“Grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference”.
Do you recognise that poem? This became my mantra while I was writing this post. Understanding my health and working out how to keep myself and those I love as healthy as possible, seemed so complex and VERY daunting. I’m a “seeker” so when I want to know something, I’m pretty good at hunting it out and working out the facts from the rubbish, but even I got bogged down. There were so many conflicting opinions and some of them are REALLY pessimistic. There are so many threats to my health that I can’t control and many I am probably not even aware of. It would be easy to throw up your hands. But please don’t! Remember this poem. There are many aspects of our health we can’t control-let’s accept them. There are many we can change- let’s be courageous and focus on those- one at a time, in ways that are realistic for us.
I hope I’ve done some of the work for you here. This list of my top 10 tips comes from months of reading and “seeking”. I don’t expect you will find these surprising. They are simple and logical and many of them are things my nana told me when I was growing up. Now the science supports them, and we can say that – nana was right!
Below are the 10 things I think (from all my research) that can make a big difference. Remember, unless you are sick, you have time to take it slowly so you have some new habits and routines that you can stick to.
Enjoy!
1. REMOVE PLASTICS
The evidence is conclusive on this one. Hot plastic leaches toxins out into food and water. Cold plastic isn’t much better and its everywhere (even in tins)! Swap out plastic containers, disposable water bottles, plastic bags- anything that hold food or water that you put in your mouth. Especially- never heat plastic.
2. SMILE- BREATH – GO SLOWLY
Ok this is technically 3 but it’s all about managing stress. Stress keeps your flooded with cortisol and cortisol is REALLY bad for you, right down to the cellular level. It causes inflammation and sets of a chain reaction of changes in your body. Chronic stress is a KILLER and leads to so many illnesses as it stops our body’s natural healing from taking place. Maybe its meditation, mindfulness, talking with friends, exercise, dancing, reading, movies- it doesn’t matter. The main thing is that you position yourself to minimise stress, and if it hits you, as it always will, you have strategies to “turn it off”.
3. RESOLVE YOUR EMOTIONAL BAGGAGE
I know, easier said than done. We all carry stuff. If you’ve lived you will have things that you need to understand about how you feel, think, and respond to the world. Big stuff often sits inside as stuck ‘trauma’ which means your body can’t turn off the ‘fight-or-flight’ and you are on constant overload.
4. EAT WHOLE FOOD
This can seem big change but is important so take it step-by step. This is where so many toxins can come from. Cut down processed food, buy organic when you can, increase vegies and decrease meat, reduce diary and gluten, reduce sugar and white rice and bread, increase fibre, avoid Genetically Modified (GM) Foods, and read the labels.
5. DETOX YOUR HOME
Our home is our haven. We need to feel safe here, psychologically, and physically. Look at toxins from household and personal products, furniture and clothing and check out if mould, WIFI or EMF’s might be a problem. Open windows and remove dust mites and allergens.
6. MOVE MORE OFTEN
Moving is so vital. We know the usual reasons, but did you know that our lymphatic system that helps us detox naturally needs physical movement to work, our brain needs movement to process trauma and our gut needs it to speed up our metabolism. Don’t sit when you can stand. Dot drive when you can walk. It is a bonus if you sweat (if not take a sauna) as that helps remove toxins.
7. GET OUTSIDE EVERY DAY
As usual, your grandma was right, sunshine is important. Try to get 10 mins at the start of every day. But so too are the smells and sounds of nature. The vibrations and frequency are calming, and the smells of a forest go straight to the brain to stimulate healing. Standing barefoot on the earth grounds your energy. Add the positive ions of the surf and the frequency of water sounds and, you can see why humans love walking along the beach.
8. SLEEP
Sleep is both a sign that something is wrong and a part of the solution. Our body’s need to sleep to detox and clear our brains. So, consider room temperature, avoiding blue light/screen time for an hour before bed, a dark room with no lights from TV, clocks etc, lavender, music or relaxation tapes and having a set bed routine and time. But don’t forget that your brain is ‘open’ in sleep so get those EMS’s out of the bedroom by leaving your phone somewhere else. They suggest that exercise in the day and sunlight in the morning but help the body’s natural sleep patterns as does managing that stress. They also say that pets waking you up is up there as being a main cause of poor sleeping.
9. FILTER YOUR WATER
We all know about a litre of water a day as a minimum but are we thinking about what’s in our water. Putting water with chemicals into your body may not be a good idea and ALL water from your mains water system, wherever you are will have chemicals in it. Invest in a water filter if you can. Boiling gets rid of organic toxins but not many chemicals.
10. HANG OUT WITH NICE PEOPLE
Humans are not made to be lone wolves. We are VERY social creatures and isolation, loneliness and exclusion are as harmful as any toxin. Get out there. Talking and sharing with people really is as strong as any medicine- and the science proves it.
I could go on and add another 10, but these are the ones I have decided to implement this year. I am sure there can be no harm and potentially some gains.
Have a go and see what you think.
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