“(Health:) It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it.” Epictetus
Motivation Mondays: What’s A Wellness, Fitness & Healthy LifeStyle?
Health: Health is optimal well-being that contributes to quality of life. It is more than freedom from disease and illness, though freedom from disease is important to good health. Optimal health includes high-level mental, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical wellness within the limits of one’s heredity and personal abilities. via mhhe.com
DISCLAIMER: This is a motivational, self-improvement, lifestyle post. I am not a medical professional nor am I making any such claims or recommendations. If you need medical advice, please seek the help of a licensed medical professional in your area.
Motivation Mondays: What’s A Wellness, Fitness & Healthy LifeStyle? How Healthy Are We? Last week was National Women’s Health Week, and the information and tips I shared with you, got me thinking about this whole arena of staying healthy, fit and well. According to the CDC, the top ten leading causes of death (2013 data) are: Heart disease: 611,105, Cancer: 584,881 Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 149,205 Accidents (unintentional injuries): 130,55 Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 128,978 Alzheimer’s disease: 84,767 Diabetes: 75,578, Influenza and Pneumonia: 56,979, Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 47,112, and Intentional self-harm (suicide): 41,149. Factor in the research on Emerging Infectious Diseases, and it becomes critically clear that we need to do everything in our power to maintain a healthy immune system that includes wellness and fitness goals. If we want to maintain a healthy lifestyle, it won’t be enough to just focus on the body. We must focus on adding joie de vivre and these important lifestyle five tips as well as balancing these five key areas; our Physical, Nutritional, Mental, Emotional and Spiritual Health.
Why do we struggle with maintaining Healthy Lifestyles? A lot of people feel defeated before they lift a finger because there is enormous emphasis on physical beauty and being thin in this society. What is not addressed enough is that health is more than the size of your dress or pants. What good is it if your thinness is from chain-smoking or doing drugs? What good is it if you’re in a foul mood from all that diet deprivation? How fit are you if you subsist on rabbit food and neglect the importance of a balanced diet? How healthy could you be if your fitness regimen includes shots of steroids and other mood enhancing drugs? What role does wellness, a true sense of well being, have in all that regimented crap? Let’s get motivated to get healthy, well and fit in a sincere and realistic way. Seek the advice of a trained professional to guide your steps.
“Wellness is the complete integration of body, mind, and spirit – the realization that everything we do, think, feel, and believe has an effect on our state of well-being.” Greg Anderson
Motivation Mondays: What’s A Wellness, Fitness & Healthy LifeStyle?
Wellness: Wellness is the integration of many different components (mental, social, emotional, spiritual, and physical) that expand one’s potential to live (quality of life) and work effectively and to make a significant contribution to society. Wellness reflects how one feels (a sense of well-being) about life as well as one’s ability to function effectively. Wellness, as opposed to illness (a negative), is sometimes described as the positive component of good health.via mhhe.com
What does Wellness mean to you? According to Donald B. Ardell, considered the premier advocate for wellness living, Wellness can be defined as developing a mindset/lifestyle that increases our well-being in a positive way. In past centuries, the major causes of early death were from infectious diseases but with vaccinations, medical research and improved living/eating conditions, we have seen a marked shift. Today, the causes of early death have shifted to chronic lifestyle-related conditions. What does this mean? It means that to maintain health and wellness, we need to integrate activities that add to our sense of well-being. We need to raise our happy, wellness quotient so that even with existing health conditions, our quality of life won’t be severely affected.
Wellness is a mindset and a lifestyle intended to increase well-being in a positive way. Whether as a personal choice by an individual or an organized program offered for the benefit of others, wellness describes initiatives that promote improved human functioning. Wellness in this positive sense, looks beyond non-illness/absence of disease. Wellness in an affirmative context encourages attitudes and behaviors that enhance well-being. Wellness lifestyles and programs seek to increase happiness, meaning and purpose, joy, fun, love and similar qualities associated with physical and mental health. Wellness also values emotional and social well-being. In sum, wellness is an idea expressly intended to increase a person’s capacity to reason effectively and to experience high levels of exuberance while supporting personal freedoms. Donald B. Ardell via seekwellness.com
How do we go about achieving wellness? Instead of offering you a shopping list of fun things to do, I would suggest that you revert to the healthy things that have always given you joy. Stop for a moment. Take a deep breath. Stretch your limbs and mind. Reflect on the definition of wellness above. Then decide to start with what is doable in a realistic way. No pressure. No complicated programs. No 180 turn a-rounds if that is not your style. Begin with small steps that work for you and then build on them. Motivation is NOT Annihilation. As Donald Ardell says on his Seekwellness.com site, Wellness lifestyles and programs seek to increase happiness, meaning and purpose, joy, fun, love and similar qualities associated with physical and mental health. Start with connecting and communicating with friends and family; Add joyful activities that get the body moving; Seek stress reduction goals you love like walking, meditation and even reading a book and build on them. Start where you are and do things with meaning/purpose and in moderation.
