(HINT: it’s not just diet and exercise)

In Physical Therapy school, they taught us that ‘physical’ health — in spite of being the focal point for our education — is one of FOUR pillars of health (25% each). The four pillars are:

• Physical — diet and exercise; how, when, and how much you eat and move.
• Mental — thoughts and healthy thinking; both conscious and subconscious thoughts and programs.
• Emotional — feelings and understanding how we feel and process this world; again, consciously and subconsciously.
• Spiritual — connection to self, others, and something greater; views and beliefs about the world in which we live.

Without one pillar of health, we are missing a leg of the table. Without two, our table starts to become quite shaky. If we avoid focusing on three or more legs our table falls over, which is a metaphor for saying that health will deteriorate quickly.

Depending upon the generation in which you grew up, beliefs of your parents and community, religious beliefs, and the level of peace vs hostility in your life, you may find that no matter how hard you focus upon physical health it’s always an uphill battle.

And that’s the reason for today’s post. It’s to draw your attention to the other pillars and start a conversation. How you think and feel affect your cortisol levels, or your stress hormone, which in turn affects the level of inflammation in your body.

Whether you feel fear around concepts of God or spirituality, how connected you feel between your mind, body and spirit, and whether or not you have an outlet to discuss and pursue your beliefs matters. And without having an outlet, you may suffer physically more than you realize.

In order to end pain and suffering, we must honor that all four pillars count.

Have you ever experienced something like this before, where you feel you’ve eaten the right foods, tried your best to integrate movement into your life, and your weight or body image have been stuck nonetheless?

Or maybe you look great and feel not-so-great at times?

Maybe you’ve been scared to discuss any contradiction in your beliefs with others? And that has led to a feeling of loneliness or isolation for you?

Don’t worry.

You are not alone.

And we love you the same no matter your experience thus far or what it will be in the future.

Thank you for listening today. This is the kind of conversation that saved my life a bit less than 7 years ago. I was missing two very important legs of my “table”, so to speak (in spite of teaching hundreds of thousands of people around the world about health, including leading doctors and scientists at the time).

And we are here to help.

Have a wonderful day, and trust that you’re on the right path. Sometimes, it takes time, and sometimes it takes opening a new door or method for pursuing your health.

We’re on your side, regardless of which pillar makes the most sense for you at this time,

PS — Whole Family Health is a sub-entity of Dr. Kareem F. Samhouri Fitness LLC. It is all the same company with the same intention. We’re so glad you’re here, and we look forward to having more of this conversation with you as time goes on.