Improve your health, fitness and vitality

Continuing with a look at each of the eight points of the Modern Victory Movement. Today is point number six, Improve your health, fitness and vitality. 

6- Improve your health, fitness & vitality.

This is a list of basic rules to promote better health. Healthy living is a much more complex topic, of course, but this list makes a good starting point. Consult your doctor for the specifics of your situation.

Avoid smoking and/or abusing drugs or alcohol. This one should be obvious, but a lot of people fail to achieve this important step to improving their health.


Get between 7 & 9 hours of sleep per night. I know plenty of people who claim to get by on six hours of sleep a night or less. You might "get by" with less, but the research is overwhelming - adequate sleep is very important to good health.


Consume less meat, especially red meat. Red meat especially is full of saturated (unhealthy) fats, not to mention hormones, dyes and other undesirable stuff. You should only eat meat only a few times a week, and even then preferring fish or poultry, if you want to achieve maximum health. This is one of the cornerstones of the traditional Mediterranean diet, long known to be one of the healthiest diets possible. Please note: fat is an essential macro-nutrient for good health, and the suggestion to eliminate unhealthy fats is in no way a promotion of no-fat fad diets.


Eat 5+ servings of fruits & vegetables a day. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a cornerstone of a healthy diet, and you cannot eat too many. Try to eat a wide variety fruits and vegetables, including citrus fruits, tomatoes, carrots and the cruciferous veggies, which include cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, bok choy, radishes, horseradish, and various greens (turnip, mustard, kale, collard, etc). Legumes (beans, peas) should be eaten for their fiber, protein and other nutritional value.


Eat whole grains instead of refined grains. Many studies suggest that the high rate of consumption of refined, or white, flour, bread, pasta, cereals and rice are contributing to the current epidemics of obesity, high blood pressure, diabetes and even cancer. Switch to whole grains whenever possible.


Consume less sodium & refined sugar. Also contributing to obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer is the high rate of sugar consumption in all its forms, especially high fructose corn syrup. Cut back drastically on the amount of sugar you consume, and when you do use sweeteners, prefer natural sources such as fruit & honey.


Be physically active everyday. Many experts recommend at least one hour of moderate exercise a day, at least five days a week. What is moderate exercise? It should be vigorous enough to cause you to break out in a slight sweat. Walking, swimming and bike riding are excellent, low impact, ways to exercise. Use common sense - if you are elderly, badly out-of-shape or suffer from serious health conditions, please get your doctor's advise before starting an exercise program.


Visit your doctor & dentist for regular check-ups. Find a doctor you like and are comfortable with, hopefully one who takes a holistic approach to your health care and believes as strongly in preventing disease as he or she does in curing disease. What constitutes "regular check-ups" depends on your age & health conditions and should be mutually decided on by you and your doctor.