“The reason I exercise is for the quality of life I enjoy.” Kenneth H. Cooper
Motivation Mondays: What’s A Wellness, Fitness & Healthy LifeStyle?
Physical Fitness: Physical fitness is the body’s ability to function efficiently and effectively. It consists of health-related physical fitness and skill-related physical fitness, which have at least 11 different components, each of which contributes to total quality of life. Physical fitness also includes metabolic fitness (see page 9). Physical fitness is associated with a person’s ability to work effectively, enjoy leisure time, be healthy, resist hypokinetic diseases, and meet emergency situations. It is related to, but different from health, wellness, and the psychological, sociological, emotional, and spiritual components of fitness. Although the development of physical fitness is the result of many things, optimal physical fitness is not possible without regular exercise.via mhhe.com
What does fitness mean to you? Recently, I came across a PDF article on Lifestyles for Health, Fitness and Wellness that helped break down some of the fundamental differences/similarity between these three terms, health, wellness and fitness, that we tend to use interchangeably. While health is the overarching term we use in everyday speech, there are key elements we need if we are sincere about overall health/wellness/fitness. For starters, there are many choices of physical activities we can do to help us on the road to fitness. But it is important to get our whole body, mind and spirit in balance and our house in order.
Where does fitness flow into wellness and health for you? We sometimes choose one aspect of health while negating other aspects. Nonstop exercise, restrictive, rigid activities and limited nourishment of our body and spirit, leave us feeling spent and not content. As we work towards building a wellness, fitness and healthy lifestyle, we must incorporate decisions that help our entire being. Our Mental health is as equally important as our Physical, Nutritional, Emotional and Spiritual Health. What are you doing to create balance in those areas? Whatever your belief system, you still need to create a balance of purpose in achieving your health/wellness/fitness goals. Determine what they are and then act on them.
The details for Motivation Mondays are below. Join in! The themes for April and May are: 04/06 – PERFECTION 04/13 – MISTAKES 04/20 – GROWTH 04/27 – MINDFULNESS
“The integration of exponentially growing technologies is beginning to empower the patient, enable the doctor, enhance wellness and begin to cure the well before they get sick.” Daniel Kraft
Motivation Mondays: What’s A Wellness, Fitness & Healthy LifeStyle?
Table One (1) Health and Wellness Definitions – Emotional health: A person with emotional health is (1) free from emotional-mental illnesses or debilitating conditions such as clinical depression and (2) possesses emotional wellness. The goals for the nation’s health refer to mental rather than emotional health and wellness. In this book, mental health and wellness are considered to be the same as emotional health and wellness. Emotional wellness: Emotional wellness is a person’s ability to cope with daily circumstances and to deal with personal feelings in a positive, optimistic, and constructive manner. A person with emotional wellness is generally characterized as happy, as opposed to depressed. Intellectual health: A person with intellectual health is free from illnesses that invade the brain and other systems that allow learning. A person with intellectual health also possesses intellectual wellness. Intellectual wellness: Intellectual wellness is a person’s ability to learn and to use information to enhance the quality of daily living and optimal functioning. A person with intellectual wellness is generally characterized as informed, as opposed to ignorant. Physical health: A person with physical health is free from illnesses that affect the physiological systems of the body such as the heart, the nervous system, etc. A person with physical health possesses an adequate level of physical fitness and physical wellness. Physical wellness: Physical wellness is a person’s ability to function effectively in meeting the demands of the day’s work and to use free time effectively. Physical wellness includes good physical fitness and the possession of useful motor skills. A person with physical wellness is generally characterized as fit versus unfit. Social health: A person with social health is free from illnesses or conditions that severely limit functioning in society, including antisocial pathologies. Social wellness: Social wellness is a person’s ability to successfully interact with others and to establish meaningful relationships that enhance the quality of life for all people involved in the interaction (including self). A person with social wellness is generally characterized as involved as opposed to lonely. Spiritual health: Spiritual health is the one component of health that is totally comprised of the wellness dimension; for this reason, spiritual health is considered to be synonymous with spiritual wellness. Spiritual wellness: A person’s ability to establish a values system and act on the system of beliefs, as well as to establish and carry out meaningful and constructive lifetime goals. Spiritual wellness is often based on a belief in a force greater than the individual that helps one contribute to an improved quality of life for all people. A person with spiritual wellness is generally characterized as fulfilled as opposed to unfulfilled.via mhhe.com
How do you manage your health, wellness and fitness efforts? The Table of Health and Wellness Definitions above, shows us important differences between health and wellness. I added the Table from via mhhe.com because it shows us how we can adapt our behaviors to help us build and maintain overall health and wellness in our lives. We can easily forget that we need to meld both in our every day lifestyles and be more conscientious of our thoughts, habits and actions. Sometimes, we allow the influence of negative people to impinge on our lifestyle. What we don’t realize is that their actions can add to our ill-health and discourage us from seeking life restoring pathways. Start today to get motivated to make the necessary lifestyle adjustments, and come back and share what you accomplished with us. We all need a pat on the back so go do it. I will and I know you can too. What are your thoughts? Do share! Thank you.
