4 Key Drivers Of An Active, Healthy, Sustainable Lifestyle

“It’s time to take control of your health and wellbeing,?slow down your struggles and accelerate your recovery”

Introduction

This is the 5th article in my new series called “How I Beat 3 Chronic Diseases; For Now At Least”, which describes how a routine blood test changed the course of my life when I was diagnosed with an aggressive prostate cancer, heart disease and autoimmune condition, all within 12 months.?The first 4 articles told my General, Cancer, Heart & Autoimmune Disease stories with “10 Takeaways” in each case. The link to each article is set out at the end of this article. This 5th article describes the 4 Key Drivers of an Active, Healthy, Sustainable Lifestyle.

The eXercise Factor

I wrote this book in 2015 long before I had any indication of cancer, heart disease or my autoimmune condition coming down the track.

I’ve been asked many times since, would my book be different if I rewrote it today?

There would definitely be some changes but the fundamental principles are as good today as they were 7 years ago.

There are "4 Key Drivers of Success" by which I mean the 4 drivers you need to manage if you want to develop an active, healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

4 Key Drivers of Success

In the book, I describe the 4 Key Drivers in the following order; Exercise, the X Factor, Knowledge and Nutrition. While the 4 Drivers are still the same, I’d actually change the emphasis, not because one is more important than the other, but because I believe there is a better flow to this order. In this article, I describe the X Factor and Knowledge. Article 6 is devoted to Exercise and article 7 to Nutrition.

The X Factor

The X Factor is about mindset and the best way to explain the "X Factor Mindset" you need, especially if you’ve been diagnosed with a chronic disease, like cancer or heart disease, is to share my X Factor RECIPE. This acronym describes the 6 key ingredients as follows:

R - Resolve: You need Resolve to take control of your health & wellbeing, slow down your struggles, accelerate your recovery and develop an active, healthy, sustainable lifestyle.

E - Energy: You’ll also need Energy, which can be challenging if you’re receiving treatment or in recovery mode.

C - Cause: This is arguably the easiest because if you have a chronic disease like cancer or heart disease you automatically have a very strong personal cause.

I - Involved: You don’t want to go through this journey alone. Family, friends and coaches can all provide the help and support you need to get and stay involved.

P - Projects: This is the most important ingredient because we all need structure and organisation in our life. Projects enable and facilitate a successful outcome.

E - Extraordinary: If you’ve got resolve, energy, a personal cause and you get actively involved in a fun and enjoyable project, the outcome will be extraordinary!?

Knowledge

Leaving prescribed medication aside, the most effective and proven way to reverse chronic diseases such as metabolic syndrome, heart disease and even cancer and autoimmune conditions is a combination of diet and lifestyle factors. However without the requisite knowledge, it’s virtually impossible to take appropriate actions. For example:

1. What does a healthy sustainable diet look like?
2. What is the optimum level and type of exercise?
3. How do you reduce stress especially if you’re ill?
4. How do you reduce the risk from heart attacks and strokes?
5. How do you respond to a diagnosis of autoimmune disease or cancer?
6. How do you change the biological mechanisms of insulin resistance and chronic inflammation?

There’s lots of information out there about exercise, moving, nutrition, physical and mental health, stress, sleep, fasting, breathing, supplements; the list goes on and on. Knowledge gives you power to make good decisions and take appropriate action about your health and wellbeing which results in outcomes you want including:

• Reduction in weight and more importantly your waist
• Improvement in your most important “cholesterol” measures?
• Reduction in risk of type 2 diabetes or potentially reverse and send it into remission?
• Reduction in the risk from heart attacks and strokes
• Delay the progression of cancer, heart disease and autoimmune conditions
• Reduce medication such as blood pressure and statins

Added together this means an active, healthy, sustainable lifestyle which increases your life expectancy and more importantly the quality of your life.

Exercise

Exercise has played a crucial role in my life, ever since my dad died from a heart attack at the age of 47. I was just 20 at the time. There is no doubt, in my mind that exercise is very important to both your physical and mental health and so Article 6 is devoted to the third key driver - exercise!

Nutrition

I’m often asked which is more important, exercise or nutrition and my answer today is the same as when I wrote The eXercise Factor; it depends. This is not a cop out because it depends on your current situation. To find out more you'll need to wait for Article 7, which is devoted to the forth key driver - nutrition.

Links To First 4 Articles In Series

Article 1 - General article with 10 key takeaways from chronic disease.

Article 2 - My cancer story with 10 key takeaways.

Article 3 - My heart disease story with 10 key takeaways.

Article 4 - My autoimmune disease story with 10 key takeaways.

I hope you found this article both interesting and helpful. I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments section below. If you could, like and share it; that would be brilliant too. Why not connect with me or follow me and look out for article 5 coming very soon. Message me or email me at [email protected]. Thank You. Jim