Health Foundations
My philosophy on health and self-care is this:
Health enables us to do everything we want in life, so it is VITAL; however it should not take all of your life’s energy to be healthy.
Health is what allows you to go live the vibrant life you truly desire, it’s the gateway to the life of your dreams. When you wake up in the morning with energy, you can lead your day with intention. You can do the things you actually want with your time. You can think more clearly, you can move well, you can connect with the people you love, you can climb the mountain or make the goods you love to sell at the Saturday farmer’s market. A healthy body and mind is a reflection of the things we do to care for them.
There are 6 major pillars that make a great foundation for wellness: Nutrition, Movement, Rest, Hydration, Nervous System, Connection & Expansive Energy. This article covers basics of each pillar with a few metrics to target, in the future there will be masterclasses and in depth articles on each topic, so this article is meant to cover these pillars at a high level.
NOURISHMENT
The things we nourish our body with impact our mood, energy, gut health, hormones, sleep, and so much more! Nourishment through food is so powerful. There are a few helpful guiding principles I recommend when it comes to nutrition:
1. Try to eat the rainbow every day.
2. Focus on whole foods.
That’s it! There are so many different opinions and data suggesting pros and cons to different diets. Although, there is one thing almost all of them have in common: whole foods. Whole foods are packed with accessible macro and micronutrients that your body recognizes and knows how to utilize. Your body needs proteins, fats, and carbohydrates to perform natural functions; which is why I do not recommend cutting out entire food groups, restrictive diets, or counting calories; but rather building a balanced plate with whole foods.
Every person I’ve met feels like life is VERY full; weather your running kids to soccer practice, going on a hike with your friends, or in between work meetings there are times/seasons of life where we need more quick on the go options. There are so many recipes out there now for whole food breakfast cookies, fruit bars, granola etc. Even if you don’t have the time to make these things at home, there are TONS of clean, whole food options that you can buy at the store now. Cooking with whole food ingredients, making my own on the go nutrient dense snacks, and finding packaged foods that are made from whole food ingredients is my JAM. I have learned to love cooking and sourcing quality ingredients. If you ever have questions about healthy swaps or go to brands that I trust for packaged foods, please ask, I would love to help!
MOVEMENT
Like food, movement is medicine for so many reasons. Not only does it support your chemistry and optimize your health; but for many people movement is a creative outlet, a way to connect with people, and something that lights them up. You may be thinking, “WOAH, I have never felt any of those things from going to the gym on a beautiful summer day.” When I say movement, I do not only mean going to the gym to lift weights, but movement also includes so much more. There are so many methods to movement and quite honestly the best forms are the ones you enjoy engaging in often. I encourage gentle movement often and much throughout the day. This can look like standing while working, gardening, walking, playing with your dog, dancing, anything that gets your body moving around. In addition to gentle daily movement, engaging in activities that build strength and cardiovascular health are critical for longevity. Again, I would like to emphasize that I really believe the best form of exercise is the one you will do consistently.
REST
Rest is critical to optimizing our mental and physical well-being. Rest in multiple forms can serve your body well: sleep, naps, and decompression time. A mindset shift that may serve you well is recognizing that your body needs rest and recovery, this is absolutely part of optimizing the health equation.
Starting with sleep, there are few key things to check in with and see how you’re doing:
1. The number of hours you are actually sleeping, not just in bed.
2. The consistency of your sleep and wake times.
3. Are you sleeping during the most restorative hours of the night?
Optimizing these areas of your sleep help to improve REM and deep sleep, recovery, and leave you feeling well rested when you wake up.
Creating a bedtime routine that you look forward to is one of the best ways I’ve found with clients to optimize their sleep and create consistency around their sleep. Finding a ritual that you do every single night before bed, or a series of three things even. It may look like brushing your teeth while listening to your favorite relaxing music, it could be curating a nourishing skincare routine, perhaps it’s a cup of tea and reading. It’s meant to be catered to what feels good and relaxing to you, but essentially the repetition of this helps move your body into “rest & digest” and queue to your body that bedtime is approaching.
HYDRATION
Properly hydrating your body is essential for nearly all your bodily functions to run properly. Targeting 80-120ounces of hydrating fluids daily is a good benchmark. This value may increase or decrease depending on activity levels and personal needs. What counts as a ‘hydrating fluid’? Several things can contribute to your target volume. Getting plenty of plain water is important, but your body needs electrolytes to properly absorb the water, so for that reason finding a mineral or electrolyte drink that you enjoy can count towards your fluid intake. Tea is another great option to increase fluid intake, perhaps this is iced teas in the summer and hot in the winter. Some of my favorites are ginger, spearmint, peppermint, and chamomile. Lastly, mineral mocktails are great for so many reasons! I’ve talked about these a lot. One recipe I love is simply coconut water, pineapple juice, and salt. This provides great potassium and sodium, which are key minerals your body needs.
NERVOUS SYSTEM
Your nervous system is a KEY component to your health and well-being. A healthy nervous system can go between ‘fight or flight’ and ‘rest and digest’. It is quite common for our bodies to be primarily in ‘fight or flight’ which contributes to the many health issues people are struggling with from gut and digestive issues to anxiety, acne, PMS, and chronic pain. We will go much deeper on this topic in the future, so for now there are three things I want to encourage you to be mindful of:
1. Do you create time for your body to move into ‘rest and digest’?
2. What activities are ‘meditative’ to you?
3. And do you give your emotions space to be felt rather than bottling them up to be stored in your body?
From a very high-level perspective on nervous system capacity, simply creating time to move your body out of ‘fight or flight’, having an activity you enjoy that moves you into ‘rest and digest’, and creating a practice or space to feel emotions can really support the function of your nervous system.
CONNECTION & EXPANSIVE ENERGY
Last, but certainly not least is connection & expansive energy. Connection to people we love and care about and connection to ourselves plays a vital role in our overall well-being. As we know, connection is a key factor in longevity.
Let’s start with connection to others. Investing in the relationships in your life and spending time with people who make you smile, laugh, feel supported, and listen can be one of the biggest needle movers in our health. Connection has the potential to move us into higher frequencies of vibration, to learn to accept ourselves, and to help us grow and expand in positive ways. It can be easy for life to get very full and we lose touch with our friends and family, so creating and prioritizing time to connect is critical. This may look like 1 hour a week with a friend. Perhaps you meet for a coffee or a walk every Friday morning, or you get lunch with your parents one day per week. It does not have to be big, grand, or time consuming.
The second part of connection is connection to self, with an emphasis on expansive energy. What does that even mean? That means investing in time to connect with yourself, taking yourself on dates, journaling, and getting to know yourself. If I asked you, “What lights you up and makes you feel alive?” what would you say? Do more of that! This is exactly what I mean by connecting to yourself and expansive energy. As you do more of the things that light you up, the energy you put out into the world changes, you find passion and joy for small things in life. Sometimes improving our health and vitality is simply about adding more things in our life that bring us joy, raise our frequency, and light us up!