Positive Motivation Tip: Health equals wellness and fitness and every effort we make to stay alive and well adds to our happiness. Choose it for your health.
Motivation Mondays is open to anyone who wishes to share a motivational quote, photo, personal challenge or a post that encourages others to start the week on an upbeat note. Basic Instructions: Each week, I will have a motivation word to help us create a response. (See listed words for end of November and all of December below) Email address: You may email or share your post as a comment and I will add it to the round-up of related posts. email it to: contact(@)mirthandmotivation(.)com Category tag: – Share your post using Motivation Mondays Twitter hashtag: – Use this on Twitter #MotvnM Dedicated Page: There is a dedicated page for Motivation Mondays. It has the same instructions and will include other helpful tools and a link to the round-up Facebook Page:MotivationOnMondays Join our page and add your post and/or any motivational piece you think will be helpful to others. Facebook Community: We have a Facebook community forum to compliment the page. It serves as another way to share uplifting posts and thoughts. Please join in and add your voice.
Badge: – I created a fun badge using PicMonkey’s free photo editing tools. You can create your own, use WordPress’ integrated tool on your blog or you are welcome to use mine. (see dedicated page) Tag: – Motivation Mondays Hashtag: – #MotvnM
I think people find it hard to commit to an overall healthy lifestyle change because there are so many temptations out there. (I speak from experience, LOL) That said it is so worthwhile to make the changes and not give up. The benefits will always outweigh the cons and you will feel so much better for it. 🙂
I surely do struggle and I haven’t been in a gym in over a year. I keep saying that I need to go back but I just have no motivation. Time for me to get back on track!
I’m always blown away with your photos, Eliz.
Yes, wellness is such an all-encompassing state of mind and body. And I truly believe that an inner state of happiness can help you stay healthy…while an inner state of disquiet can leave you wide open for physical and emotional illness.
Come by my blog if you have a chance, Eliz…I’m giving away copies of my book in exchange for a review on Amazon and some social media shout outs..I’d love to send you one. 🙂
Thank you Vivian! Long time no see or chat. I’m delighted to hear about your book giveaway and will help you promote it. Heading for your blog right now! TY! 🙂
I’d be so thrilled to send you a copy, Eliz…I can’t believe I never gave you one years ago…please do stop by…and you can Facebook PM me or email me your address: [email protected]
I agree Elizabeth! It’s not just about being thin or having some abs whatsoever; it’s your total well-being. I’ve always thought that these fitness trends were a good thing but as time goes, it looks like it’s just a trend than an inspiration.
Women especially are working out, drinking these slimming juices and joining exercise dances for the sake of looking good instead of really focusing and being determined to be healthy (I’m talking about long term).
Health, wellness and fitness are three of the most important factors in life. I need to make more of an effort of these three things each and every day.
Wellness to me means so many things but many which you covered VERY WELL in this post! What a VERY good post it is too! Wellness to me also changes as I become older. Right now it is being mentally alert and being able to stay on task and get some exercise now and then and eat a healthy diet.
I am so looking forward to spending more time outside this summer. And it just hit me tonight that dancing solo is my favorite indoor activity. Helps with my physical wellness.
I think really think that our diet and lifestyle attribute to our health problems. Today, some of the manual labor just isn’t there any long thanks to machinery and computers making our lives so much easier. Plus, people just don’t exercise enough. I know I’m guilty.
Our food today is also more processed than ever. Who knows what is really in our food and how much is genetically engineered.
True… as I reply to you, I also take note of the number of hours I spend at the computer and how that takes time away from being fully physical. It’s a challenge we all need to face and fight.
I think a lot of people struggle with health because they are off balance. There is little balance in modern society. People are over-worked, stressed and have a hard time slowing down- hence heart-disease, strokes, etc. I’m surprised to see influenza on the top ten list.
After reading your article I realize I need real motivation 🙂 I always think that I have been motivated to move ahead for endeavors but I realize I lack that get up and go at times.
