Everyone has different goals and different means of achieving them. But if you are looking for a complete body we have made a list of 5 things that everyone needs to be doing.

1.) Eating More Real Food and Not Processed Food

This cannot be said enough but making a concerted effort to eat REAL food is extremely important.

We can argue about vegetarian vs vegan vs paleo vs pescicatrian etc. but at the heart of all successful diets is real non processed foods.

According to Dr. Robert Lustig, a pediatrician and longtime childhood-obesity researcher at the University of California, San Francisco 

“Processed foods contain too few vitamins and minerals, known as micronutrients. Many of these micronutrients, such as vitamins C and E, act as antioxidants, which help prevent cellular damage.”

Another damaging aspect of processed food is the sheer amount of sodium ion them. Lustig confirms “Unsurprisingly, processed foods contain more salt than unprocessed foods...Too much salt in the diet is linked to hypertension and heart disease”

2.) Exercising

Same as diet, exercise is absolutely necessary to a healthy body. And everyone has a preferred method of exercising. And same as a diet, the best exercise or workout plan is the one you do.

According to The Better Health Channel “Physical activity or exercise can improve your health and reduce the risk of developing several diseases like type 2 diabetes, cancer and cardiovascular disease. Physical activity and exercise can have immediate and long-term health benefits. Most importantly, regular activity can improve your quality of life.”

So, although you might give a preferred method of exercising i.e. weightlifting, cross training, running, swimming etc. as long as you are increasing your heart rate you are doing the body good!

3.) Stretching

Stretching is one of those activities that we know e need to do but usually don’t and according to an article by Harvard Medical School, it is essential. “Stretching keeps the muscles flexible, strong, and healthy, and we need that flexibility to maintain a range of motion in the joints. Without it, the muscles shorten and become tight. Then, when you call on the muscles for activity, they are weak and unable to extend all the way.”

If you are active stretching seems to be even more important. Strength is very correlated to flexibility as well. Inflexibility is just weakness an certain ranges of motion. You seem some people that are muscle bound and inflexible lifting large amounts or weights but not being able to get the full benefit of the exercise because either inflexibility is prohibiting them from doing the the exercise. And therefore. Being strong through the entire range of motion.

4.) Supplementation

Inevitably with our hectic schedule it's sometimes difficult to always get the adequate macro and micronutrients that your body needs to be running optimally.

I have always looked at diet and exercise like swiss cheese and supplementation just fills in the holes.

And not all holes are treated the same. Someone could be getting adequate levels of a certain micronutrient while you are in a deficiency. It’s always important to research or consult a doctor before supplementing your diet to see what would be optimal for you!

5.) Getting Enough Sleep

It's something everyone does but apparently not many people do well. Sleep is so vital to your physical and mental health and yet according to the CDC  1 in 3 Americans don’t get enough sleep. That is a staggering number considering how much of our ability to function at optimal levels both physically and mentally rely on how much adequate sleep we get.

People often refer to getting your 8 hours but in actuality that about exactly how much we need. The National Sleep Foundation advises that “healthy adults need between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. Babies, young children, and teens need even more sleep to enable their growth and development. People over 65 should also get 7 to 8 hours per night.”

So, it varies based on your age but generally speaking if you are not getting 8 hours of sleep per night you are not getting enough. Even though people might say they function fine on lack of sleep research suggests otherwise, especially if you are exercising as well.

Someone might be able to get away with not getting enough sleep if they are not active (still not optimal for mental cognition) but if you are someone who likes to workout than sleep is pivotal to optimal physical performance. 

But there is also a state of sleep that is most optimal. The National Sleep Foundation  “REM sleep in particular provides energy to both the brain and body. If sleep is cut short, the body doesn’t have time to repair memory, consolidate memory, and release hormones.”

Those hormones released during sleep are what will help facilitate your recovery process. Everyone's endocrine systems growth hormones via the pituitary gland and by reaching REM sleep you are able to get the full benefits your bodies ability to repair and grow, both physically and mentally.

So if you aren't already go catch some ZZZ’s and go check out our 10 tips to help you achieve deeper sleep.