11 Essential Keys for Healthy Living

If you’re serious about your health, these 11 essential keys for healthy living can reap big rewards for long term health.

They can be easily implemented into your already healthy diet plan, or simply help you jump start a new healthy lifestyle.

 

11 Essential Keys for Healthy Living

 

1. Drink Clean Water
Our bodies are over 60% water. Clean water is absolutely essential if you want to be in good health. Tap water contains chemicals, pharmaceutical drug residue, herbicides, pesticides, feces, parasites, fluoride, chlorine, and more. It is not healthy. In my free Getting Started Video Series I have a short video dedicated to the best water to drink.

 

2. Eat More “Whole” Foods
Lets start by defining “whole food”. It’s thrown around a lot so it can be tricky with all the marketing. We know the obvious that for example pop tarts and donuts are not a whole foods. But what about something like coconut oil or olive oil? Are they whole foods? No they are not. You can pick a coconut or an olive from a tree, but you cannot pick coconut “oil” or olive “oil” from a tree.

A whole food can be defined as a food you can pick from a tree or bush. You can however pick a coconut from a tree, or an olive from the olive tree. When in doubt ask yourself, can I pick this food from a tree or bush? If the answer is yes, then you have a whole food.

 

3. Manage Stress
Stress can over-ride even the healthiest diet. It is a major contributor to disease. If fact, stress can outweigh all your best efforts with even the healthiest diet. View 9 Essential Tips to Reduce Stress in Your Life

 

4. Get Good Sleep
Studies indicate that after only 3 nights of poor sleep, blood sugar levels indicate levels similar to diabetes patients. View free video series Getting a good night of sleep.

 

5. Eat More Greens – Don’t rely on pills and powders
If you’re like most people, you find it hard to eat your 7-9 cups of kale or broccoli every day. Like many other people, in your desire to be healthy, you supplement with a handful of pills, and/or buy a green powder to meet your daily allowance of veggies.

Green super food powders can be a good supplement to a healthy diet (assuming you buy one that’s high quality and lab tested for purity). But remember they are just that, supplements, intended to provide additional nutrients to an already healthy diet, not replace a healthy diet.

Believe it or not, I am not a huge fan of veggies myself. What do I do? I make fresh juice and/or have a large bowl of steamed cabbage every day, and supplement with my daily green drink. One simple glass of fresh juice can provide more nutrients than several bowls of vegetables. I do not recommend store bought juice. Even cold pressed has lost most of its nutritional value leaving mostly sugar behind.

 

6. Eat Less Sugar
Sugar destroys the healthy bacteria in your gut, and feeds ever type of disease. Most of us know this now. But in our best efforts to avoid it, it’s hard because it’s in everything.

Knowledge is key in the case of sugar. Make sure you really know how much sugar you’re actually consuming. It’s often the hidden sugar consumed on a daily basis that gets us.

Sugar is hidden in foods you may not even suspect including deli meats, yogurts, and most “healthy” snacks. And remember, MSG is like sugar on steroids and it’s in most restaurant foods and hidden in many prepackaged meals. Reading labels is going to be key. No sugar is best but a realistic goal would be to keep your daily sugar intake below 10gm.

 

7. Ditch Vegetable Oils
There is so much focus on eliminating gluten that other toxic ingredients are often over looked. A bigger concern is vegetable oil. Vegetable oils are highly processed with hexane (chemicals), highly refined, GMO, and highly inflammatory.

A few examples include canola oil, corn oil, soybean oil, sunflower oil, and safflower oil. The list is so long, it’s actually easier to identify oils that are healthier. My top picks are Avocado oil, Olive Oil, Coconut Oil, and Ghee. Always loo for cold pressed or expeller pressed. They are the least processed.  View Video “3 Best Oils To Cook With..”

 

8. Ditch toxic deodorants, soaps, and lotions
Your skin is your largest organ. This means what you apply to your skin really does matter. Deodorants are notorious for having high levels of heavy metals, poisonous chemicals, and endocrine disruptors. Soaps, shampoos, and body lotions are right up there as well. We use Dr Bronner Soap as our hand and body soap, and Pure Haven Essentials hand and body lotion. Both are very pure, simple, and last a long time.

 

9. Exercise & Fresh Air
Exercise does not have to be a trip to the gym. Simply going for a 30 minute walk can be both great exercise and an excellent way to relieve stress. On top of that, a walk with provide you with Vit D your body can actually utilize, which is essential for a healthy strong immune system.

 

10. Approach healthy eating as a way of life – not just another diet
I like to think of my daily diet and my “default diet”. I don’t aim for perfection. When I have a treat or meal out, I have it in my mind that the next meal I will get right back to my healthy “default diet”. Treats are the exception. Once you get your mind set it becomes a habit.

 

11. Detox/Cleanse
As a result of our environment and imperfect diets, toxins build up in our bodies. Just like we take the trash out of your house once a week, we have to “take the trash out” of our bodies a few times a year if we want to enjoy good health and vitality long term. Sound too hard? I’ve done all the work for you. I put together my 21 Day Cleanse Program to make your seasonal detox really simple and effective, and will set you up to succeed in your new healthy lifestyle.  View my 21 Day Cleanse Program.