Health is wealth – what my husband and I always tell our family and friends. We are branded as extremist because of our healthy lifestyle and choices. We don’t eat fast food, processed food, canned goods, refined sugar, junk food or anything of the sort. No synthetic meds, just herbal supplements. We cook everything we can from scratch, and took the organic route. Heck, our kids don’t even eat candies unless homemade by me haha. They think we’re depriving our kids and us too with a lot of things, but seeing them getting admitted to the hospital on a monthly basis and us never getting sick for almost a decade now and feeling 100% great just confirms that we are on the right track when it comes to health. 🙂
This is an inspirational post. It makes one feel like they need to get their behinds in gear and start caring about their wellness and lifestyle choices.
I love this post! I’ve always believed that being healthy is more than just having a fit body. Someone can be toned but can have a lot of built up stress, or even have a bad diet. I’ve always advocated healthy living, although I myself is still a work in progress. It’s a lot liberating to live a healthy lifestyle and be physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually well. 🙂
I would agree, wellness doesn’t have to be expensive and complicated. I love what I do for wellness. Morning walk. Sometimes run. Then adventures. Rock climbing, rappelling, canyoning!haha Simple yet good for wellness. Wellness includes, as you’ve said all aspects of life (spiritual, emotional, physical, even financial) and it is a challenge to achieve, but it’s achieveable 😀
Wellness is often taken for granted. Just like my uncle, who is recently diagnosed with Cancer. My relatives are all very sad and worried, but his unhealthy lifestyle did not end.
I think we struggle with having a healthy lifestyle because we want the easier route. We want to achieve something but would rather take a short cut. To be healthy means to love yourself by making choices that will make you live longer so you could enjoy the things that you love to do with people you love.
Why do we struggle with maintaining Healthy Lifestyles? I guess junk foods are more promoted than healthy ones. Media has to do with providing the public with false health data.
More than just maintaining psychologically stress-free and exercise, diet is very important to keep a healthy lifestyle as well. That is hard to achieve too when everyone is leading busy lives!
I’m always meaning to exercise more and then failing to do so. One thing which I think does make some kind of difference for reasons I cannot really measure, is a sunnier open disposition. People who can still wonder and life, and view their time on Earth with something like awe do seem to live longer, or is that me talking nonsense again !?
For me wellness is having a healthy mind first and the rest will follow. Ive been dealing with depression and anxiety and as soon as I began working on those, everything else (exercising, feeling good) was easier!
Great post! To me, physical fitness is all about being at my best. Having stamina, strength and peace of mind to live my life to the fullest. 🙂 Something I need to invest more time into daily, to be sure.
I totally agree that our body , mind and soul should all be healthy. Before we decide to have a healthier body and lifestyle, our mind and body should be well.. It’s easier say then done.
Hospitals now promote wellness too, as it should. Medical centers should be as much about maintaining health as treating disease. We should all be concerned about our health, for the sake of our families. – Fred
I think that so many people are so obsessed with trivial things that they totally forget to take care of their well-being! Staying healthy and fit is key to a happy life, after all! 😀
I was doing so good with my wellness and healthy lifestyle, but I always seem to trip up when major holidays and birthdays come around. When I stick with it, I feel absolutely amazing – mind/body and energy levels.
To me Wellness means that my emotional, physical and mentally is align plus at the state of balance or happy. To be able to achieve that we need to have a healthy lifestyle and be fit. All is connected and related to one another.
This is an awesome post indeed and so inspiring. I really believe that emotional health is the number one thing that has to be at it highest to heal from anything. Thanks for sharing.
A private trainer came up to me at my gym the other day. The basic spill was, would I like better results training with him to achieve a better body, since he sees me there fairly often. I told him, I am in and out of the gym on my quick workouts usually because I feel off when I don’t exercise for two days in a roll, and not because I want to look hotter / slimmer etc. he was disappointed 😄
I definitely need to get in shape, I’ve never really been great about keeping up with that. My husband is a huge gym fanatic and I just can’t get myself to go there with him. There’s always time to change that though! Thanks!
it would be ideal to maintain a well-balanced healthy lifestyle but it can be easier said than done. nevertheless, we can always start striving for this kind of lifestyle one small step at a time
I think that a healthy lifestyle is different for every person. What one perceives as healthy and therapeutic, someone else may see it as unhealthy. There are some things that most everyone agrees are not healthy, but some things, like drinking tea, are debatable!
I can find it easy to get wrapped up on just one aspect of health (e.g. fitness or nutrition.) But it is important to remember that our emotional and spiritual well being is often even more important than the number on a scale or article of clothing.
I do believe that being healthy doesn’t mean you eat vegetable salad, you exercise everyday and you are slim. Having healthy lifestyle is not only for the body but also for the mind and soul.
Fitness and wellness is how you take care of your inner body. You discipline yourself with the food you take and also your mind that to stress yourself with things.
I really try my best to live a healthy life style. I workout 3-4 times a week yet I
‘m not slim and I don’t care. i love working out. I don’t always eat healthy but who does? But I try to eat healthy majority of the time.
