Hello friends!
I can not believe that it is already February 2016! Have you noticed that when you are doing something you like, time flies by as fast as the speed of a light!
In any case, today I want to draw your attention to your New Year Resolutions (NYRs) as it is still the right moment to address this topic! Have you set up any NYRs this year related to healthier eating habits and healthier life style? The majority of us do every year and the majority of us actually fail to complete them every year! May be you have already stopped pursuing your resolution?! However, there is still time to do something about this! Let’s see if we can achieve better results together!
You may ask do NYRs work at all? Interestingly, research has been conducted about this and has shoes that NYRs actually have ten times more chance to be successful in comparison with any other resolutions you may make during a year. It seems there is some psychological and cultural link with analysing our life over the last year and thinking about what we can do differently in the new year to come, how we can be better, healthier, happier and so on. So, we still have a pretty good chance to stick to our NYRs! Let’s see how we can use this magic momentum to achieve your personal goal!
First of all, I want to bring your attention to four main areas of your well-being that you need to consider when you want to improve any life style habits. It doesn’t really matter if you want to quit smoking or loose some weight, improve your skin condition or get less stressed. What ever you do, please, consider a holistic approach of achieving your goal! Only this approach will bring the long lasting, effective results! Here are the four main pillars of your complete guide for well-being related improvements.
- Detox your body!
If you want your body to be responsive to any changes you want to implement, you need to help your detoxification system to work properly and get rid of the extra toxins that we all accumulate very quickly due to our hectic life styles. Very often we do not realise how much we load ourselves with toxins from food, our environment, cosmetics, cleaning agents, computers and so on on a daily base. So, consider the following, very simple, detox steps that can easily be implemented into your busy life:
- Start your mornings with a glass of lemon water and prepare your digestive system for the day ahead.
- Drink plenty of water during the day.
- Eat plenty of leafy green vegetables and fermented food.
- Drink ginger and lemon tea.
- Every day have fresh juices and smoothies from fruits and vegetables.
- Take a little bit of apple cider vinegar before each meal and help your digestive system to process the food better.
- Consider taking certain supplements such as Chlorella, probiotics, Milk Thistle and Juice Plus products.
And of course, a huge part of detox is eliminating junk food, processed food, soft drinks and ready-made juices as much as possible!
- Activate “your own pharmacy”!
I really like this expression that I learned from Dr Sears. Yes, we do have our internal pharmacy inside of us that works 24×7. Found in the largest endocrine organ in our body – endothelium, the lining of our blood vessels. This lining contains metabolically active cells that function like microscopic medicinal bottles, releasing hormones and many other active molecules and medicines. The amount of these released substances is auto-regulated by your body and depends on what you eat and how you move! As you searching for your “fountain of youth”? It is inside your blood vessels! So, physical activity, especially when it takes place outside, is very important for activating your internal pharmacy which takes control of your blood pressure, blood clotting, cholesterol level, inflammation and self healing process.
- Give yourself best nutritional support!
We are what we eat, digest and absorb! To achieve anything in this life you need to give your body the best possible quality, real food and make sure that it is actually digested and utilised by your body. So, I would encourage you to:
- Buy organic food as much as possible.
- Cook yourself meal from raw ingredients and avoid any ready-made sauces, dressings, soups and so on.
- Regularly eat food that is full of probiotics (fermented food).
- Never eat low-fat or fat-free products. Go for organic, full fat real products.
- Do not use any oils from big plastic bottles. In fact, use as little food and drink in plastic packaging as possible.
- Diversify your food as much as possible by adding different fruits and vegetables, seed, nuts and berries to your meals.
- Avoid eating products with added vitamins and minerals within them.
- Have the right attitude!
If mentally you are not ready for change, if you are stressed too often and do not have any time for yourself, you can forget about your NYRs. So, start to implement the following into your routine:
- Stress management activities like listening to your favourite music or audio book while you are stuck in the traffic, meditation, taking a hot relaxing bath, meeting with friends and so on.
- Smile to yourself in the mirror every day! This really helps even to people with cancer – according to one study, the survival rate of people with cancer was much greater if they smiled every day, in spite of everything they were going through. How cool is this!
- Do not forget to have quality sleep! This is an important time for our body detox and recover. So, we need good sleep every day.
- Bring some satisfaction to your life! Find a way for yourself to feel the great power of appreciation. May be you can find a great new hobby, or perhaps do some voluntary work or something else.
Let’s summarise! The four main pillars of your guide for well-being related improvements are detoxification, nutrition, physical exercise and attitude. You have to work on all of them at the same time, as they are very much related to each other!
The second important thing, is to have a very clear strategy and vision of how you are going to achieve your resolution step by step. Once you are very clear about what your goal is, you can set up an action plan considering the four main pillars we just discussed. You need to understand why you want to achieve this goal and what would happen if you do not do it. You need to feel desperate to complete this task as for whatever reason, you know it is a very important step in your life! Then, find out how you can actually do it: get some information, find a coach, sign up at a gym, get yourself a recipe book you like or find a suitable course, workshop, etc. Split your big task into small, and very realistic, mini-tasks and find somebody for you to be accountable to: a friend, a Facebook community, your family and so on. If you do not prioritize correctly, you will never find the time for your task. So, think about how to get your priorities right. Practice self-love and find time for yourself! And of course, do not forget to celebrate every one of your small successes! Find a way to treat yourself for your self-power and to boost your energy level to continue to the next level.
I am sure that with all of these things in place you will be a WINNER!
Please, share with me you NYRs! I am so keen to hear your story! Do you want more information on any of topics we have discussed today? Let me know!
Love you all.
Irina Schurov