Summary

The website content emphasizes the importance of maintaining a healthy body and mind through balanced eating, regular exercise, and stress management, while also acknowledging the challenges of these lifestyle changes.

Abstract

The article "Healthy Body Healthy Mind" discusses the holistic benefits of good nutrition, which extends beyond physical sustenance to nourishing the heart and soul. The author reflects on the uncertainty of where the soul resides but affirms the tangible presence of the heart and its critical role in overall well-being. Advocating for a balanced diet and consistent physical activity, the article highlights the heart's function as a relentless pump that circulates oxygenated blood and removes metabolic waste. It also outlines practical steps for heart health, such as quitting smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, engaging in regular exercise, and managing stress. The author shares personal anecdotes about overcoming smoking addiction and staying active, suggesting that small, incremental changes can lead to significant improvements in heart health and overall quality of life.

Opinions

The author believes in the concept of a soul and its connection to food, suggesting that meals can provide emotional and spiritual fulfillment.
A balanced approach to diet is preferred over strict regimens, with the author emphasizing the importance of pairing food intake with physical activity.
Exercise is seen as a crucial component for strengthening the heart muscle, with the author advocating for simple, cost-effective activities that increase heart rate.
The article conveys a strong opinion against smoking, citing personal experience in overcoming the habit and the well-documented negative effects on health.
The author is comfortable with their weight and advocates for body positivity, but also recognizes the need for improved fitness levels.
Stress is identified as a harmful element in life, and the author suggests limiting social media consumption and decluttering one's environment as methods to reduce it.
The author encourages readers to take control of their health through personal responsibility and willpower, expressing confidence in their ability to make positive changes.

Healthy Body Healthy Mind

Fuelling the heart and soul — wherever that lives!

Good food is so much more than simply fuel for our bodies; it fuels our heart and soul. I mention the soul with a hint of trepidation. As I’m not absolutely sure if push came to shove’ if I was asked to put my finger on mine where it resides (I feel it’s inside me somewhere). I think I have one!

Whereas a heart is something I do have, and a healthy heart and healthy mind can help us all enjoy a good life. There’s plenty of advice about what we should and shouldn’t eat, and I’m very much from the school of a balanced approach. This translates into something along the lines of eating and balancing that fuel consumption with physical activity, in a word exercise — a lifelong struggle of mine.

Your heart is sort of pump, or two pumps in one, about the size of your clenched fist.

It spends its day and night; it never stops pumping oxygenated blood, hormones and other vital substances around your body. While helping to maintain our blood pressure.

It also receives deoxygenated blood carrying metabolic waste products from our body and pumps it to our lungs for oxygenation.

Deoxygenated blood, referred to as Venous blood, travels through the body into the right atrium or chamber of the heart. Then pumped to the lungs where it is oxygenated and returns to the heart via the left atrium, then pumped around the body.

Your heart is a muscle, and, as with any muscle, exercise is required to strengthen it. However, listed below a few of the most common red flags raised in consideration when caring for the heart.

Ditch the cigarettes — smoking is not your friend or good for the heart

Losing weight and exercise — a healthy balance is our aim

Avoiding unnecessary stress — easier said than done in the busy world we live in, and if you’re a sports fan and follow a team like mine!

Practical advice without the preaching from someone who struggles

Cigarettes

There was a time when you could smoke in pubs, and there was a time when I thought I’d never enjoyed another pint of beer because I had decided to give up smoking. Beers, cigarettes and socializing, I wanted them all.

I broke a bad habit (there is plenty of evidence informing us sucking smoke into our lungs has a detrimental effect on how they operate) following a bad cold. If I was suffering from a bad cold which generally hangs around for a couple of days a cigarette was the last thing I would want to have.

I took that window of opportunity to kick the habit. Due to the cold, I was suffering, I didn’t crave a cigarette. After that, my head took control, and the game was on to test willpower and resolve to kick the smoking habit.

Like anything in life, if you really don’t want to do it, you won’t. Don’t blame the cigarette patches or whatever you’re using to kick the habit. Instead, look in the mirror, be honest with yourself, and if you really want to, you can and will, and believe me, inside you, you’re much stronger than you may at times give yourself credit. Give it a go.

Weight and Exercise

I’m okay with my weight; no body-shaming is going on over here. I’m pleased to report I’m happy in my own skin. I have no intention anytime soon of injecting some poisonous concoction into my lips, ass or forehead to remove a wrinkle. I am, as they say, intending to grow old disgracefully — as if there was any other way!

However, I’m not so comfortable with my fitness levels. Therefore my aim is to continue enjoying good food, the odd pint of beer, a glass of red wine and G&T as life is too short.

Introducing daily exercise activities into our lives starts with simple steps that can cost nothing. Which we have no excuse not to do and deliver sufficient stress and strain on the heart to get it beating just that little bit faster.

I have no idea how many times I go up and down the stairs in a day. Now though, I launch myself up the stairs at speed. Sometimes running, sometimes bounding like a gazelle two steps at a time. Coming down, of course, take your time.

Walking to the local shop for a few essential supplies offers fresh air, a walk, a chance to bump into neighbours, and supports the local economy. However, I take the longer route around the block to get to the local shop. Rather than the shorter, direct option. More steps, more air, the same amount of shopping.

Avoiding Unnecessary Stress

This corrosive invisible element in our life is capable of causing a lot of damage. A few simple fixes that can help, start with how you control social media. Do yourself a favour and turn it off, shut it down and give yourself a break from what’s happening out there. It’s great to catch up, check out and voice an opinion, but too much of a good thing — potentially can quickly become not such a good thing.

A little order to your life can be most helpful in a busy world, and it begins with the decluttering process. No time like the present for a bit of spring cleaning, file it, use it or fling it out. While you’re doing this, check out the food cupboard for stuff tucked right at the back. I bet you find something out of date!

Remember, those minor changes, when added together, will equate to a significant change which is great news for your heart and soul — wherever it is!

Good luck.