It’s true when they say “Health is wealth.” We should always take care of our bodies and not abuse it. And it’s not just the physical aspect; we should be spiritually, emotionally and mentally healthy as well.
I do yoga (the hybrid one with Jillian Michaels lol. You can never relax with her voice!) and treadmill, but my best “feeling healthy” moment is everytime I walk my westie terrier 🙂
My husband and I are really into health and fitness now. But we have to work out working out and running too. Time is a constraint for us but sure if we really want its possible.
Fitness!I am struggling to lose weight. I am lazy in exercising. I prefer sports than anything else that is why I tried engaging myself in another sport that is very near to work place and that most of my male colleagues does, and that is tennis.
Wellness isn’t just about being physically fit. It is a combo of mind, soul and body. Sometimes, we are just too focused to be fit and we forget the other two. One should feed into the other.
I have struggled with maintaining a healthy lifestyle for so long. It’s not easy but I’m still trying to find the exercise I will stick to and a diet plan I can really own and follow without hoping I can have more. Getting there!
You make some great points. In my opinion fitness and wellness are not quick fixes or diets to go off and on of. Rather they are small choices we make each day to keep us moving towards our goals
It is funny because after years of focusing just on the food and physical aspects of wellness, finally paying attention to the emotional and spiritual components helped me make the changes I needed to make.
Yes, it’s all about finding what works for you. Everyone has different motivation, likes, and desires so there is no cookie cutter definition of wellness.
Great post! Health and wellness definitely encompass so many things. It’s hard to stick with it but when you see good results it definitely helps to motivate someone to continue on the path that they are on!
I love that quote! If you’re going to commit to something, like weight loss, you have to be 100% in. You can’t have one foot in and one foot out and expect to be successful.
in my health coaching studies at Georgetown we are very centered around Cura Personalis – care of the whole self. Definitely rings true when thinking about health and wellness but so many focus on one thing or another like weight or nutrition.
I love this time of year because the eating healthy aspect of wellness comes much more naturally. So many fruits and veggies available and the heat makes me prefer lighter, fresher meals.
Right now I am focusing on my mental health. I think my eating is under control, but I’ve been through a lot of big stuff the past few months and need to work on that!
I agree with a comment above about it being hard because of temptation. I am so tempted by sweets. If I see sweet treats, It is hard for me to not eat them and stay on track with my own healthy diet. But I am trying harder than ever right now as I am about 15 lbs overweight. Need to stay focused!
Interesting topic. I was involved in 3 different conversations where the middle aged men had all made drastic lifestyle changes because they wanted to be around for longer. I am not sure why our health takes a back seat when life gets busy!
I think if you can find the motivation but also the motive of why you want to excerise, then you will want to excerise. It seems hard to find a mission but everyone has one that fits their wellness goals.
I need to get back in shape. I was injured and let myself go, but it’s time to get back.
I’m right behind you on that note too… 🙂
I think people find it hard to commit to an overall healthy lifestyle change because there are so many temptations out there. (I speak from experience, LOL) That said it is so worthwhile to make the changes and not give up. The benefits will always outweigh the cons and you will feel so much better for it. 🙂
Doing the things that relieve stress makes a big difference for me. I love the idea of wellness being about doing what you love too.
I surely do struggle and I haven’t been in a gym in over a year. I keep saying that I need to go back but I just have no motivation. Time for me to get back on track!
I’m always blown away with your photos, Eliz.
Yes, wellness is such an all-encompassing state of mind and body. And I truly believe that an inner state of happiness can help you stay healthy…while an inner state of disquiet can leave you wide open for physical and emotional illness.
Come by my blog if you have a chance, Eliz…I’m giving away copies of my book in exchange for a review on Amazon and some social media shout outs..I’d love to send you one. 🙂
Thank you Vivian! Long time no see or chat. I’m delighted to hear about your book giveaway and will help you promote it. Heading for your blog right now! TY! 🙂
I’d be so thrilled to send you a copy, Eliz…I can’t believe I never gave you one years ago…please do stop by…and you can Facebook PM me or email me your address: [email protected]
Will do. Definitely. Thank you! <3
I agree Elizabeth! It’s not just about being thin or having some abs whatsoever; it’s your total well-being. I’ve always thought that these fitness trends were a good thing but as time goes, it looks like it’s just a trend than an inspiration.
Women especially are working out, drinking these slimming juices and joining exercise dances for the sake of looking good instead of really focusing and being determined to be healthy (I’m talking about long term).
True! Long term is key! 🙂
I love this time of year because I give so much more to myself in terms of staying fit and healthy! I need to do it all year!
Health, wellness and fitness are three of the most important factors in life. I need to make more of an effort of these three things each and every day.
I really need to start taking better care of my body.
