Accessing Your Health Progress

The basic premise of this Web site is that if you provide your body with what it needs, it will naturally heal itself. Optimum longevity is the end result of providing for all the needs of the whole person, consistently, over a very long period of time. Achieving a longer life requires that you take working on your health seriously.

Highlights of Accessing Your Health Progress:

• The basic premise of this Web site is that if you provide your body with what it needs, it will naturally heal itself.
• The basic premise of any good diet is variety, balance and moderation.
• Nutritional supplements are supposed to supplement your diet rather than replace it.
• Physical exercise strengthens your body and makes it more fit and resilient.
• Attitude is about your thoughts, passions, emotions, moods, and beliefs.
• Resilience is about your actual behavior.
• Are you taking your health program seriously?

A natural health site should naturally offer a more commonsense approach to health. The Natural Health Perspective is not a medical Web site. Our longevity program is about five key areas: Diet, Nutritional Supplements, Exercise, Attitude, and Resilience.

In natural health, truths are never experienced by reading about them. You only experience a truth by living a healthy lifestyle. The latest health research findings will never impact your life, but eating a healthy diet will impact your life immediately with each meal. Our wellness program can never be experienced by you until you decide to make it your health program. You increase your longevity by working on your health, not by reading about our health program.

How well you are progressing in your pursuit of a longer life can be determined by answering all the questions in this article. A positive answer indicates progress. Negative responses indicates where there is still room for improvement.

Diet

The basic premise of any good diet is variety, balance and moderation.

• Variety - Variety means that we should eat a mixture of foods across the range of food groups and a mixture from within each food group.
  1. Do you eat at least 5 servings of fruits and vegetables each day?
  2. Is your Food Diversity Score 30 or above?
• Balance - A balanced diet includes each food group in the correct proportion.
  1. Have you determined what your ideal body weight should be?
  2. Are you maintaining your ideal body weight?
  3. Have you STOP eating junk food on a regular basis?
     • The hamburger, French fries, and Soda diet -- including all other deep-fried foods.
     • Snack foods that are commonly sold in vending machines (such as potato chips, crackers, popcorn, and cookies).
     • Refined Grain baked goods like pastries, donuts, cakes, and pies.
     • Ice cream
     • Whenever possible, do you prefer to eat whole foods?
  4. Do you eat from each food group in the correct proportion?
• Moderation - Poor nutrition is the result of consuming too little, too much, or the wrong kinds of food, regularly.
  1. Do you avoid engaging in dieting extremes?
  2. Do you avoid eating fad diets?
  3. Do you eat a Low-Fat diet?
  4. Do you avoid eating excessive amounts of any one food, or food group?

Nutritional Supplements

Nutritional supplements are supposed to supplement your diet rather than replace it.

Do you take the following supplements on a daily basis:

• Calcium?
• Magnesium?
• Zinc?
• Folic Acid?
• Vitamin B-12?
• Vitamin C?
• Vitamin E?
• Vitamin A?
• Vitamin D?

Exercise

Physical exercise strengthens your body and makes it more fit and resilient.

• Strength
  1. Are you able to walk without the aid of a walker, or cane?
  2. Are you physically independent from the care of others?
  3. Can you do at least 20 military style push ups?
  4. Can you do at least 100 sit ups?
  5. Can you do at least 10 pull ups?
  6. Do you regularly exercise your back?
  7. Have you built up the muscle mass of your legs through lower body bodybuilding exercises so that your legs do not look shockingly skinny?
• Endurance
  1. Are you able to walk at 4 miles an hour, for at least 30 minutes?
  2. Do you exercise at least 3 days a week for a total of 30 minutes each day?
  3. Are you able to exercise at an exercise intensify level of 6 METS, or above, for at least 30 minutes?
  4. Do you exercise at an exercise intensify level of 6 METS, or above, for at least 30 minutes three times a week?
• Flexibility
  1. Can you bend over and touch your toes?
  2. Laying flat on your back, can you lift your legs up over your head and then bend them back perfectly straight so that your toes touch the floor, for a count of 30 seconds?
• Balance
  1. Are you able to balance yourself standing on one leg at a time, with each leg?
• Active Lifestyle
  1. Do regularly engage in physically demanding activities like walking, dancing, swimming, or sports for enjoyment or as part of your normal lifestyle?

Attitude

Attitude is about your thoughts, passions, emotions, moods, and beliefs. It is about perfecting your level of self-control to the point where your mind rules both your body and spirit.

• Positive Outlook on Life
  1. Do you generally have a positive attitude?
  2. Are you a happy person?
  3. Do you have a life mission?
  4. Are you the most important person in your life?
  5. Do you fundamentally believe that you can personally affect how long and your quality of life by working on your health?
• Mentally Challenging Life
  1. Do you regularly read books, or do something mentally challenging?
  2. Do you watch less than one hour of television a day?
  3. Do you have something to look forward to each day?
  4. Do you have a passion in your life?
  5. Do you ever try new activities; like learning how to joggle, play a musical instrument, learn a new game, or speak a new foreign language?
• Mental Discipline
  1. Are you centered?
  2. Are you generally in a good mood?
  3. Are your moods stable?
  4. You NEVER publicly get mad at people?
  5. You NEVER yell at, belittle, or hit other people?
  6. Do you always try to make the best of your current situation rather than complain about it?
  7. Do you engaged with other people on a regular basis?
  8. Do you have something interesting to do each day?

Resilience

Resilience is about your actual behavior. It is about developing specific strategies for handling specific situations.

• Mentally Resilient
  1. Are you rarely depressed?
  2. When you do manage to get depressed, do you know how to snap out of it in less than 8 hours?
  3. Do you have effective coping strategies for dealing with everyday stress?
  4. Do you occasionally practice stretching, progressive relaxation, meditation, yogi, Tai Chi, or QiQong?
• Physically Resilient
  1. Do you rarely get sick?
  2. Do you routinely get a good nights sleep of between 7 and 8 hours each night?
  3. When you do manage to catch a cold, do you know how to take control of your symptoms in less than 8 hours?
  4. When you get an upset stomach, does it generally last for not more than 8 hours?

In conclusion: everybody can access their progress with honest answers to these questions. Negative answers indicate areas needing additional work.

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