95 Ways to Healthier 2016

Here are some of our tips and possible resolution ideas that could help you on your journey to a healthier 2016!!

1. Acknowledge your Stress!! Find an outlet and de-stress. (Ex: yoga, running, boxing, dancing, walking, swimming, painting. You get the picture).
2. Smile! Even a fake smile can lower your heart rate.
3. Avoid the 3 F’s- fast, fatty, fried
4. Hydrate. Your body doesn’t know the difference between hunger and thirst. So drink before you eat snacks/junk.
5. Serve yourself before you sit down. Stop family style eating to avoid second and third helpings.
6. Use a coffee break for a 10 minute power walk. In place…if you can’t leave the building.
7. Eat at the table: avoid eating standing, in the car, in front of the TV, etc. By sitting at the table you’ll help your brain recognize that you’ve eaten and create consistency in metabolism.
8. Sit on a ball instead of a chair… Staying in constant motion to stay balanced will burn calories and work on strengthening your core.
9. Eat breakfast. Period. It stimulates your metabolism and prevents you from crashing or over consuming later.
10. Go get free screenings. Many hospitals or clinics or city’s have health fairs that give you basic numbers like your sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol.
11. Read more. Your brain needs to be exercised as well as your muscles to create new synapses. Put 15 minutes aside to read. (this also helps with # 1)
12. Team up. Find a friend or group to have an exercise challenge where you compete against yourself (cross-fit mentality) reward yourself after 2 weeks , 6weeks, 3 months and every quarter after…
13. Pack a first aid kit with the most common items.
14. Motion sickness, headaches, bug bites, have the proper spray, bandages, creams etc.
15. Take vitamins that are encapsulated…they get dissolved into the gut easier.
16. Pack your lunch with food you make. It is less tempting to grab something at the fast food around the corner.
17. Clean your desk and common areas in your office or work zone by wiping things down at the start and end of the day – Makes it less likely for you to get sick from bacteria and viruses on surfaces.
18. Get better sleep with a sleep ritual. Turn off the TV, read a book, meditate. Improve your sleep hygiene.
19. Don’t drink alcohol before bed-it will affect your quality of sleep and can cause insomnia.
20. Laugh often!!! Laughter can lower your risk for a heart attack
21. Buy house plants-they filter and cleanse the air… improving allergies and oxygenation.
22. Share meals- Often, splitting an entre will get you closer to the actual portion sizes recommended. Increase your water intake and vegetable portions to avoid being hungry.
23. Do 25 jumping jacks! Stopping to do these through the day especially in the morning, before lunch, and during stressful times releases endorphins and changes your mood. It can also stimulate your metabolism.
24. Turn your phone off! Especially at night. It will help let you fall into a deep sleep. During the day, it cuts down on anxiety via constantly needing to check.
25. Get your vaccines! Whether it is the flu shot, pneumonia, tetanus or various others. Prevent communicable disease.
26. Go commando occasionally at night! It reduces the number of bacteria by allowing the external genitalia to dry.
27. Keep a list in your wallet, purse, or phone of your allergies, medications, contact numbers and chronic illnesses if possible.
28. Turn down the volume- keep headphones to 60 percent and no more than 60 minutes per day to avoid long term hearing loss.
29. Be like Popeye-Spinach can improve your eyesight as well as your muscles.
30. Exercise your toes-it reduces heel pain and helps circulation to your feet.
31. Plank! It helps burn calories and allows time for meditation. 5-10 minutes is suffice.
32. Chew gum with xylitol-it helps prevent cavities.
33. Know your family history! Easiest way to predict the future is to learn from your past.
34. Add raspberries to your diet. It helps stabilize your blood sugar and can help prevent diabetes.
35. Don’t drink all your calories-reduce your alcohol intake by increasing water consumption while drinking. Have water in between drinks. Also reduces your risk for hangover.
36. Don’t supersize anything. Ever!
37. Cut tobacco use and tobacco products! Apart from reducing cancer risks, it can improve fertility, circulation, bone density and mood.
38. Add cinnamon to your diet…it reduces insulin spikes and can cut your appetite.
39. Increase your fiber-supplement if you must. It reduces your risk for heart attack/stroke by decreasing triglycerides, raising HDL, lowering LDL and keeping your bowel movements regular.
40. Walk. Everywhere. Anywhere. Anytime you can. Still the best exercise. 30 minutes daily.
41. Dustercise is dusting and doing housework at least 20-30 minutes 2-3 x a week gets your endorphins up, reduces dust mites and the risk of depression. (also counts towards your exercise goal).
42. Body brush-take an extra 5 minutes to brush your body with a body brush. It reduces toxins by improving circulation and lymphatic drainage.
43. Lift weights! Light or heavy, weight lifting helps not only burn calories, it helps with oxygenation to the muscles, circulation, releasing endorphins and can help women (and men) reduce risk of osteoporosis or bone density.