Wellness to me means so many things but many which you covered VERY WELL in this post! What a VERY good post it is too! Wellness to me also changes as I become older. Right now it is being mentally alert and being able to stay on task and get some exercise now and then and eat a healthy diet.
Same here, on many levels too.
I am so looking forward to spending more time outside this summer. And it just hit me tonight that dancing solo is my favorite indoor activity. Helps with my physical wellness.
I think really think that our diet and lifestyle attribute to our health problems. Today, some of the manual labor just isn’t there any long thanks to machinery and computers making our lives so much easier. Plus, people just don’t exercise enough. I know I’m guilty.
Our food today is also more processed than ever. Who knows what is really in our food and how much is genetically engineered.
True… as I reply to you, I also take note of the number of hours I spend at the computer and how that takes time away from being fully physical. It’s a challenge we all need to face and fight.
I think a lot of people struggle with health because they are off balance. There is little balance in modern society. People are over-worked, stressed and have a hard time slowing down- hence heart-disease, strokes, etc. I’m surprised to see influenza on the top ten list.
Yes, some of the diseases surprised me but we are seeing a lot of stress and lifestyle illnesses.
After reading your article I realize I need real motivation 🙂 I always think that I have been motivated to move ahead for endeavors but I realize I lack that get up and go at times.
This is great. I try to stay in as good of shape as I can.
Health is wealth – what my husband and I always tell our family and friends. We are branded as extremist because of our healthy lifestyle and choices. We don’t eat fast food, processed food, canned goods, refined sugar, junk food or anything of the sort. No synthetic meds, just herbal supplements. We cook everything we can from scratch, and took the organic route. Heck, our kids don’t even eat candies unless homemade by me haha. They think we’re depriving our kids and us too with a lot of things, but seeing them getting admitted to the hospital on a monthly basis and us never getting sick for almost a decade now and feeling 100% great just confirms that we are on the right track when it comes to health. 🙂
Bravo!
Getting in shape and eating healthy are two of my top goals to achieve this year. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
You are not alone… TY! 🙂
This is an inspirational post. It makes one feel like they need to get their behinds in gear and start caring about their wellness and lifestyle choices.
I fail at maintaining my health due to stress.
I love this post! I’ve always believed that being healthy is more than just having a fit body. Someone can be toned but can have a lot of built up stress, or even have a bad diet. I’ve always advocated healthy living, although I myself is still a work in progress. It’s a lot liberating to live a healthy lifestyle and be physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually well. 🙂
It seems to me that balance, having fun and common sense are key to making wellness maintainable. A great article Eliz!
I believe so too Gilly! Fun is very important
I would agree, wellness doesn’t have to be expensive and complicated. I love what I do for wellness. Morning walk. Sometimes run. Then adventures. Rock climbing, rappelling, canyoning!haha Simple yet good for wellness. Wellness includes, as you’ve said all aspects of life (spiritual, emotional, physical, even financial) and it is a challenge to achieve, but it’s achieveable 😀
Everyone wants a wellness fitness and healthy lifestyle, but whether everyone really working towards it, is another question.. 🙂
OMG I suck on fitness these days. Thanks for the constant reminder.
Fitness and Health is our investment to our future. We become stronger and live longer.
True… we build on what we feed ourselves on all levels.
A wellness lifestyle can really give more days into our life and life into our days. I really encourage people to adopt it.
Fitness & Nutrition (Health) are my life – without them, we would have nothing!
Keep it up! 🙂
I completely agree. Wellness should be a consideration when you are measuring your health. It really is an important (and often overlooked) part!
Our continuous caring of our well-being is vital to our determination to live. Success comes from loving our interests and well-being.
Some people think that being healthy equates to having a ripped body. But really, it is the wholeness and involves the mind and emotions too.
Exactly!
Wellness is often taken for granted. Just like my uncle, who is recently diagnosed with Cancer. My relatives are all very sad and worried, but his unhealthy lifestyle did not end.
I’m sorry to hear this and send love and healing to him and his loved ones…
I really liked that you mentioned spirit when it comes to our well being. We usually only think of the physical.
I think we struggle with having a healthy lifestyle because we want the easier route. We want to achieve something but would rather take a short cut. To be healthy means to love yourself by making choices that will make you live longer so you could enjoy the things that you love to do with people you love.
I have not been exercising as regularly as before. This reminds me that I should work twice as hard to achieve my weight goal. 🙂
Why do we struggle with maintaining Healthy Lifestyles? I guess junk foods are more promoted than healthy ones. Media has to do with providing the public with false health data.
More than just maintaining psychologically stress-free and exercise, diet is very important to keep a healthy lifestyle as well. That is hard to achieve too when everyone is leading busy lives!
Fitness, Health and Wellness are the words of the day. I have encountered four blogs today tackling about these issues.
