Research shows that spending a little time each day surrounded by nature has been proven to improve mental health and boost your immune system. Time to get outdoors!

WHY IT MATTERS

As cities have grown larger, our worlds have actually grown smaller. So small, in fact, that we can do most of our work on a device that fits in our pockets. The consequence of this is that we are spending less time outdoors while experiencing more muscle aches, headaches, and increased stress with the demands of being available at all hours of the day via those small devices.

This month it’s time to get reattached to nature and start implementing a dose of the “nature cure.”

Embrace nature.

This month try to spend increased amounts of time at a park, woodland, a beach, or on a nature trail. How much time? 15 to 20 minutes a day has been shown to improve health and well-being.

AT HOME

• Walk in the grass either at your house or in a park without your shoes on; this is a connectivity strategy and only takes 15 minutes a day
• Hike a trail for a total of 2 miles
• Walk around your neighborhood looking at all the trees, look for birds’ nests and animals; this will connect you to the local nature that you have

AT WORK

• Take a 10-minute break by putting on headphones and playing ocean sounds at your desk
• Take a 30-minute walk every day at lunch to a nearby park
• Keep live plants in your office that require your attention and care every day

Start small

Your goal is to increase your exposure to natural beauty of the surrounding area. If you live in a large city, then find an urban park. Take small steps at first and when you are ready for bigger adventures head further outside city limits.

Did you know?

One of the most stable shapes in the universe is a triangle. Its wide base and low center of mass make it nearly impossible to move. That is why the pyramids across the world haven’t gotten up and walked away. They’ve stayed in place for thousands of years because they were designed NOT to move.

HUMANS, ON THE OTHER HAND, ARE THE INVERSE OF THIS STABLE SHAPE.

Our bone structure is actually two upside-down triangles stacked on top of each other: wide shoulders to a narrow spine, then wide hips to narrow feet. We were not designed to stay in one place; we were Designed to Move!

Balancing being Designed to Move.

WHY IT MATTERS

When it comes to improving your physical activity and movement, most of us often think about just adding more activity in the area we’re already doing a lot in. But research shows that our greatest activity and movement gains can actually come from adding to the area you’re doing the least in.

MOBILITY

There is perhaps no other area that limits our movement more than losing mobility in our joints. When we lose the ability to move our joints through a complete range of motion, not only does it cause problems for that joint; it also adds strain, pain, and stress to the joints surrounding it.

• Stretch every day. Your muscles are like rubber bands that stay more limber when they’re stretched regularly.
• Sit on the ground. Continually sitting in chairs tightens up the same muscles in our hips, back, and neck. If you’re going to sit to watch that show or read that book, can you do it sitting on the ground?
• Do Pilates! Or yoga, or foam rolling, or any other workout that decreases tightness and increases mobility of numerous joints.

STRENGTH

While strength can be defined as the ability to produce force or movement, stability is the ability to control it. Building strength while focusing on controlling your movements increases both strength and power. Carry heavy objects, dig holes, climb, and make your body do things that awaken and delight your nervous system as much as they do your muscles!

• Use your muscles. Find ways in the day to use your muscles instead of machines (i.e. take the stairs instead of the elevator).
• Pick up and carry heavy things, or push and pull things that engage lots of muscles. You were designed to move, and you were also designed to carry, push, and pull things from here to there.
• Add high intensity. Find ways to do shorter exercise bouts, but do them at higher speeds and with higher power outputs while taking longer rests.

ENDURANCE

The most important way to foster this area is to walk! Yes, you can compete in endurance events, but you don’t have to in order to take advantage of the majority of the health benefits of this endurance category. Try to do one of the following on a daily basis.

• Sit less, move more. At the most basic level, find ways to add more walking and movement to your day. Park further away or take your phone meeting while on a walk; remember, you were designed to move!
• Move for extended periods of time. Go walking, jogging, swimming, climbing, skiing, rowing – anything you enjoy that involves moving your body – for 15+ minutes at a time.
• Get your sweat on! When you sweat it means you’re activating heat shock proteins that have vast, long-lasting health benefits, including living longer with a better healthspan!