44. Double your tomato sauce (if you are able to do so). Lycopene prevents cholesterol buildup on the arterial wall.
45. Be a (dark) chocoholic- The flavonoids keep your blood thin and can reduce stroke and heart attack.
46. Ground flax seed into your food. It Is a natural source of omega 3 and helps reduce triglycerides, memory loss , heart attack, stroke and possibly Alzheimer’s.
47. Only 2 cups maximum. More than 2 cups can increase homocysteine levels and damage your heart.
48. Have more sex! Getting busy may reduce your risk for heart attack by 1/3.
49. Stop snoring- sleep apnea can increase your risk for stroke, weight gain, depression, and lower testosterone amongst other issues. Talk to your doctor about a sleep study.
50. Rub!! Regular massages can lower your stress but also levels of inflammation- triggering chemicals in the skin.
51. Do more crunches. It helps your core but also eliminates the pesky belly fat that contributes to cardiovascular disease and metabolic disease including diabetes. In addition, put your tongue on the roof of your mouth when doing crunches to avoid straining unnecessary muscles.
52. Cleanse your entire body-whole body cleanses using cellular cleanses help eliminate toxins in the body that can contribute to clogged lymphatic’s, narrowed arteries and fat accumulation.
53. Take a nap- ZZZZ- Research has shown that a 1 hour nap is almost as beneficial as a full nights sleep.
54. Eat only when you are hungry!- If you are eating anyway you are either dehydrated, bored, anxious or all the above. Drink water and go for a walk before you graze.
55. Smell the flowers. Lavender and lemon scent can reduce anxiety and depression.
56. Sit in the sunlight for 15 minutes a day without sunscreen. Vitamin D keeps bones strong. Sunlight puts you in a good mood.
57. Shower if you take baths-it is stimulating. Bathe if you take showers-it is soothing.
58. Ask for a hug and give them as well. They lower blood pressure.
59. Be perfectly imperfect. You either win or you learn. Never lose. Perfectionists have lower immune systems.
60. Do it today! Procrastination causes vasoconstriction due to stress. Vasoconstriction decreases blood flow, stresses the heart and increases blood pressure.
61. Take a B100-complex. B vitamins help with blood flow and the nervous system.
62. Replace one snack with a fruit or vegetable.
63. Use a smaller plate. It helps with portion control.
64. Pack your exercise clothes into a bag and put them in your car the night before. If you go home after work you’ll never make it to the gym.
65. Don’t go to the gym. Take your dog for a walk. Or your husband. Or yourself. Bad weather?  Go to Wal-mart or to the mall (without your purse or wallet). Make time… not excuses.
66. Exercise during commercials. Planks, air-squat, push ups, running in place, jumping jacks
67. Go without meat one day per week.
68. If you take medications /supplements, put your toothbrush in the bottle for 2 weeks. It will remind you to take them every time you brush your teeth.
69. Cut out white bread, white rice, white pasta.
70. Get a physical. Get lab work. Preferably with customized labs for inflammation, genetics, and hormones.
71. Download a health/diet/exercise app. “Lose it” is a great app to get started.
72. Avoid the “quick fix” …nothing replaces an appropriate diet, exercise, stress relief and sleep. Avoid weight loss supplements if possible.
73. Keep your bedroom dark. Light can interfere with production of melatonin.
74. Listen to slow music at meal times. We subconsciously mimic the beat. Slow music makes us less like to overeat.
75. Take vitamin E. It reduces risk of esophageal and stomach cancer.
76. Drink mint tea – Mint contains hesperidin which decreases inflammation and oxidative stress which is important for heart health and reduction of diabetes.
77. Surround yourself with positive friends, co-workers, thoughts and activities. Studies show that positive thoughts and people increase their life expectancy.
78. Eat yogurt. Probiotics reduce gum disease and help with maintaining good oral and intestinal flora.
79. Get your hands dirty- working in the yard or gardening strengthens bones and muscles.
80. Keep a food diary-people that log their food double their weight loss compared to those that don’t.
81. Wash after playing with pets-its easy to pick up bacteria from pets.
82. Get your mammogram, pap smear, colonoscopy, prostate exam, and bone density test.
83. Work crossword puzzles and brain teasers to reduce senility.
84. Ditch Soda- a soda a day can add close to 15 lbs a year.
85. Use soybean, safflower, extra virgin olive oil, sesame, avocado oil…
86. Plain popcorn is always a great snack.
87. Make a goal to get off all medication possible, however stay on them until your provider says so.
88. If you sit at a desk all day, get up on the hour and stretch, go to the bathroom or watercooler for 2-5 minutes.
89. Chew your food more. Digestion starts in your mouth.
90. Reduce your plastic exposure.
91. Eat at home. Typically, a home cooked meal is better than a meal out. And it saves money.
92. Turn electronics off 30 minutes before bedtime.
93. Brush your teeth no less than 2 times a day. Reduces the risk of diabetes and heart disease.
94. Keep learning! Brain neurons live longer when learning is taking place.
95. Stop the addiction! Our addiction is an insatiable craving for and an inability to be separated from technology. Our ability to constantly access more information may be the very thing that is contributing to our sickness.