Five Obstacles To Achieving Optimal Health

Our little island starts to get more traffic as Northerners, and snowbirds come down to spend time on our beach at St. Simons Island. The restaurants have longer waiting lists, and walks on the beach are no longer quiet and solitary.

But ooooh! I do love the energy of springtime!

It’s also preparing us for swimsuit time, shorts, flip-flops, and thinking ahead for summer vacation with my children. Woohoo!

I want to share with you that whether you feel swimsuit ready or not, embrace where you are, love the body you’ve been given, and know that there are steps you can take to be even better.

I was not interested in publicly wearing a bikini although I am a sun lover! Several years ago this was me →

That was actually the least of my concerns. I was depressed, tired, losing hair, lonely although surrounded by people I loved, and my body ached.

I was well over 200 pounds, and then after seeing myself in the mirror, this very picture with my hair pulled back, I was shocked at the hair-loss, which was stress induced. I knew I had to pull everything I had learned from medicine, science, and my journey and put it all to work on me and it worked, really it rescued me mind body and spirit. Hence I developed my Restorative Health Method and thousands of people have been through my program and have been transformed!

Now I share my story with all of you in my free webinar called:

“Feel Good, Look Good Secrets: How to go from feeling fat, fatigued and frumpy, to better energy, a fitter figure and zestier sex life!”

I know how Spring break and bikini season can distress, maybe just knowing that you can be in better health no matter what your age is, is enough encouragement to embrace this belief and take action. I want everyone to have the information that helped me.

While this class is directed for women, it is also for the man that loves her because understanding what physically goes wrong, garners support for taking a new direction.

Five Obstacles To Achieving Optimal Health

Most of us are aware that there are steps we need to take in order to improve our health. We find ourselves saying things like, “I really need to stop eating so much junk”, or “I know I need to get up off this couch and get some exercise”. We all know that we need to improve our habits and live a healthier lifestyle, but knowing is only half the battle. All the knowledge in the world won’t help us if we can’t put our plans into action. For most of us, there are five obstacles stopping us from reaching our health goals, but they can be overcome if we learn to recognize and deal with them efficiently.

Our first obstacle is the influence media has over the way we perceive and treat our health. Everywhere we look, the media tells us to treat our symptoms, but rarely encourages us to look beyond a quick fix with a pill. We are encouraged to take a “head in the sand” approach to our own bodies; that is, to ignore the underlying cause of a problem and simply pop a pill to temporarily alleviate it. Obviously the focus of most marketing campaigns is to sell a product – not to teach us how to live a healthy life and reduce our dependency on these commodities. We should all remember, then, that the media is not the best source for information pertaining to our health. Rather than television commercials and magazine advertisements, we need to consult with our physicians or read unbiased health articles. We need to change the way we receive our information if we wish to change the way we perceive ourselves.

Time constraints are another pitfall for most of us. We live busy lives, juggling careers, families, social obligations, and other demands on our time. Many of us feel like we live our entire lives in the car, driving from one destination to the next all day. It is no wonder so many of us “prepare” dinner at a fast food drive-through or cannot find the time for exercise. It is important for us to schedule time for ourselves, each and every day – not only for exercise, but for rest and rejuvenation as well. This sounds difficult at first, but if we all remember that this is an investment in our longevity and quality of life, it helps us to understand that this time is just as important as a meeting with a financial advisor to discuss retirement, or an appointment with an accountant to file our taxes. These are things we all do without question, because they are considered important for our lives and futures; by viewing “me time” in a similar light, we can understand how important it is to schedule into our busy days.

Money constraints are another problem for most of us. We are all feeling the effects of the poor economy, and many of us are compensating by purchasing lower quality food or canceling gym memberships. In addition, finances can be a huge source of stress, and stress can lead to problems with hormone imbalance and inflammation in our bodies. It is helpful for us to view money constraints in the same way we view the time issue, and realize that decisions which affect our health are not the best areas in which to compromise. Our health is one of the biggest investments we can make, and it is not a good place to cut corners.

Even though it is easy to see the value in these first three points, many of us stop ourselves from committing to our health because of low self-esteem or self worth. This is a huge mistake, and we all have to learn to make ourselves a priority. We women are programmed to put everyone else ahead of us, and so we often neglect to take care of our own health and our own lives because we feel we are not as important as others. This is a viewpoint we all need to work on changing. We need to be asking some very serious questions, such as, “Am I efficient when I’m unhealthy? How can I take care of others when I am feeling unwell? Do my friends, family, and co-workers really expect me to martyr myself in order to take care of them?” If we learn that yes, we are worth it, and yes, taking care of our own bodies is important, then we will all be healthier and happier and perform better as wives, mothers, sisters, and friends.

Even those of us who are willing and ready to make ourselves a priority, and make this investment in ourselves, sometimes face one final obstacle in the form of sabotage. Even our loved ones sometimes sabotage our efforts without even realizing they’re doing it. Change is difficult for many people, and when they see us changing ourselves it can be hard for them to accept. It is important for us to surround ourselves with positive people who will encourage us, rather than urging us to “just try the cake” or “just skip your walk today and do this for me instead”. A support system or even just a buddy on the same journey can really impact our commitment and success.

We all face these obstacles to achieving optimal health, but by staying informed and proactive in our efforts, they can be overcome. We must all make a conscious decision to be educated about our health – not by the media, but by sources like our personal physicians who have our best interests at heart. We have to make time for ourselves and make our health a priority in the household budget. Most importantly, we must remember that we are worth all this effort and to surround ourselves with positive support. Once we have learned to battle these obstacles, there is nothing stopping us from living the full and healthy lives we all deserve.