This week’s expert — your grandmother.
So how do you get healthy for good? It took me ten years, four continents, an eight thousand mile motorbike trip and an intense twelve month health coaching course with the Institute for Integrative nutrition to figure it out so let’s get stuck in.
1: Don’t eat anything your grandmother wouldn’t recognise
Was your grandmother eating sugary cereal washed down with a super-duper-mocha-caramel latte?
Don’t think so.
Go and have a chat to your gran and take notes, if that’s no longer a reality go and have a chat to you’re mum and see what she ate growing up — still take notes.
2: Pay regular visits to your local healer
Local healers sometimes go unnoticed, but they’re always there working away come rain or shine to give you fresh seasonal produce.
Yep — I’m talking about your local farmer.
If you need to heal yourself because of illness or just want to feel healthier and have more energy then your local farmer should be your first port of call.
Unsure about what’s in season? Scared of vegetables? Don’t know what to do with green stuff?
Find out when and where you’re local farmers market is, think of what you’d like to know then go along and have a chat.
3: Be stronger than your strongest excuse
Don’t have time to shop for healthy produce? Too busy to meal plan? Change make you nervous?
Get healthy, seasonal, organic veg delivered to door each week along with recipe cards and meals plans — do everything you can to make living a healthier lifestyle simple and fun.
4: Have dirty thoughts
The soil your food grows in makes difference and how it’s farmed really does affect the quality of the food you eat.
Groundbreaking research published in the British Journal of Nutrition has found significant nutritional differences between organic and non-organic farming.
In 2014, the team at Newcastle University found organic crops are up to 60% higher in a number of key antioxidants than conventionally-grown ones.
Organic means lower levels of pesticides, no manufactured herbicides or artificial fertilisers and more environmentally sustainable management of the land and natural environment — this means more wildlife and healthy planet for your kids (or your best friends kids)….and their kids.
Next time you’re thinking about your veg — make sure you’re having dirty thoughts.
5: Let food be thy medicine — Hippocrates
Know, understand and trust that it’s not just food that’s the medicine.
It’s the soil, the air and the wind so if you haven’t been out in the elements for a while, make it part of your weekly routine.
Start now.
6: Remind yourself (often) that beauty is not one dimensional
You’re having one of ‘those days’ — you wake up feeling 5kg heavier and like you want to avoid having a shower because you don’t want to know whats going on under there.
You’re on the crossroads of spending the next 24 hours of your life berating your body for not being {fill in the blank} enough.
Don’t go there, choose a nicer feeling thought and remind yourself of all the other dimensions that make you a beautiful person — it’s unlikely to be the shape of your ass.
7: Action not perfection
I could (and will at some point) write a whole article about perfection but after two businesses and my own personal journey to wellness — here’s what I know to be true; perfection is the killer of joy and will keep you stuck and frustrated.
It’s not about being perfect, it’s about taking action and getting started.
Think about your health — what’s one thing you know you should be doing that you’re not doing?
Now start doing it.
8: Reduce stress
Does being told to ‘just breathe’ or ‘relax” annoy you? Me too.
However, stress is serious — our self healing mechanisms only function when our nervous system is not in chronic repetitive stress response.
No amount of kale is going to counteract the poisonous effect chronic repetitive stress has on your body.
Heavy stuff right, so what’s the answer?
The truth is, I don’t have the answer — you do.
You’re completely unique and what works for you won’t necessarily work for the next person,
There’s not one specific magic bullet to tackle every single problem out there so apart from the usual breathing exercises that we all know we should do (but don’t) try these.
- Surender the outcome. Don’t stress about stuff you can’t control.
- Learn to say no. You don’t have to be everything to everybody — just say no.
- Get out of your head and into your body. Exercise, have sex, dance — just move it.
9: Bio Individuality
This is HUGE.
Nutrition is, contrary to the hundreds of books you can buy on the subject, a fledgling science.
You are a unique human being and the type of food that will make you thrive is unique to you, there’s no right or wrong, good or bad.
Your body is completely intelligent and constantly sending you messages about what it needs for health and balance. These messages appear as cravings, intuitions and sometimes health problems.
Understanding what and how to eat is essential for wellness. You are walking food. The food you take into your mouth gets assimilated into your blood stream. Your blood is what creates your cells, your tissues, your organs, your skin, your hair, your brain and eventually your thoughts and your feelings.
– Joshua Rosenthal IIN
10. Look beyond the fridge and the farmers market
Beyond food are other forms of nourishment.
Healthy relationships, a career you love, spiritual practice and regular exercise, all of which can satisfy your hunger for life.
Always listen with a questioning ear, don’t let anyone guide you away from your intuition, set clear intentions and if you can’t find what you’re looking for — create it.
Which tip do you feel will help you on your path to health and wellness? Let me know in the comments below.
When was the last time you received the personal attention you deserve and talked with someone about your health, wellness and lifestyle goals?
For more on health and wellness with a sidekick of adventure travel click on the link below.
Originally published at www.huffingtonpost.com on August 5, 2016.
Originally published at medium.com