I’m always meaning to exercise more and then failing to do so. One thing which I think does make some kind of difference for reasons I cannot really measure, is a sunnier open disposition. People who can still wonder and life, and view their time on Earth with something like awe do seem to live longer, or is that me talking nonsense again !?
Peter that is what wellness is all about! Our Sunny disposition add a difference to our view of the world and longevity too.
For me wellness is having a healthy mind first and the rest will follow. Ive been dealing with depression and anxiety and as soon as I began working on those, everything else (exercising, feeling good) was easier!
That is true as when we develop better ways of doing one, the desire to do the rest can also increase.
I’m in the process of trying to improve both my fitness and my health. Its a slow process.
This is so motivating to get back in shape. I try to bike twice to 3 times a week and it helps a lot with getting back in shape
Doing so is that it would give us a longer life on earth.
I love how inspiring this post is. The pictures along with the words are all motivating. Thanks for sharing
Sincere and realistic is always better. It’s funny to hear it mentioned with wellness and fitness, but shouldn’t be because that’s totally spot-on!
Great post! To me, physical fitness is all about being at my best. Having stamina, strength and peace of mind to live my life to the fullest. 🙂 Something I need to invest more time into daily, to be sure.
I totally agree that our body , mind and soul should all be healthy. Before we decide to have a healthier body and lifestyle, our mind and body should be well.. It’s easier say then done.
Hospitals now promote wellness too, as it should. Medical centers should be as much about maintaining health as treating disease. We should all be concerned about our health, for the sake of our families. – Fred
This is such great motivation, thank you.
I try to be fit as much as I could, I see it as my wealth and opportunity to be with my kids at my best.
Wellness and being healthy to me is something we must focus on daily. It feels so good to eat healthy & work out:)
I have found myself really unmotivated lately. I ordered a program to get myself back into shape
As a gymnast, workout and eat healthy is very important to us 🙂 Thanks for the motivation 😉
I really need to watch out my diet to attain Health, wellness and fitness in my life. I have taken for granted fitness for a while.
I think that so many people are so obsessed with trivial things that they totally forget to take care of their well-being! Staying healthy and fit is key to a happy life, after all! 😀
I was doing so good with my wellness and healthy lifestyle, but I always seem to trip up when major holidays and birthdays come around. When I stick with it, I feel absolutely amazing – mind/body and energy levels.
Having active kids to keep up that I need to stay in shape and eat healthy food.
i might have to tend to my emotional and social wellness… I’m not very sociable or good at maintaining my..well…emotions..
I agree with you; wellness, fitness and health often go hand-in-hand. Thanks for the new perspective, God Bless! 🙂
A ton of excellent information. You are right, wellness needs to be a top priority for everyone.
To me Wellness means that my emotional, physical and mentally is align plus at the state of balance or happy. To be able to achieve that we need to have a healthy lifestyle and be fit. All is connected and related to one another.
This is an awesome post indeed and so inspiring. I really believe that emotional health is the number one thing that has to be at it highest to heal from anything. Thanks for sharing.
A private trainer came up to me at my gym the other day. The basic spill was, would I like better results training with him to achieve a better body, since he sees me there fairly often. I told him, I am in and out of the gym on my quick workouts usually because I feel off when I don’t exercise for two days in a roll, and not because I want to look hotter / slimmer etc. he was disappointed 😄
Hahaha! You crack me up. 😉
I definitely need to get in shape, I’ve never really been great about keeping up with that. My husband is a huge gym fanatic and I just can’t get myself to go there with him. There’s always time to change that though! Thanks!
I always work on three – heath, mind and soul for a healthy life! It’s tough keeping a balance, but boy is it worth the effort!
Wellness, fitness, and health really all go hand-in-hand, and it’s so important to find a balance in the three to live the best we can.
it would be ideal to maintain a well-balanced healthy lifestyle but it can be easier said than done. nevertheless, we can always start striving for this kind of lifestyle one small step at a time
I think that a healthy lifestyle is different for every person. What one perceives as healthy and therapeutic, someone else may see it as unhealthy. There are some things that most everyone agrees are not healthy, but some things, like drinking tea, are debatable!
I can find it easy to get wrapped up on just one aspect of health (e.g. fitness or nutrition.) But it is important to remember that our emotional and spiritual well being is often even more important than the number on a scale or article of clothing.
I do believe that being healthy doesn’t mean you eat vegetable salad, you exercise everyday and you are slim. Having healthy lifestyle is not only for the body but also for the mind and soul.
Fitness and wellness is how you take care of your inner body. You discipline yourself with the food you take and also your mind that to stress yourself with things.
I really try my best to live a healthy life style. I workout 3-4 times a week yet I
‘m not slim and I don’t care. i love working out. I don’t always eat healthy but who does? But I try to eat healthy majority of the time.
