Ten Easy Tips to Improve Your Health * Spotlight My Health

The name of the game this year is improved health—at least for me it is. I’m sharing my ten health hacks that I do on a daily basis that I believe has really helps me feel much better this year.

Many of you know that I started my journey to improve my health a year ago. For the most part, its going well, but I still have a few areas I’m trying to conquer and that, of course has to do with my weight.

The tips I’m sharing today have to do with my overall health, mental and physical, and I believe have contributed to me feeling better than I have in a long time.

**A Holistic Lifestyle Could Help Improve Your Health

My journey for better health has led me to a holistic lifestyle. I’m not fully engulfed in it yet as I’m learning along the way. But one thing I’ve come to learn, and feel is that we should wed Eastern and Western medicine more closely and more often than we do in the States. I believe they compliment each other and can learn from each other.

I’ve come to love essential oils, gems and crystals, meditating, home remedies and the list goes on that I have learned over the last four to five years.

I continue to slowly incorporate holistic ways of living into mine and my families’ lives.

**Meditating

Meditating is a big benefit for your mental health. It is accumulative and teaches you how to connect with yourself better than most of us do without the meditation.

Ten to twenty minutes a day does it and you will be amazed at how meditation can help you connect with your feelings. Why were you so angry today, or sad or what made you feel guilty?

You can face these feelings during meditation and come out better for it. This improves your health.

If this is something you don’t know how to do, then look-up Jason Stephenson on YouTube. His guided meditations are a good introduction, are only around 10-15 minutes and are very soothing. They are great to get you started. I also have a post on meditating that explains the different types of meditating which you can read here.

**Regular Check-ups

I know we all know that regular check-ups are important, but do we actually follow through. I do for the most part. I do the regular yearly checkup because I want to be with my family as long as possible. Plus, I’m the type that likes to nip anything in the bud—including with my health. I’d rather know something, work at a plan and get busy with changing it.

At the very least, you need blood work done so that you can find out if you are low on any vitamins and/or minerals your body needs for optimum health. Get your check-up for those you love if you don’t think it’s necessary enough for yourself. They think you are worth it.

**Sleep Can Definitely Improve Your Health

Something that is vital to our wellbeing is sleep. It’s as simple as that. The suggested amount of eight hours a night is no joke. I know it’s hard to do sometimes, but you may be surprised at how much better you will feel with enough sleep on a regular basis.

And believe it or not, sleep affects your weight, thyroid function, lowering cortisol levels and much more. Sleep is important—more than I ever knew and I bet you didn’t realize it either.

**Smiling and Positivity

Putting out positivity vibes into the universe goes a long way toward how you feel about everything. How you think, how you feel, how to handle life’s situations, etc. I learned how and why I should put out into the universe what I want to get back. I learned about the Law of Attraction, and it made a difference in how I look at life. Give it a try, you might be surprised.

Smiling is positivity even when you may not feel it. It’s a good start and generally makes you feel good and smiling at someone else just may improve their day. Smiling is something very easy we can do. It makes you feel good, affects those around you in a positive way and the universe likes all these things. So, make someone’s day–Smile! It will do you good.

**Improve Your Health by Making Better Food Choices

For women, our weight is a sore spot for many of us. We can take care of our families and our homes, work, volunteer and anything else that comes our way. But keeping our weight at a healthy level seems to evade some of us.

And unfortunately, we tend to ignore ourselves—which is not a good thing. Not for ourselves or those we take care for. If we aren’t healthy and happy, all the other areas of our lives suffer, so decide this year to take care of you too.

One simple way of taking care of yourself is simply making better food choices. We all know what we should and shouldn’t be eating. Sugar and processed foods are definitely things we should be monitoring closely for a better diet.

Cutting out eating in between meals is another good idea and something I can control. A piece of fruit rather than a bag of chips, a salad or chicken sandwich rather than the biggest, juiciest cheeseburger you can find.

Making changes like this eventually puts you in the front seat with your health.

**More Protein, Less Carbs

While taking foods away or making different choices is important there are things that we need to add also.

For instance, make sure you have a protein with every meal. Your plate should be mostly veggies with a protein and very little carbs. And the carb should be a complex carb, like brown rice or baked potato—not french fries.

fried chicken is not good for your health

shrimp salad is a better choice and may improve your health

When planning your meal, stop and think what you are actually planning on making for this meal. Decide the protein and veggie first, then think about the carb.

