Sustainable Health: Top 5 Recommendations
There are lots of grand opportunities out there for true success in all areas of your life and being. It begins with how you eat, think, live. That's why it's essential to re-prioritize your health and self-care.
Here are some ways to get into a healthy flow:
1. Prioritize sleep. During sleep, your mental and physical systems are being protected and supported. During this time, your body is getting repaired and is preparing for the next day. Lack of quality sleep will affect your energy levels, your appetite, and your mood, plus can lead to heart disease, weight gain, and chronic illness. Shoot for 7-8 hours of deep rest. Get to bed at least 15 minutes earlier than you were during the holidays and then increase nightly.
2. Cut out the trigger foods. You know which foods impact your gut health, make your skin break out, dehydrate you, make you feel heavy and moody. You've been there before. Typically, these nutrition bandits are refined sugar, wheat/gluten, dairy, alcohol, all processed foods, and in some cases corn (tortilla chips! I know...), soy, peanuts, and here's a new one...citrus. INSTEAD, incorporate broths and soups, seasonal fruit and vegetables, wild-caught fatty fish, fresh ground flaxseed, and herbal detoxifying and toning teas like nettles, dandelion leaf, Chaga, reishi, and other medicinal mushroom herbal blends.
3. Maintain a healthy eating schedule. What keeps your energy even, your mood stable, your appetite healthy (no cravings!)? Eating balanced meals at consistent times daily to stabilize blood sugar levels and mood levels. Shoot for eating breakfast 90 minutes upon waking, then 4 hours later for lunch, then 4 hours after that for dinner, with a small snack between lunch and dinner. Make sure you are adding one lean protein (animal//beans//whole grains//seeds) with plenty of vegetables and leafy greens, plus a healthy fat like avocado and/or extra virgin olive oil.
4. Eat Booster Foods Daily. These are nutrient-dense foods that you don't need too much of but they pack a punch. They include long-simmered broths (bone or mineral), fermented foods, seeds, spirulina/chlorophyll, greens powders, bee pollen, herbs, and spices.
5. Sweat. Exercise by taking long brisk walks, jog, workout classes that you enjoy, yoga, YouTube has great at-home workout vids, oh, and saunas are wonderful too.
Do NOT forget to hydrate with pure filtered water.
Other musts: Meditate, spend time alone, and go within spirit and body.
Now do this next week too. Repeat. Keep it going.
To turn it up, here are my top picks for keeping your body and mind healthy:
Rasa Cacao - Alternative coffee blend with adaptogens, liver cleansing herbs, and immunity-boosting mushrooms.
Artichoke leaf tincture/herb - stimulate the liver, eliminate water retention, reduces IBS symptoms. Pick up at your local apothecary.
Nettles & Dandelion teas - diuretic, mild laxative, and reduces inflammation. Pick up at your local apothecary.
Amazing Grass Super Greens and Shrooms: salad in a glass of water. 1 tsp equals 1.5 servings of wheatgrass, spirulina, kale, and moringa. The shrooms one has Chaga, reishi, plus others.
Digestive Enzymes - food breakdown and nutrient absorption. Everyone needs this.
Urban Moonshine Digestive Bitters: No booze? Cool!! Support your digestion and liver by adding drops to seltzer water.
Natural Calm: Constipated? Insomnia? Anxiety? Take this at bedtime.
