wellness tips for everyone!
You don’t have to go on a crazy juice cleanse to be healthy or give up eating dairy or gluten. I have spent the last ten years of my life immersed in the health and wellness sphere. For the last two years I have been studying holistic nutrition. Study, research and my own experience has shown me that even the smallest changes can help our overall health and well being. Here are some some top tips I have learnt over the last ten years from the experts and from my own experience.
Top Tips
• The number one thing you can do? Sleep, sleep, sleep. Get into a healthy sleeping pattern and stick to it. You want to aim for at least 8 hours of quality sleep at night. Want to find out more about the power of sleep? Read Matthew Walker’s New York Times best seller ‘Why We Sleep’. Sleep is one of the first areas that I work on with clients! (Season 3, Episode 7 on Wellness with Ella).
• Hydrate, hydrate hydrate - Drink lots of water. Water is the key to everything. If you get dehydrated, then you are going to be sluggish, have no energy and be grumpy. (This is hard one for me, especially in the winter). The recommended amount of water is half your body weight in ounces (and potentially more if you are exercising a lot/live in a hot climtate etc.).
• Incorporate more fruit and vegetables into your day. In Great Britain they recommend 5 servings a day of fruit and vegetables. This helps to ensure we are getting enough fiber, vitamins and minerals. All of which are necessary for our health. Are you getting this?
• Adopt a mindful attitude when it comes to food. When you feel hungry, take a moment to analyze how you are feeling and what you are craving rather than simply reaching for the bag of chips. And then see if you can start to make healthier choices. When we think we are hungry, we are actually thirsty. So try to reach for water before food.
• Eat the rainbow when it comes to fruit and vegetables - either daily or weekly! Every color corresponds to different phytochemicals in our plants. The more varied your diet, the more you can ensure you are getting a nutrient dense diet with plenty of health supporting phytochemicals (they can help reduce the risk of cancer, help lower blood pressure, help with blood sugar stabilization….and the list goes on).
• Vary your diet – eat 30 different types of plants a week to support the gut microbiome which is crucial to over all health - this includes fruits, vegetables, pulses, grains, herbs and spices.
• Keep your gut happy and healthy. (Season 4, Episode 2, Season 6, Episode 18, Season 7, Episode 7 - all on Wellness with Ella) by eating a varied diet and including probiotics (i.e. fermented food - add in some kombucha, natural yoghurt, keffir, kimchi etc).
• Consider having one vegetarian meal/day a week – meatless Monday? Reducing our intake of red meat is key to leading a healthy and long life (as shown by the Blue Zones).
• Cook 1 new recipe a week or month. Add in new flavors and ingredients.
• General daily movement - aim for 10,000 steps in a day. If you sit at a desk, take a walk every hour. Or maybe go one step further and move to a standing desk (the benefits of a standing desk are crazy!). Daily movemement has been shown to be crucial for overall health and longevity (this research comes from the Blue Zones by Dan Buettner).
• Exercise for at least 150 minutes per a week (this is the recommend amount of daily exercise we should be getting as adults in the USA).
• Get outside and see the sun so you can get your Vitamin D. Typically, 15 to 20 minutes of sun exposure on our face and arms is all it takes to obtain our vitamin D for the day (geographical location/season affect this so check out the recommendations for where you live).
• Consider writing a gratitude journal – every morning write down 3 to 5 things you are grateful. Commit to writing this journal for the next month or year. Start you day with positivity and gratitude. You will be amazed by the shift in mindset and how this helps reduce stress and activate the parasympathetic nervous system (a state of relaxation).
• Surround yourself with inspiring literature and music – be it books or podcasts. (I have recently stopped listening to the radio and only listen to podcasts and it has totally changed my day!). My favorite podcasts are Wellness with Ella (formerly Deliciously Ella), Science and Nutrition by Zoe (scientific based research health and wellness podcast).
• Saturday switch off – switch off all electrical devices for the day. This will hopefully help reduce stress!
• Incorporate essential oils into your life – diffuser, spray, bath salts, sugar scrubs…I personally love Serenity by Doterra. You can use the oils to help relax you or energize you depending upon the scent.
• Incorporate yoga, meditation and breathing into your life. Set realistic goals - even if it’s only 10 minutes a day. Everything counts. It could be taking 5 deep breaths in bed before you get up, meditating for 10 minutes or practicing yoga for 15 minutes. The goal is to move you from being in a constant state of stress (fight or flight - the sympathetic nervous sytem) into a state of relaxation (rest and digest - activating the parasympathetic nervous system).