PAY ATTENTION TO WHICH ACTIVITIES YOU’RE SPENDING THE MOST TIME ON, AND THEN TRY TO FIND WAYS TO CONVENIENTLY ADD THE OTHERS INTO YOUR DAILY LIFE. SMALL CHANGES = BIG IMPACTS.

To improve your mental and physical wellbeing and extend your healthspan, it is important to eat real food!

This month, we spotlight the very important, foundational theme for your overall wellbeing. No matter where you are on your health journey, we all share this in common. It is imperative to eat real food!

Let’s start with a fun game: can you identify the foods with the following ingredients lists?

Food #2

organic avocado

How’d you do? I’m guessing you were able to correctly identify the second food (avocado) from its ingredients list, but what about the first one? That could be frozen pizza dough, donuts, some type of cereal, can you tell? The difficulty is you CAN’T tell just from the ingredients list what you are about to ingest, because it’s NOT real food, it is a food-like substance. So, should we really be putting that into our bodies?

Our industrial food system drives many of the chronic disease problems we see today by enabling a national diet of sugary, starchy, overly processed, nutrient-depleted foods laden with pesticides, hormones, and other harmful chemicals.  Our goal this month is to begin reversing this trend we have of eating food-like items, and begin eating real food!

REAL FOOD IS FOUND IN NATURE AND IS FOOD THAT YOU CAN PICK, HUNT, OR GATHER. REAL FOOD HAS AN INGREDIENT LIST THAT IS ONE ITEM LONG, OR A COMBINATION OF ONE-ITEM INGREDIENTS.

Steak and eggs, broccoli, sweet potatoes, pecans, apples and cinnamon cooked in coconut oil… notice how you can pronounce all of those and know what they are? That’s real food!

Oh, and the answer to what is food #1 above? Twinkies. Which by the way, come in at 35 grams of sugar per single cake serving, so 70 grams of sugar for the package of two! Needless to say, Twinkies and most bake goods found in the store are significantly over our 8 grams of sugar per serving or less rule from our “Eliminate Ultra-Processed Foods” challenge!  And for sure NOT part of our “Eating Real Food” challenge for this month!

We all know that food can harm. We know that drinking soda and eating junk food is bad for us. But did you know that food can heal? Did you know that food can cure depression, diabetes, arthritis, autoimmune disease, headaches, fatigue, and insomnia?

FOOD IS MEDICINE.

Food is the most powerful drug on the planet! It can improve the expression of thousands of genes, balance dozens of hormones, optimize tens of thousands of protein networks, reduce inflammation, and optimize the microbiome in your gut with every single bite.

Food has been scientifically proven to cure most chronic diseases; it works faster, better, and cheaper than any drug ever discovered; and the only side effects to eating real food are good ones – prevention, reversal, and even treatment of disease.

Food exists specifically to energize, heal, and uplift us. Every bite you take is a powerful opportunity to create health or promote disease. We must connect the dots between what is on our plate and our mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Food is not just calories; it’s medicine!

This year, don’t make a resolution: make a habit!

Skeptical of resolutions? So are we! Research shows that 80% of New Year’s resolutions fail within the first three weeks. But, if you can make it to two and a half months (66 days, to be exact), then you can turn that resolution into a habit.

According to research, in 66 days you can actually rewire the way your nervous system works, influence the way your body’s hormones are controlled and shared, and use your desired changes to actually make them a habit. So, how do you do that today?

STEP 1: FIGURE OUT WHERE YOU’RE AT.

You can’t get to where you want to go if you don’t know where you’re at. Yet year after year many of us take on lofty health goals only to see them come crashing down as soon as too many external stressors press upon us. A large part of this stems from never taking the time to first assess where we are. If you asked us how to get to Seattle, we’d first have to ask: “where are you starting from?” 

