10 easy steps to determine how healthy you really are

Most people know how healthy they really are but are uncomfortable with acknowledging it to themselves if they know that they are not as healthy as they should be. No-one else needs to know. However, YOU need to acknowledge it to yourself!

Here are a few simple questions which can highlight your true health. What you look like or what your waistline is often has little to do with your true health. And sometimes, fitness has little to do with health...

1. How often do you go to the toilet to do a number 2? A healthy individual goes on average, once a day at around the same time each day. If you go every few days or once or twice a week, it is a sign of internal problems or dietary issues.
2. What is the texture of the above? If it hurts coming out or explodes or is otherwise loose, it too is a sign of internal problems or dietary issues.
   
3. How white are the white parts of your eyes? Are they always bloodshot or glazy? The healthier your body, the whiter and clearer the eyes. Take a look next time you use the bathroom.
4. Do you regularly or even periodically get headaches? And if you do, do you take prescription headache tablets? Headaches are not normal. A normal functioning human body should not get headaches. It is truly amazing how accepted headaches are today.
   
5. Do you consume enough water? Everyone knows they should be getting a lot of water but most people do not worry about it.Water consumption can help greatly by flushing out toxins and rubbish from the human body. This is especially important if you follow poor eating and drinking habits and is of further benefit to those that do eat well.
   
6. Do you regularly experience stomach discomfort? Do you often feel bloated, unsettled and suffer general pain in the stomach? This is not normal for the human body and again, are signs of internal problems or dietary issues.
   
7. Do you get enough sleep? Humans generally operate at their peak at around 7-8 hours of sleep a night. Lack of sleep is a major contributing factor to many illnesses and ailments and may be a major contributor to more serious diseases and the bodies ability to fight them.
   
8. Do you smoke cigarettes? There is no escaping this one. Again, everyone knows what these do to the human body.
   
9. Do you generally feel good and full of energy or regularly feel tired and run down? This is a good indicator of overall health and well being. Only you can honestly know how you feel. Make this judgement away from other people and be honest to yourself. Feeling tired and run down is a sign that things are not how they should be. Many factors are involved in your general well being and it is up to you to determine what aspect of your lifestyle or habits needs to change for the better.
   
10. What is your body mass index? There is no ignoring the costs to human health from obesity. You do not have to be of a large size to be affected by this. There is what I call, 'skinny-fat' people. These are overall 'thin' people who have little to no muscular development but who have for their size, a large amount of soft, excess fat. Although they on the surface are thin, they are also fat. This still affects the healthy functioning of the human body.

These 10 questions will go a long way to acting as a check-list for how your health truly is. Only you will ever truly know the answers to these questions and some will raise points which you try hard to avoid acknowledging because you know it is a problem but don't want to deal with it.

If you feel that you are unsure of where to begin when trying to get truly healthy and not just appear healthy, an excellent online resource can be found at the PaleoDiet website. It is a massive resource of links with information about nutrition, health and many many other aspects relating to healthy living and eating. I highly recommend it to anyone.

I am not a doctor or nutritionist or anything else of the sorts. I am however a human being that actively practises healthy living as well as maintains a moderate to high level of fitness. I try to live by example and generally eat 'Paleo'. I am not fanatical about it but stick to it about 90% of the time. I enjoy real food, not man made rubbish. When someone speaks about the 'food pyramid' and the benefits of grains I wonder if they are getting paid to say it and I look at their body to see if they live the way they preach...

I hope these 10 easy steps puts you on the path to healthier living. After all, learning about self protection is all about prolonging life and well being, lets not ignore our health in the process.

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