5 Healthy Habits To Stay Clean & Lean In 2015

I often get asked “what are the top things I can do to be healthy each day? And my response is always the same – “there is no silver bullet” when it comes to achieving your ideal weight and optimal energy, but rather, it’s the sum of all parts”… meaning it’s all the little things you do each and every day that add up over time to determine your health. But if you could choose 5 things to do everyday that would make a serious dent in boosting your health…. these would be my pick:

• Start your day with warm water and lemon – the number one reason being your body has been fasting for at least 8 hrs or more, so it’s essential to REHYDRATE upon waking, in order to flush those toxins and stimulate your bowel. Adding the juice of a whole fresh lemon, and / or quality brand of apple cider vinegar to warm water, will help to alkalise your body and stimulate your digestive system. The more alkaline your body, the less inflammation can exist and that means less risk for illness and disease, less pain, and a healthier body! Your stomach is the only place that should be more acidic in order to digest your food effectively, but most people do not produce enough hydrochloric acid to effectively digest their food, which is why so many of us experience excess gas and bloating, even heartburn or reflux, after a meal. Add a teaspoon or two…. or three of apple cider vinegar to warm water or to salad dressings as a natural digestive aid.

• Start your day with a green vegetable juice – instead of reaching for that morning coffee to perk you up and get you going for the day, why not challenge yourself to drinking a green juice and experience the powerful difference this can make to your energy and overall health. Green vegetables are naturally rich in chlorophyll, making them highly alkalising and packed with nutrients you may be lacking from not eating enough vegetables during the day. although I do not recommend juicing raw kale – you can read about why here

• Remove gluten from your diet – gluten found in grains such as wheat, kamut, spelt and barley and most brand of oats, as well as processed foods, is highly inflammatory making it one of the most damaging foods for your gut health. It has the power to inflame your brain and pack on the pounds, so I highly recommend switching to gluten free foods – but watch the sugar content of many packaged gluten free foods as these can be a sneaky disguise for loads of the sweet stuff.

• Cut back on the Sugar – Gluten’s partner in crime, sugar, is the other major offenders when it comes to links with pretty well every chronic illness and disease, thanks to the inflammatory response triggered when we ingest too much sugar. In the age of fast living, too many of us are choosing packaged and fast foods and eating less and less whole, nutrient dense foods in the natural form. The simplest way to avoid sugar is to avoid processed foods and this will translate to everything from healthy weight loss, better brain function and bye- bye aches and pains. Check out my e-book Eat Yourself Healthy In 28 Days for a complete program designed to help you kick sugar, detox and get your eating habits on track for life.

Image care of The Fermentary

• Include fermented foods in your diet – eating fermented foods like sauerkraut, kimchi and kefir each day will help to maintain a healthy balance of good bacteria within your gut and considering we are more bacteria than we are human cells by a ratio of ten to one – it’s little wonder that our gut flora dictate so much about the way we feel and function each and every day, not to mention determine our risk for illness and disease. When buying fermented vegetables, like kimchi or sauerkraut, be sure to look for quality brands like The Fermentary, as the longer the fermentation time, the higher the probiotic count.

For more tips and recipes for leading a healthy life, grab a copy of my e-book Eat Yourself Healthy In 28 Days

 

For more health tips and delicious recipes, checkout my e-book, Eat Yourself Healthy.

It's not just a healthy diet, but a way of life, so you can feel better than you have ever felt before .