4 Beginner Health Tips

Plain and simple.  You KNOW this--but do you DO it?  Water aids digestion, normalizes blood pressure, boosts the immune system, prevents and treats headaches, flushes bacteria from the bladder, helps with weight loss...I could go on and on.  Drink enough water that your urine is clear or very pale yellow throughout the day.  Often dehydration is mistaken for hunger and leads to overeating.  Keep water with you and sip throughout your day.

Sugar affects your concentration, decreases the absorption of nutrients, heightens anxiety, inhibits the immune system, feeds the bad bacteria in your digestive tract, speeds up the aging process, and has been connected to multiple cancers.  Reducing your sugar intake goes beyond leaving the sweet powder out of your latte.  It is hidden in most the foods you buy off a shelf and in packaging.  Learn the many names sugar goes by and read food labels.

Easier said than done for most of us but crucial to your health & well-being.  All the kale in the world can not combat stress.  Stress releases the hormone cortisol telling the body to store fat at the waistline and wrecking havoc on the digestive system.  Consider using mindfulness or meditation to alleviate stress and anxiety.  Rely on breathing techniques throughout your day...at your desk, in your car, in line at the grocery store.  Find ways to activate your parasympathetic nervous system throughout the day.

You would if you could but you just can't find the time, right?  Sleep is the one thing you may need to force on yourself.  Reset your internal clock so that you can fall asleep earlier and collect your 8 hours.  Sleep is more than just dreaming.  This is when tissues repair, muscles grow, and proteins synthesis.  Hormones that regulate your appetite, stress, metabolism and other functions are released during restful sleep.  Memory consolidation also occurs during sleep.  Quality sleep inevitably improves quality of life.