In the vein of minimizing inflammation and avoiding toxicity and reducing stress/anxiety, these tenets can be helpful to everyone.
- Sleep: Ideally, go to bed at an early enough time that you awaken in the morning at least 90% of the time in advance of when an alarm would otherwise go off. Avoid impairing sleep by avoiding television, email, smart phone, or other full-spectrum light exposure in the full hour prior to typical bedtime.
- Check your Vitamin D at least twice a year and keep it at 50 ng/ml or more.
- Eat Real Food, not “edible food-like substances” (M. Pollan). At least 90% of the time, choose to eat exclusively foods that your great grandmother could have eaten when she was growing up. Just say No! in your typical daily diet to the huge array of chemical flavorings, preservatives, colors, sweeteners, texture agents, hormones, toxins.
- Find out what food sensitivities you have, and honor them. If you don’t know, then don’t eat gluten. At least not as part of your mainstay 90% diet. Clinical research is discovering more and more each day the increasing variety of gluten sensitivity and the diseases to which it can contribute.
Gluten-triggered release of zonulin (and subsequent intestinal permeability) is a key triggering factor in autoimmune disease. Wheat (the most common gluten- containing grain) is very high-glycemic in nature and contributes to insulin resistance. I have had many of my individual clients recover long-term from chronic depression simply by eliminating gluten. It’s just not worth it! - Eat as much Organic food as you can find and as you can afford. Yes, it’s really that bad. Most pesticides are estrogen mimickers. And we have an exponentially increasing rate of estrogen medicated cancers in both men (prostate) and women (breast/ uterine). Where possible, maximize nutrition by purchasing local, fresh produce on which on pesticides have been used (not all small farmers can afford formal organic certification).
At a bare minimum, make good use of the Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen shopping priorities revised each year by the Environmental Working Group (www.ewg.org) - Play: Seriously. So many of us behave as though there is a large prize at the end of life rewarding us for working as many hours as possible and checking off as many things as we can from our ubiquitous to-do lists. Well, guess what? There’s not! Just perhaps instead some regrets and missed opportunities. Savor life. Laugh. Play. Relax. Have fun.
Don’t let your rejuvenating activities end up being an hour or two of mindless TV each night. We were all five years old at one time. Revive what is Fun for you now. Allow time for it. Make time for it. - Don’t eat typical bottled vegetables oils and transfats, period.
The research on both these groups of “foods” is do damning at this point that this does indeed make the top-1o list. I believe moderation is not even a good idea with these foods. Choose only pressed (and preferably cold-pressed) vegetable oils.
Look for the phrase “partially hydrogenated” on food labels and if you see it, don’t buy the product. If you eat in restaurants, you will likely be exposed to both of these toxic oils at times (because they are very inexpensive), so don’t increase the frequency by using them in your own home. - Avoid fluoride: Don’t use fluoride-containing toothpaste or seek fluoride treatments at the dentist. Does it kill bacteria in the mouth?
Yes. Does it increase calcium uptake in teeth? Yes. But likely at very high costs. From low thyroid function to calcification of the pineal gland to reduced IQ in children.
- Sugar, sweeteners, and foods made with flour should be in your 10% diet, not the 90%. We have a true epidemic of insulin resistance and its progression states of Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes. This disease progression begins with the diet, every time.
- Drink plenty of plain, clean water every day. Make sure you know the real quality of the water coming out of your tap (don’t rely on regional or town source data). If necessary, invest in a water filter, both for drinking water and (especially!) shower water. There are a huge number of dissolved toxins found in regular municipal drinking water.
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Stop “Shoulding” on Yourself. You are a divine child of the universe. Perfect. Start realizing this. And honoring who you really are, what really makes you happy, and how you really want to spend the days of your life. Start now! Choose activities based ideally on what is Fun and Easy.
Release the need to use words like Should, Must, and Have-to. Instead, use the word Choose. And then allow yourself to change your mind when that phrase chokes in your throat. Honor your truth. Make time for a spiritual practice that allows you to release the “gunk” of expectations from society/family and reconnects you to Who You Really Are. - Do regular detoxification Cleanses (at least twice a year). I do these in mid-spring and mid-autumn and sometimes at additional times as well. In the modern western world, we live in a toxic soup of chemicals. Over 100,000 new chemicals have been introduced into commercial use since World War II.
Even with efforts to protect and isolate ourselves and our family, we are still inhaling, eating, and absorbing through out skin dozens of chemicals each day. Our liver/ kidney/GI tract can easily become overwhelmed. Then we store toxins in our body fat, and over time, this creates chronic inflammation which then creates chronic disease (the big ones that most of us fear). - Be a part of something wonderful that is Larger than Yourself. Make your life mean something. Find a cause or a contribution that highlights your unique talents, history, and/or skills. One that is powerful to you, not necessarily anyone else nearby. Give regularly of yourself in a way that makes you feel gratified, useful, and part of the larger perfection of the universe.
Cultivate meaningful relationships. Loneliness has been shown to increase inflammation and stress hormones, and its effects as an upstream driver for disease is often overlooked. Love, connection, and reciprocity release a flood of “feel good” hormones, such as dopamine and oxytocin. Feeling safe and supported promotes healing via parasympathetic nervous system balance.. Even if just over the phone, meaningful relationships encourage joy and a glass half full mentality. This directly affects the daily choices we make for ourselves, so we can more fully live our way into wellness.