Healthy Is Wellness provides a comprehensive look at where you are in our monthly coaching sessions, so we recommend starting there. But, if nothing else, analyze what it is that you want to change and what has stopped you from making that change in the past. Answering those two questions will help significantly with giving you a starting point from which to launch into your desired habit.

STEP 2: DECIDE WHERE YOU WANT TO GO.

This doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Simply write down the answers to the following questions:

• What is my goal?
• What is going to stand in the way of reaching that goal?
• What is going to help me reach my goal?

We call the last two barriers and accelerators. The most common barriers we see are a lack of time, lack of social support from those closest to you, and the inconvenience of making a change. Accelerators, on the other hand, look like people, rules, or certain tools that will help you reach your goal. The more honest you are about each of these, the better you are going to be at addressing them in your plan.

STEP 3: MAKE A PLAN.

Again, this doesn’t have to be overly complicated. Simply do the following three things:

• Make a list of your accelerators and write out how you’re going to use them in creating your new habit and achieving your goal.
• Make a list of barriers and write out how you’re going to navigate them or address them in creating your new habit and achieving your goal.
• Decide when you’re going to start your new habit to help you reach your goal, and make a plan on your calendar of when you’re going to do this behavior each day.

Bonus: Healthy Is Wellness coaches are trained in this behavior change process and would love to help you out! If you’ve never been to a coach or just have a quick question, shoot us an email at info@healthyiswellness.com.

STEP 4: DOUBLE YOUR CHANCES OF SUCCESS!

Did you know you are twice as likely to succeed by having an accountability partner? Research shows that you have a significantly higher chance to succeed in reaching your goals when receiving social support. You’re also 600% more likely to start your new habit if you share it with someone close to you!

So, decide now: who are you going to share your goals with to double your chances of success, and who are you going to support in their Track to 66 journey?

According to Brian Tracy, the author of perhaps the best selling book ever on achieving your goals (called “Goals!” if you’d like to check it out): “If I was given only five minutes to speak to you and I could convey only one thought that would help you be more successful, I would tell you this: WRITE DOWN YOUR GOALS, make a plan to achieve them, and work on your plans every single day.”

With the holidays in full swing, it’s a great time to focus on giving back.

And let’s not forget, it’s also cold & flu season, so we’ll be giving you tactics to support your immune system, too! Each of the challenges below not only helps with your mental health and ability to give back to those around you, but also has scientific benefits proven to boost your health.

Healthy Is a Simple Act of Kindness

A simple act of kindness completed regularly has been scientifically proven to produce more serotonin and dopamine throughout our bodies. Both of these are neurotransmitters – chemicals released by nerve cells to send signals to other nerve cells. Science shows that simple acts of kindness reduce cortisol and adrenal stress, decrease pain, eliminate signs of depression and anxiety, and lower blood pressure.

Commit to performing a simple act of kindness for one person per day, and do the same for yourself!

Healthy Is No Flour or Sugar for Breakfast

Whenever you “break your fast” in the morning, your first calories of the day are setting your body up for steady energy and proper hormone regulation. However, if that meal contains too much added sugar or flour, it can set you up for a day of moodiness, cravings, and hormone disruption. Avoid this by avoiding sugar and flour for breakfast, and try prioritizing protein and fiber instead!

Healthy Is a Thankfulness Challenge

In one of the largest and longest studies ever done on wellbeing, with over 85 years of data, one of the strongest predictors of physical and mental wellness was the relationships we have with others. For 30 days, begin your day by writing a two-minute positive email, text, or letter praising or thanking someone you know, doing it for a different person each day.

Finish strong.

As we approach the New Year, let’s not only get ready to accomplish our goals in 2024 – let’s make sure we finish 2023 on a high note. Sign up for your next coaching session and our team of coaches will help!