As a Natural Health Practitioner, I find myself giving some of the same advice over and over again to many of my clients. Each person has individual health needs but every person can do these 7 simple things to have a healthy day.
You are about 75% Water
1) Start the day with at least a pint of water. Practically everyone wakes up dehydrated because you’ve just gone about 8 hours without drinking anything. But your body continued to function and your cells continued to use energy and create waste. A large glass of water gives your cells a nice bath to wash out the toxins that have built up over night and give your tissues the hydration they need to conduct electricity (your body is electrical after all) and transport water soluble vitamins. Think of your body like a sponge; a wet sponge is more pliable and less likely to break than a dry sponge. Oh, and coffee is “anti-water” – it is a diuretic that makes you pee more and therefore become more dehydrated. If you’re going to drink coffee, please drink a lot of water first.
Stand up tall!
2) Stretch, bend, and twist. Your body uses movement to detoxify as well as to support your cartilage. When you wake in the morning, you are often stiff and puffy. This is because you have not moved much for the past several hours and your body has not been able to move lymph (a detoxifying fluid) through your body to get rid of toxins. Also, cartilage (the slippery, cushion between bones) has a poor blood supply and needs to be squeezed to get waste products out and hydration in. Especially think about your spine (part of your central nervous system) and all the cartilage discs in between each vertebra. Twist, turn, and bend forward, backward, around, and side to side thinking about giving each one of those protective discs a little squeeze to start the day. A little yoga goes a long way.
Make sure you use RAW apple cider vinegar or it will be gross!
3) Alkalize. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is loaded with foods that lower your body pH. This is a problem because a low (or acidic) body pH weakens your immune system and leaves you vulnerable to infections, inflammation, and allergies. Avoiding sugars and starches is a good place to start but you can also work to raise your pH by drinking water with lemon juice (from an actual lemon, not from a bottle or a plastic lemon) or raw apple cider vinegar. A breakfast including a bagel and a cup of coffee is a recipe for inflammation.
Nuts make a great breakfast! Protein, healthy fats & fiber!
4) Eat breakfast. Not only have you gone 8 hours without moving or drinking, you haven’t eaten anything either. Guess what… your cells need fuel! Get your metabolism jump-started by eating a healthy breakfast like a handful of raw nuts and an apple, or a protein shake with super-greens added. If you have time for a couple of eggs with some veggies added, that’s great too. Skip the muffins, toast, and bagels; they bring the calories but forget the nutrients (unless you’re making your own granola-nut muffins or something).
Are your vitamins just going for a ride?
5) Take high-quality supplements. Sorry, but most of our food lacks the nutrients that your body need to maintain great health, so it is necessary to take supplements to be sure to meet your nutrient needs. That’s trickier than it sounds because most people have no idea how to tell a high quality supplement from a “bedpan bullet” that just takes a ride through your digestive system and isn’t absorbed. Some of the highest quality supplements are food-based so that the nutrients are still in their natural form that your body can recognize and absorb. A few supplements that I like include Core Supplement Daily Super Packs from Young Living, or the True Source Superfood Powders from Young Living, Juice Plus products, or anything from Standard Process. Usana also has some great stuff. Check with a nutrition expert that doesn’t work at the mall when making supplement choices.
Continue to hydrate throughout the day.
6) Continue to hydrate. Almost all of my clients are dehydrated; especially the senior citizens who worry about having to go to the bathroom. You are approximately 80% water (not 80% diet coke, coffee, or Red Bull) and your body requires a lot of water in order to do its job well. The rule of thumb is to take your weight in pounds (150 for example) and cut that number in half (75), that’s the amount of ounces of water you should drink in a day. For most people, that’s around 5 ounces of water per hour (for the 18 hours you are awake).
Eat Nature’s Rainbow
7) Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. Michael Pollan summed it up best in his book In Defense of Food, when he gave that simple advice. Eat food means that it comes from the earth not from a factory (where all the nasty chemicals are added). Don’t eat too much. People tend to eat, and more importantly drink, a lot of their calories – much more than they need in an average day. And eat mostly plants. Plants are the foods that are loaded with the nutrients your body needs to be healthy. I would just add: “Eat Nature’s Rainbow”, to emphasize that you need to eat a wide variety of colorful fruits, vegetables, grains, nuts, and seeds to get the spectrum of nutrients. French fries do not count as eating plants. If you eat meat, try eating it at only one meal per day and in a portion the size of a side dish.
So there are 7 simple things you can do each day to improve your health naturally. To learn more about holistic nutrition, consider enrolling in my 26-week holistic nutrition subscription program called “Eat Like a Horse” where each week you will receive an email lesson about nutrition so that you can learn to eat healthy for the rest of your life, not just while you’re on a short-term diet. For more information go to www.EatLikeaHorse.net – satisfaction guaranteed.
26 Weeks of Holistic Nutrition
To order the Young Living Supplements, set up an account at www.YoungLiving.net or call 1-800-371-2928. To set up an account you will need to give them a sponsor number (1269229).
Have a healthy day!