Health is the greatest of human blessings.

Socrates

You will never truly understand how blessed you are to have good health until you lose it. I hear it all the time in my practice. People are cruising along in life, not thinking about what is going on inside their bodies, as long as the outside still looks okay and they can still do what they like to do.

Then bam. Ten years down the road they are struggling to breathe or walk up a flight of stairs because their heart is enlarged and failing after years of uncontrolled blood pressure and poor nutrition that led to heart disease nobody caught.

Or bam. They can no longer bend over to pick up grandkids or pets, or walk any real distance, because of brittle bones and weakness from osteopenia and arthritis.

Or bam. Dementia has them living in a skilled nursing facility because they can no longer remember how to safely work a stove or an oven. They cannot remember who their family is, and they cannot get dressed without help.

So how do I keep this from happening to me?

Do I have to become a gym rat and work out every single day? Do I have to take a cabinet full of supplements? Do I have to drink the green smoothies? Do I have to completely overhaul my life and never have a drink or a cookie again?

No.

Luckily for us, great health is achieved by improving your overall lifestyle and bringing things back into balance. To do that, I recommend focusing on the five foundational pillars of health and wellbeing.

The Five Foundational Pillars

• Sleep
• Nutrition
• Hydration
• Movement
• Nature

When we recalibrate and optimize these five pillars, our bodies and minds find homeostasis and peace. That is what allows us to thrive, to live well, and to become the healthiest, most balanced version of ourselves.

For a man to conquer himself is the first and noblest of all victories.

Plato