The holidays are just around the corner and many people are thinking about how they can Be Healthy! this holiday season.  Here is a list of 7 tips to get you started.  Also, watch for my NEW e-book coming soon to help you get through the holidays!

Here are 7 Tips to Be Healthy!

1.  Chew thoroughly, eat slowly and peacefully

Digestion begins with chewing as saliva mixes with food and amylase enzymes begin carbohydrate digestion. Don’t eat while you are preoccupied, rushing, driving, etc, which can hinder digestion and lead to uncomfortable consequences and indigestion of food. Eating slower allows the brain to register fulfillment and not overeat. Breathe between bites and enjoy your food!

Be Healthy! Tip:  Schedule meals on your calendar or in your day planner like you would any other appointment and sit down at a table in peace.

2.  Avoid skipping a meal or reducing calories too low

It seems like a good way to lose weight, but in actuality skipping meals will push you on the road to obesity! Restriction of calories or starving yourself makes your body think you are starving and your metabolism will actually slow down (which is the opposite of what you want).  You also disrupt your blood sugar and set yourself up for binges and sweet cravings.  Eating actually raises your metabolic rate!

Be Healthy! Tip:  Eat before you get hungry to avoid binge eating and carry snacks and lunches with you!    

3.  Eat until you are three-quarters full

Not stuffing yourself leaves room in your stomach for your body to churn food, allowing for better digestion. Slow down when you eat so that your brain can monitor your food intake and let you know when you have had enough. Eating leisurely is a lot more enjoyable than gobbling your food down anyway!

Be Healthy! Tip:  Use a smaller dinner plate then you would normally and only take one serving.  Wait 30 minutes and see if you really need that second helping of potatoes!

4.  Get enzymes in your diet

You are not what you eat, but what you digest and absorb. If you are not eating live, whole and sometimes raw (preferably organic) foods than you are probably enzyme deficient. Without adequate enzymes your body will suffer from indigestion, bloating, gas, constipation, belching, cramping and/or bad breath. Our natural production of enzymes decreases as we age.

Be Healthy! Tip:  Enhance digestion by either taking a digestive enzyme or another idea is adding 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar with 2-4 oz water and drink with meals.

5.  Maintain healthy gut flora

There are both good and bad forms of bacteria that can proliferate in your gut. It is important to have more good than bad to maintain optimal health. An improper amount of healthy flora has been linked with chronic disease. Eating foods such as kefir to replenish the flora or taking lactobacillus/acidophilus supplements is highly recommended and especially important if you are taking or have taken an antibiotic for any reason.

Be Healthy! Tip:  Enhance gut flora with probiotic supplements or by eating/drinking kefir, amasai, coconut water kefir or lacto-fermented beverages and foods such as sauerkraut made with Celtic sea salt on a daily basis.  For resources CLICK HERE.

6.  Exercise, specifically rebound exercise

A great way to improve the tone of your digestive system as well as stimulate drainage and waste release out of the lymphatic system (and not traumatize the musculoskeletal system. Use of a rebounder has proven to be an efficient form of cardiovascular, body toning and weight loss enhancing exercise with virtually no harmful side defects.  Moreover, it enhances cellular metabolism and energizes every cell with fresh oxygen and nutrients.

Be Healthy! Tip:  Rebound just 10 minutes a day and see the results!  For more information on rebounders or to purchase, CLICK HERE.

7.  Drink plenty of water, preferably filtered or reversed osmosis

Our bodies are mostly water, and so intake of water is essential to functioning at optimum levels.  Without enough water, you may experience fatigue, dry skin, headaches and constipation.  Over time in a dehydration state, every body function begins to degrade more quickly.  Installing a filter in your home is an investment your body will thank you for in the long run!

Be Healthy! Tip:  Carry a glass or stainless steel water bottle with you wherever you go and refill it with filtered water – purchase at www.thermos.com.  If you are local please email me for a whole house water filter resource so you can have healthy water all the time for drinking and bathing.