6 Questions Everyone Should Be Asking Themselves
Posted by Dr. Della Parker on September 9, 2015
Developing new healthy habits can require quite a bit of effort at first. Once you’ve established a new habit your set, right? Wrong, for the majority of people it takes consistent reinforcement to maintain healthy habits. Then those health routines you’ve develop may need modification as your life evolves, as most of our life’s do. Creating a daily, weekly or monthly checklist to reaffirm that your new and old health routines are still contributing to your overall well-being will greatly assist you in successfully moving forward on your personal road to wellness. Read the first four questions everyone should be asking themselves to maintain their health below.
#1. What’s my Vitamin D Level?
I’ve talked about this before, I have NEVER seen a normal vitamin D level when I’ve run labs on patients. Now I don’t say always and never when I don’t mean it, and here I do. Never. We are afraid of the sun and are chronically deficient and low vitamin D levels can contribute to a multitude of diseases. 90% of the active D3 in our body is derived from sunlight. The remaining 10% is dietary. Ideally your levels would be 50-80 ng/ml. And if they aren’t? Get out in the sun, just don’t burn. And take a supplement, ideally vitamin D3 (which is the active form) and you’d take 2,000-5,000 ius/day. I love this one cuz its liquid and tastes super awesome.#2. What’s My Vitamin B12 Level?
Along with vitamin D, vitamin B12 is another vitamin that I see has being chronically low, and the reason? Most of it is malabsorbsion, meaning that we are EATING it, but our stomach and intestines are shut down because of chronic stress, so we don’t ABSORB it. And why do we need it? Many reasons, and to name a few it plays a role in our cardiovascular health, red blood cell production, which is why you’ll see this deficiency with anemia. It also plays a key role in brain and nervous system health. So a lot of times when I see deficiencies I hear fatigue, numbness and tingling in extremities, brain fog, depression, and an inflamed tongue to name a few. So how to get it? Eat sardines, organic pasture raised beef, wild game, eggs, salmon and shrimp. And if you need to supplement I love this one.#3. Am I Eating PROTEIN for Breakfast?
I’ve talked about this one here. And it’s SO SO SUPER important to eat protein breakfast to help balance your blood sugar and set you out on the right foot. It helps your adrenal glands, it reduces sugar cravings, it give you sustaining energy, and it comes in fun forms like
- Eggs
- Breakfast Sausage
- Bacon
- Protein Powder
- (my fav is Arbonnes)
- Breakfast Quinoa
- Oatmeal with nuts/seeds
- Nut Butters
Promise your brain, adrenals, energy, hormones, stomach, intestines, gut bugs, your mood, and your kids, spouse and coworkers will thank you. Say goodbye to cranky-pants and afternoon crashes forever.
#4. Am I Managing Stress?
I really don’t like this word. But for lack of a better way of communicating the point I’ll use it. Stress is not a problem when it’s acute. For example: running from a tiger, or a dog incase you don’t live in India or work at a zoo. Avoiding a car accident. A cut on your arm. It’s a problem when it’s chronic. For example: hating your job, everyday. Worrying about money, everyday. Being married to someone you don’t like, everyday. Eating foods that are not adding health, everyday. Letting your life run you instead of you running it, everyday. When the stress response is being triggered daily, over time the body will start to shut down. And viola, disease. So managing it? Meh, again, I don’t like that word either. Lets change the question to this: What Am I Doing That’s FUN On A Daily Basis? Or Do I Laugh Daily? When you are doing those things stress gets put aside for a while and your body, mind, spirit, kids, spouse and coworkers will thank you. Say goodbye to crazypants and emotional breakdowns…for at least a moment.
Dr. Della Parker promotes what she calls the Real Food Diet. To follow the real food diet or a modified paleo diet you basically you need to eat real food! So here it is… Meat, vegetables and fruit. This is why our stomach pH is acidic and we have teeth meant for shredding and tearing. Animal protein provides you with nutrients, amino acids, and collagen that cannot be found in other foods. Check out Dr. Della Parker’s Real Food Diet for more ways to eat your way towards good health.
SRC: Read the final two Questions Everyone Should Be Asking Themselves at: www.drtandacook.com/6-important-questions/