BABY STEP #3
START DOING THE "GOOD" STUFF
AREA #1: NUTRITION.
Switch to Stevia for sweetness!
It's an antioxidant, tastes great and is actually good for you with no negative side effects. (Agave Nectar is preferred for cooking.) Check the ingredients before you buy. Be sure the stevia you pick contains only stevia.
BEGIN TAKING NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENTS. Start with a GOOD multi-vitamin mineral etc combination because that favorably impacts almost all of your body's healing and repair functions and processes. It is desirable when you are young...and an absolute requirement for feeling better...longer, as you get older! Add to that, a GOOD Probiotic, Omega 3 (fish oils), Curcumin, Vitamin C, E & B 50, Silymarin (milk thistle) and Green Tea extract. Each of these helps your body control chronic inflammation. They work together synergistically for even more power and effectiveness.
Click here for Detailed NUTRITIONAL SUPPLEMENT INFO
EAT ORGANIC, NON-GMO,NON-MAN-MADE, wherever possible. Eat lots of fish, fresh fruits and vegetables. As Joel Fuhrman, M D, says in his new book, Eat to Live, ... "Eat high nutrient foods (not breads and pastas) and put a note on your frig that says, "THE SALAD IS THE MAIN DISH".
Eat ONLY breads, cereals, pastries & pastas made from rice, corn, or something other than regular wheat! "Organic", "wholegrain", etc are meaningless. Modern wheat is a "chronic poison", according to Dr. William Davis.
BEGIN "BLENDERIZING" 1 MEAL A DAY. You get approximately 3 times the absorbed nutrients and absorbed food value per meal just by blending. Easy way to quickly increase your "veggies" enjoyably!
Click here for Detailed DELICIOUS HEALTHY "chocolate shake" SMOOTHIE INFO
MAKE YOUR OWN INEXPENSIVE DRINKING WATER. Get a simple counter top filter (like Brita) to remove chlorine and fluoride (and God only knows what else). Use pH strips (like AlkaMax from Amazon) to determine your filtered water's pH level. Use simple bicarbonate of soda (like Arm & Hammer) to bring the acidity down to about 7.5 to 8.0 pH. Add in a few drops of trace minerals for great taste.
BRUSH YOUR TEETH & GUMS, at least twice a day, WITH SODIUM BICARBONATE (baking soda like Arm & Hammer). Add sea salt to taste tolerance. Use a tooth pick, floss, or chew a stevia mint gum after each meal.
AREA #2: ENVIRONMENTAL.
SPEND TIME OUTDOORS, IN NATURAL LIGHT & AIR. Spend time in natural sunlight without sunblock to receive the best beneits. Remove glasses or contacts and allow the healing value of the natural light to fill your body. Take off your shoes. Walk on the wet grass, or the surf or the riverbed. Get back in touch with nature. Enjoy the surf, the mountains, rivers, creeks, trees, flowers and birds.Watch the sunrise and sunset. Look at the full moon.
AREA #3: MENTAL.
BEGIN SIMPLE BREATH WORK. LEARN TO BELLY BREATHE. Conscious Controlled Breathing (CCB) breathing is a mental exercise as well as physical. Breath work is an important preliminary activity to learn before beginning meditation. Lie on you back with a saucer plate on your stomach. As you breathe in, count slowly; 1- 2- 3-4- 5-, as you slowly let your stomach push the plate up. Do not let your chest expand or contract as you breath! When you breath out, slowly count backward; 5- 4- 3- 2- 1-, as you let the plate drop back down. While this a couple of time a day until you begin to feel comfortable with the slow steady even breathing and with the breathing from your lower abdomen, instead of your chest. Do this for about 2 minutes at a time, twice a day, when you start. Then work up to 5 minutes a session, without the plate but continuing to breathe slowly, steadily, and deeply from your abdomen. Regular practice of CCB is one of the most powerful and beneficial overall health treats you can give yourself. It is relaxing and lowers inflammation levels. For more information, see the "Breathe2Relax" android App & get the CD, by world renown Dr. Andrew Weil, M.D. entitled, "Breathing, The Master Key to Self Healing". See the web video by Dr. Weil on 4-7-8 Breathing.
Re-Program for more joy & happiness. Set a trigger (such as whenever you get a red light in traffic or see some one smile at you) and use it when you encounter that event during your day. Think of a very safe and relaxing place where you feel very secure and comfortable, take a big breath in and exhale with a big sigh, and then say silently (or aloud if alone) to your self,"I smile frequently and laugh easily", or "I am joyful and happy".
Set a trigger! Pick an event that happens frequently (I use a red traffic light) to trigger you to take a big sigh! Breath in deeply from your belly as you raise your shoulders, Then exhale loudly as you drop your shoulders. For maximum effectiveness, repeat for total of 3 big sighs.
