here). So, as to not bore you, all the other test were good to optimal too. Yes, I love tests, especially when they work in my favor.

So what did I accomplish? I motivated myself to exercise, eat well, get regular bodywork, sleep, and focus on my health in a proactive manner. I feel better, have more energy, feel more rested, look better, and have less physical discomfort all around. And, hopefully, I’ve shown you that with a little planning, and a large commitment, you can create a better place for yourself physically. You can achieve optimal health if you want it.

Greetings and welcome to Optimal Health – Dr. Nick Campos’ blog on health and wellness news and information.

I will be posting regularly and will discuss some aspect of health, be it tips or news.

My purpose is to bring you health news and information from a slightly different perspective than what you may be used to.

So, come back daily and find out what’s really happening out there in the world of health and wellness.

Dr. Nick Campos
www.drnickcampos.com

Copyright © 2013 Dr. Nick Campos - All Rights Reserved.