3 Ways to Support Your Overall Wellness
Immunity is on everyone’s mind these days. While it’s absolutely important to support our body’s immune system from the inside out, it’s also an important time to think about our overall wellness. The roots of ‘wellness’ date back to ancient India, China, Greece & Rome. But today, wellness has gone mainstream, and many of us are trying out meditation, dry brushing and yoga.
But what is wellness, anyway? The wellness paradigm challenges us to not just feel great, but to thrive, by taking a holistic approach to our health. In other words, not just supporting our physical health, but our mental and emotional wellbeing, too.
Finding the Balance
Physical health is one of the most important pillars of wellness&mdashwhen we feel good, we can do good! There is a place for all food, but a good place to start is by making sure we’re covering all our nutritional bases, which includes enough high quality protein, and supporting our overall nutrition and gut health by making sure we’re getting a broad range of nutritious plant foods (in as many colours as possible!).
While we need to find that sweet spot between work and play, it’s also important to find that balance within the biochemistry of our body. Evidence suggests human beings evolved eating omega-6 and -3 fatty acids in a ratio of around 1:1. But our modern diets supply us with more omega-6 than we need – and the typical Western diet now provides us with an omega-6 to -3 ratio of around 16:1! Correcting this balance of fatty acids can do good things for our cardiovascular system, our cognitive function&mdashand our mood!
In one study, researchers studied a sample group over the course of seven years and made an amazing discovery about EPA, one of the fatty acids found in fish oils: those with higher blood levels of EPA showed better mental resiliency over time. Resiliency is typically defined as the ability to “bounce back” after difficult events.
That’s what inspired Genuine Health to create omega3+ joy, a high potency omega-3 fish oil with a dose of EPA clinically proven to improve mood. Just two capsules per day provide 2000 mg of an EPA concentrate shown to boost mood and mental outlook.
Movement & Rest
Nutrition is so important to our overall wellness, but so is exercise and sleep! Movement helps to keep our bodies healthy from head to toe. More important than finding the “perfect” exercise is finding a type of moment that you love to do every day.
When it comes to recovery, rest and proper nutrition are important. But instead of just thinking of nutrition to fuel your muscles (although it’s important!), think of the connective tissue that supports your muscles (and skin and joints). A sustainably-sourced and highly absorbable collagen like clean collagen by Genuine Health can help to keep your skin and joints feeling great! clean collagen contributes to healthy connective tissue, which is the second largest tissue in the body. Collagen also helps to improve joint discomfort by stimulating cellular repair and stimulating the growth of new joint cartilage. Plus, a recent study found that participants taking collagen reported having more energy and better overall wellbeing!
Doing Good
Fostering connection is so important to our overall mental and emotional wellness. While the last several months have made it more difficult to connect with others in real life, we’ve found amazing ways to connect virtually. As the weather cools down, and we prepare to spend more time inside, it’s so important to maintain these connections as well as find projects and activities that keep us busy.
Last but not least, when we are well, we are better equipped to share the love and help others out&mdashby lending a hand to those who need our help, and by being active in our communities. In the past few years, the word wellness has stirred up connotations of, “me, me, me!” but if the last few months have taught us anything, it’s that we are all in this together.