Wellness MAKING THE EFFORT FOR
WHERE TO BEGIN?
A good place to start is to get the knowledge of your current physical state. It could be asking for a full blood work up, scheduling a regular checkup or a food sensitivity test. Find out your strengths and the areas for improvement. Start there and find what will work for you. After you know, it is safe to start a physical program then I suggest that you look for something that challenges you physically or something you have a passion for. Choose a short or long-term goal and plan how to achieve it. Personally, I get results from setting goals. I have done this in the past by planning to run an Ultra Trail Race (race that totals more than 26.2 miles). This scared me silly because up until then I had only run a few marathons and that was almost 20 years ago. So I signed up, planned out my weekly/monthly mileage goals and faced the fear of the unknown. This was one of the hardest things I have done but it was so rewarding. It showed me what I am capable of and that if I am consistent with healthy habits that I will get stronger. If I can, you can! Now if we are being honest we all struggle making the effort for good health. It does not matter if you are a professional athlete, a bank teller or someone in the food service industry. It may be easier some weeks to not prepare meals ahead and grab something on the go or you have just finished a super long day and you know you need to go to the gym but just cannot make yourself or when life happens and you are just not feeling physically up to it. This is when you need to give yourself the grace to make those allowances, not all the time but to know when it is more beneficial not to go to the gym but to rest and catch up with an old friend or spend time in your yard. The idea is to make progress and to reinforce the thought process of put- ting your health as a priority.
BY MARTA SHAND
M aking the time and effort for Wellness is the first step on your path to good health. It means that you have committed and you are willing to set aside the precious commodity we call time. Yes that means that you will have one more thing you will have to try to fit into an already crazy, over packed week… but remember it is for your Health, Wellbeing and your Future Self. It is perplexing how we put everything and everyone before making time for ourselves and really those precious self-care and wellness minutes will pay off 10 fold by making you a happier, stronger, more confident individual that will start seeing the physical rewards almost immediately. WHAT ARE WELLNESS MINUTES? The answer might be different for everyone. Your Wellness program should be designed for you and can evolve as you do. It could mean hiking for some, or biking, running, pilates, yoga, cooking classes or get- ting that medical checkup that you have been putting off. The activities are endless and the total time will vary. The program may be dependent on the seasons or your work/school load but the goal is to make the time to improve your health. Here is a basic definition -Wellness is the act of practicing healthy habits on a daily basis to attain better physical and mental health outcomes, so that instead of just surviving, you are thriving.
Make the Effort for Wellness and … Just Start.
KEEP READING Marta Shand | Beaumont Unified School District Marta Shand is an advocate for wellness and promotes healthy habits to her students, staff and community. She has spent 24 years holding management positions in the field of Nutrition including time in both Healthcare and School Nutrition settings. Currently a Director of Child Nutrition Services at Beaumont Unified School District where she is committed to expanding the Nutrition Advisory Council (NAC) Classes and the Student Wellness Committees. Marta Shand holds a BS in Dietetics and has been awarded the Health Advocate Award by Coachella Valley Health Collaborative.
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