Which is better, the baked potato I suggested above or a baked sweet potato. Roasted veggies and sweet potato from the oven or mashed potatoes and gravy. It’s a matter of choice and eventually the roasted veggies become just as easy to make as the mashed potatoes are.

The choice is mine, so I would rather lean toward what is better at least 80% of the time. And notice, I said 80% of the time. None of us are perfect or good 100% of the time, but 80% most of us can hit and not feel too deprived.

Not Into Veggies

Not big on veggies? Then figure out a way to get them into your diet. Here’s a suggestion. Juice them. Combine your veggies and fruit in with a protein drink.

Find a protein powder that you like the taste of—keep trying until you find one or get one that has no taste. This is an easy way to add protein to your diet along with getting in your recommended amount of veggies.

**Add Fiber or MCT Oil to Your Morning Coffee or Protein Shake

MCTs are also a source of energy and appear to induce thermogenesis, or heat generation in the body. This may lead to helping dieters burn fat and reduce their weight which improves your health.

I’ve noticed that it helps wake me up and feel more energy as I get to work in the mornings.

It doesn’t hurt to add some psyllium fiber to your protein shake or coffee in the morning. Psyllium fiber is soluble and has no taste, so I don’t even know it is in my coffee or drink. Listen to your body. I can tell when I don’t get enough vegetables and fruits in my diet, so this is what I do; I’m back on track in a day or two. And feeling much better.

**Take Vitamins

I’m sure you already know that vitamins are a good thing, and we should be taking them, but are you actually doing that? Bare minimum, you should be taking a multi-vitamin. Even with eating a good, well-balanced diet, many of us are still low in certain vitamins and minerals.

As women and because of all the multi-tasking we do, I’m going to discuss the bare minimum of vitamins that we should be taking. I’m working on a more comprehensive list for a post in a few weeks.

Calcium

Good for our bones and helps with good function for our nerves and muscles along with our heart.

Magnesium/Potassium

Can help relieve PMS symptoms and cramps, boosts mood and helps end leg cramps. I get leg cramps if I’m low on potassium. Potassium and calcium need the magnesium to work the way they should. These three vitamins are related in how they work in that magnesium helps transport calcium and potassium in and out of our cells. Being low on magnesium can lead to low calcium and potassium levels.

Omega 3’s

Omega’s are good fats and are also essential fatty acids which means your body can’t make them. So if you aren’t getting them on a regular basis in your diet—go for a good supplement such as flaxseed or fish oils.

Vitamin D

You may be low in this and not even know it. I didn’t until a check up, so now I take a supplement everyday that keeps me in a good range. If you are mostly inside, which many of us are these days, we are not getting enough vitamin D since our bodies need the sun to make vitamin D. Check with your doctor the next time you have a physical.

Iron

Women lose a lot of iron every month, so get this checked out with your next physical too. Your doctor can tell you what to take and how much.

Biotin

I throw in Biotin for myself and my hair. Because of the bariatric surgery I had last year and a minor complication, I wasn’t able to eat the way I should.

That resulted in me losing my hair which should let you know how important it is to eat a decent diet and variety of foods. Unless, you don’t mind losing your hair, of course.

Biotin is good for your nails and hair, but also helps with your digestion, cardiovascular, nerve and metabolic functions.

**Drink Water to Improve Your Health

I know I’ve said this before, but I’m saying it again. WATER IS IMPORTANT. Your body is made of at least 60% water, therefore is constantly using it. That water needs to be replaced. Get a 20 oz. water bottle and drink no less than 3 of these a day. You may be surprised at how this will make you feel.

Don’t be one of the many that walk around dehydrated and not realize it. Dehydration doesn’t help improve your health in any way. I’ve been there—it can actually make you feel pretty crappy instead of improving your health.

Final Thoughts

You may have noticed I did not include exercise in my list of easy ways to improve your health. Consistent exercise is definitely good for your health; however, this post was about “easy” ways to improve your health.

While exercise helps improve your health, many of us find it hard to keep up a steady amount of any type of workout and I will admit, I’m one of those people. Therefore, I couldn’t include workouts under the heading of “easy.” But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t continue to strive to include fitness in our regime of improving our health.

I believe these 10 tips that I’ve shared with you will make you feel so much better that you won’t mind getting out of bed in the morning. To get the benefit, just be consistent with them. Remember, small changes done consistently can make huge differences to your health! Give it a try!