Thanks for this, it reminds me to go hit the gym again and take a closer look at the foods I ate. Thanks!
Staying in shape and eating right is really very very important. I’m also trying my best keeping up with this.
It’s true when they say “Health is wealth.” We should always take care of our bodies and not abuse it. And it’s not just the physical aspect; we should be spiritually, emotionally and mentally healthy as well.
We had similar post about giving important to our health.
Yes, I saw it. Thank you! Health is very important especially for those of us who tend to spend tons of time online. 😉
very nice post about health! very detailed, i would love to read it over and over again!
It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it. – I agree! Everything has to be in balance.
I do yoga (the hybrid one with Jillian Michaels lol. You can never relax with her voice!) and treadmill, but my best “feeling healthy” moment is everytime I walk my westie terrier 🙂
I want to live a healthy lifestyle. Would need to do some adjustments.
My husband and I are really into health and fitness now. But we have to work out working out and running too. Time is a constraint for us but sure if we really want its possible.
A wellness, fitness healthy lifestyle comes within and it always start with self discipline and motivation. Very inspiring post, Eliz!
Fitness!I am struggling to lose weight. I am lazy in exercising. I prefer sports than anything else that is why I tried engaging myself in another sport that is very near to work place and that most of my male colleagues does, and that is tennis.
This is really good read Eliz, I have to say, that its not only that you have a good body as well as good heart and soul. Thanks for the inspiration.
Wellness isn’t just about being physically fit. It is a combo of mind, soul and body. Sometimes, we are just too focused to be fit and we forget the other two. One should feed into the other.
I agree that we need balance.Yoga is one good way to achieve balance.
To me wellness is about being fit physically, emotionally, and having a sound mind.
Being fit does not only goes physically but includes the inner part of our body, the soul.
Please ignore if this is a double post 🙂
I have struggled with maintaining a healthy lifestyle for so long. It’s not easy but I’m still trying to find the exercise I will stick to and a diet plan I can really own and follow without hoping I can have more. Getting there!
You make some great points. In my opinion fitness and wellness are not quick fixes or diets to go off and on of. Rather they are small choices we make each day to keep us moving towards our goals
I concur… start where you are. 🙂
It is funny because after years of focusing just on the food and physical aspects of wellness, finally paying attention to the emotional and spiritual components helped me make the changes I needed to make.
Yes, it’s all about finding what works for you. Everyone has different motivation, likes, and desires so there is no cookie cutter definition of wellness.
Great post! Health and wellness definitely encompass so many things. It’s hard to stick with it but when you see good results it definitely helps to motivate someone to continue on the path that they are on!
I love that quote! If you’re going to commit to something, like weight loss, you have to be 100% in. You can’t have one foot in and one foot out and expect to be successful.
True. Commitment is key.
Yep, exercising (particularly running) makes me feel both physically and mentally well!
in my health coaching studies at Georgetown we are very centered around Cura Personalis – care of the whole self. Definitely rings true when thinking about health and wellness but so many focus on one thing or another like weight or nutrition.
I’m all for Cura Personalis too. 🙂
I think that wellness is hugely important–more so than thinness or being “ripped”. You have to take care of ALL of you!
Precisely! TY! “:-)
I love this time of year because the eating healthy aspect of wellness comes much more naturally. So many fruits and veggies available and the heat makes me prefer lighter, fresher meals.
Right now I am focusing on my mental health. I think my eating is under control, but I’ve been through a lot of big stuff the past few months and need to work on that!
Yes. Thanks for the reminder… I needed to read it this morning.
wellness is really all encompassing. you hit the nail on the head!
I agree Health, wellness and fitness are really most important in life. I also have to work on all this because I have been ignoring them for a while.
I agree with a comment above about it being hard because of temptation. I am so tempted by sweets. If I see sweet treats, It is hard for me to not eat them and stay on track with my own healthy diet. But I am trying harder than ever right now as I am about 15 lbs overweight. Need to stay focused!
it’s a very important post! i often feel like people keep on repeating wellness, fit healthy without real understanding of words behind it.
Interesting topic. I was involved in 3 different conversations where the middle aged men had all made drastic lifestyle changes because they wanted to be around for longer. I am not sure why our health takes a back seat when life gets busy!
I’m trying to start a healthier lifestyle and I’m starting with exercise! This is very relevant to me
I think if you can find the motivation but also the motive of why you want to excerise, then you will want to excerise. It seems hard to find a mission but everyone has one that fits their wellness goals.
Thanks for the motivation and positive vibe! Love these thoughts and beautifully written words to get us through the Mondays. 🙂
I have been slacking on the health and fitness part of my personal growth. I need to get back to the gym.
It is sometimes so challenging to commit to a healthy lifestyle especially the mental and spiritual one.