“My love, do you know what sounds good? Pasta. Bread. Chocolate cake. Burgers and fries. Milkshakes. Chocolate chip cookies. Donuts. Sodas. Brownies and ice cream. Lasagna. Fried chicken. Waffles. Pancakes. Peanut butter cups.” These are things I crave, often without fail, around 10 P.M. every night while laying in bed, nearly ready for sleep. Most are things I rarely eat anymore, and the things I do eat on this list, I’ve learned to make in a much less detrimental, and more nutritionally dense manner. Eating healthy is self love, and choosing ingredients that fuel our health is one of the most basic things we can do to elongate our lives, as well as add a higher quality to our experience.
There are countless podcasts, blogs, recipe sites, YouTube channels, vlogs, gurus, experts, health coaches, health and wellness professionals and the like that give a wide variety of suggestions for what their opinions and research result in to better our health and livelihoods. I’ve listened to hundreds of hours of these podcasts and videos, as well as have researched with my own health and read hundreds, if not thousands of articles and blogs about improving our health. Below is the boiled down list that is a reliable summary, applicable to nearly anyone living in a human body.
- Move your body, every day. Walking, stretching, yoga, jumping on a trampoline, lifting heavy things, body weight exercises such as push-ups, planks and squats, and so many more options at our immediate utilization. Our bodies are built for walking, it’s very low impact on our joints, and one of the best forms of exercise near anyone can do.
- Eat colorfully. Vegetables, fruits, herbs and spices are our friends.
- Consume organic, non-GMO foods. Use this as a very strict rule of thumb because chemicals that kill insects aren’t good for us either.
- Mind your meats. Don’t eat no meat, and don’t eat too much meat. You’ll know your healthy balance in between there.
- Eat mindfully. Prepare and cook your meals at home, as much as possible. Make time for it. Treat this as a priority, for your short-term and long-term health. Turn screens off when you eat, and enjoy every bite, and stop when you’re nearly full. It takes our food a little bit longer to hit our stomachs than we think, so chew each bite, and don’t overeat. Be grateful and appreciative for each bite of food, and thankful for the nourishment it gives to you.
- Drink lots of water. I prefer to drink room temperature charcoal filtered water from a glass container. If you live in a rare and remote location with access to fresh clean drinkable water, go with that. Otherwise, get a good filter, and go with tap water. You can also alkalize your water very inexpensively, with lemons. For an added step, bless your water or pray over it, to give it better energy and love, and make it more bioavailable.
- Steer clear of GMOs, artificial sweeteners, gluten and whole grains, too much dairy, alcohol and over-medicating. Instead of popping another NSAID, take a minute to google a natural remedy for your ailment. (Side story: my fiancé used to get regular migraines, and after many months of me helping her understand that her many diet sodas per day were the main cause of them along with her early onset auto-immune disease, she stopped drinking diet sodas cold turkey, and her migraines & frequent signs of auto-immune disease have also dramatically stopped.)
- Allow your body to eliminate naturally. Sweating, urinating, defecating and vomiting are the ways our bodies eliminate waste. Hopefully we mainly stick with the first three manners. We need to sweat, often. We need to be urinating frequently, and defecating daily. If your body isn’t doing these things regularly, what can you do to introduce changes to your life to change your health?
- Consume healthy fats and steer clear of unhealthy fats. Avocado, olive oil, grass-fed butter, coconut oil, ghee, animal fats – these are all healthy fat options. You can find a list of safe to eat and not safe to eat oils here.
Changing our consumption is easy, if you start small and basic. Try not to consume much from bags and boxes. Be aware of how many chemicals going into your body, not only through your mouth, but also absorbed through your skin.