Begin regular meditation! it's one of the best things you can do for your self. And it doesn't have to be exotic or complicated to be awesomely effective. Just find a chair where your back can be straight, your feet flat on the floor, close your eyes and breath in through your nose from your belly, slowly and steadily.Then as you exhale slowly, steadily, and completely through your nose, silently say to yourself "calm". Set a timer and repeat for 20 minutes at a setting. Ideally done before your day starts in the morning and an hour or so before you go to sleep for the night. This procedure was studied with other techniques by Herbert Benson, M.D., Harvard Medical School and detailed in his book, The Relaxation Response, and found to be as effective as more complicated procedures. It is similar to the Transcendental Meditation (TM) referred to by Ray Dalio, billionaire financial Wall Street trader who said, "Meditation, more than anything in my life, was the biggest ingredient of whatever success I've had".
Click here for HOW TO MEDITATE
AREA #4: PHYSICAL.
MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! Be sure to slow walk outside (barefoot, if possible) for at least 10 minutes a day. Up to 25 minutes is extremely beneficial for overall health.
"Exercise is the single most positive thing you can do for your health", says William Joel Meggs, M.D., PhD, in his book,The Inflammation Cure. Don't do it to lose weight or get big muscles. Do it to live longer and feel better.
Check your gums & teeth, ears, eyes and throat for low level infections which generate constant low level inflammation.
Switch from caffeinated beverages to simple exercises and deep breathing. You'll get the same "boast' with no negative side effects. Make some simple deep breathing exercises a part of your day.
Begin simple gardening. It is great, easy exercise and it is very relaxing. And you end up with some nice flowers or organic fruit and vegetables.
Do simple Epsom salts and bicarbonate of soda hot tub soaks. Almost everyone is short of magnesium and it's very difficult to get enough from food, or supplements. Simple hot water bathtub soaks with Epsom salts (magnesium sulfate) and bicarbonate of soda for 15 or 20 minutes transport the magnesium into your body trans-dermally, through the skin, bypassing the gastrointestinal tract completely. It not only makes you feel great, it is super therapy for your overall health, because magnesium is critical for so many healing and restorative processes in the body.
Every day, schedule some time outside, in natural sunlight, in fresh air, around green foliage. Get off the sofa and off the asphalt and concrete as much as possible.
Begin simple ELECTRICAL "Earthing" on "Grounding" practice where you daily spend some time electrically connected to the ground or earth. The best practice is to sleep on a grounded sheet or mattress. But simply walking barefooted on the ground helps. Recent research published in the Journal of Environmental and Public Health (JEPH) detail the almost unbelievably powerful positive impact on overall health of these simple processes. "Grounding is the most powerful anti-inflammatory there is. Grounding your body can instantly reduce pain". Dr. Laura Koniver, M.D. Watch the FREE preview of the movie (trailer), "Heal for Free", and the DVD,"Grounded", with astronauts and world renown physicians.at Amazon.com. See the book, "Earthing: The Most Important Health Discovery Ever?" by Zucker, Ober, & Sinatra M/D. It just may be!
Start a simplified Qi Gong practice. It is a type of synchronized, focused breathing, visualization, slow stretching movement meditation. It is a health maintenance, energizing routine that has been done in China for over 8,000 years with nearly 100,000 million people practicing it daily now. Qi Gong is most beneficial for chronic conditions (as caused by chronic inflammation) whereas most western therapies are best for critical or catastrophic conditions. A Qi Gong exercise session restores your energy whereas a typical Western style exercise routine depletes your energy. Qi Gong is just now becoming known and recognized in our country.The goal of Qi Gong is a flexible spine and a tranquil mind.
Click here for QI GONG PROGRAM
AREA #5: AGING.
MOVE! MOVE! MOVE! We'll say it again. Just moving facilitates so many important body processes and functions. It's not so important how or what you move, but that you just move! !
Supplements become ESSENTIAL (non-optional) as we age
and can help tremendously in controlling the aches, pains and diseases of aging and help us feel MUCH better and stay healthier. Aside from a "good" multivitamin, some of the basics are:
DMG-Dimethylglycine, triggers over 41 crucial biochemical reactions in your body that are directly or indirectly linked to how well(or how poorly) you age! DMG ...makes you feel young all over again, when you take it regularly. Steve Barwick, Health Over 40 Newsletter. See, Building Wellness with DMG, by Dr. Richard V. Kendall, Ph.D.
DHEA is the body's master hormone. Its job is to regulate and control all the others. The amount of DHEA in the body drops dramatically as we age.
Ginko Baloba helps the blood get through all the small arteries and capillaries which tend to clog as we age.
Resveratrol is an all purpose anti-aging nutrient.
Ashitaba significantly reduces the risk of life threatening diseases, brain disorders, strokes, heart attacks and immune system dysfunction while reducing anxiety and increasing energy.