Improving Your Mental & Physcial Health

Money is tight.  Time is at a premium.  Energy starts to decline as soon as we open our eyes.  Sounds kinda bleak… lol… but the truth is there are things we can do to stretch our money, use our time wisely and keep our energy up.  Plus, we can have a huge impact on our mental and physical health by the tasks we choose to include in our daily routines.  

If you start searching Google, Instagram or TikTok for ways to improve your health you will most likely come across tons of information that is selling you an expensive supplement.  Some of them might actually be worth it but some are definitely not.  The reality is, if we would start doing the simple things in our daily lives to live better and feel better we’d find that there are fewer supplements for weight management that we need, fewer hormone imbalances than what it appears on social media and less genetic predisposition for disease.  Yet, it’s easier to blame something, throw your hands up and say there’s nothing I can do, instead of actually creating healthy habits that you plan to stick with regardless if you feel like it or not.  

In my experience, the majority of people want to look and feel good.  They aren’t planning to enter the next body composition competition or be a bikini model competitor.  They maybe want to drop some weight, tone up, boost their mood, clean up their diet and just feel good in their skin, be able to shop their closet every morning for an outfit and feel confident as they walk out the door each day.  

For this reason you probably don’t need any of the whizbang supplements with outlandish claims and even more outlandish monthly subscription prices.  And as tempting as it is to have no effort-high result change I ask you please, before you invest your hard earned money into another gimmick try making some basic changes that will cost you next to nothing, just maybe a shuffle of your schedule or a little extra thought in the beginning.  Influencers are making their money by preying on your struggle, mentally and physically. Promising results that may or may not come with the scare tactic that something must be wrong with you is unfair and undiagnosable through the other side of their tiny screen having never spoken to you once.

Mastering the basic habits and doing them consistently will do two things for you. One, will give you results. Both mentally and physically, fueling your body will change how you feel and act. And in turn change your long term goals and perspective. And two, if there is some kind of imbalance that needs intervention it will become obvious and you’ll have already taken the time to do the basics.

Here are 5 low or no cost things you can do to take back your health and start feeling better fast!

 1.  Get in the SUN

Yes, we all know sunburn is dangerous, damaging and potentially cancer causing. However, early morning sun is gentle yet bright.  Standing in the morning sunshine right at sunrise is an incredible health benefit. The sunshine actually helps our bodies produce vitamin D.  Vitamin D promotes calcium absorption in your gut.  It helps to maintain healthy and strong bones.  It also promotes a healthy immune system.  The sunshine also touches our endorphin system.  Exposure to sunlight is thought to increase the feel good hormone, called serotonin, from the cells that produce a darker pigment in the skin (tan) when UV light is on the skin.  Having a burst of serotonin released into your body are an effective way of boosting your mood, bringing down anxiety and stress. If you can’t get the sunrise sunshine opt for 10 mins of any time sun.  

2. Drink Water

Sounds easy enough but there are multiple studies that show about 75% of the US population is dehydrated and are only drinking about 2.5 cups of water a day.  It’s reported that in older adults 17%-28% of hospitalizations are due to dehydration.  If we just look at our brain, it’s 80% water.  Suffering from dehydration clearly will have an  impact on our quality of life.  Even slight dehydration can cause fatigue, headaches, lack of clarity, extra stress and sleep issues.  Drink your water!  How much water should a person drink?  The easy answer is half your body weight in ounces daily.  If you workout, have a labor intensive job, spend time in the sun or heat you’re going to need more. An extra 8-10 ounces per 30-60 mins of sweating will keep you from getting dehydrated.  (Sweating is great for you - it’s your body’s own little purge system that cleans out and clears up so much).  

3. Walk

Move your body.  You don’t need any fancy equipment, not even a treadmill, just walk.  Get outside and walk your neighborhood.  Stay inside and pace around your family room.  Climb the stairs at home, at your apartment, just move.  It’s crazy that we have watches that tell us we need to stand up and if we moved enough throughout the day.  We’ve become so sedentary that the basic function of walking seems like an exercise.  There was a time when that’s how we got places; whether it’s back in history or just before you had a driver’s license.  Here’s what’s really crazy though, for 1000 steps above 4000 you walk per day you reduce the risk of dying early by 15%.  Walking between 6-13000 per day cuts your risk of dying early by 50%.  Walking is literally saving your life.  So get to it.

4. Eat protein at every meal

I think we all heard in school at some point that protein is the building blocks of our bodies, it does the work to repair and build muscle, biochemical catalysts, hormones, enzymes and are the structural support of our body at a cellular level and beyond.  So to say protein is important would be an understatement.  There are sooooo many people out there right now pedalling a balance your hormone something, a pill, a shake, a tea, all kinds of things.  And yes, people’s hormones, especially women’s get out of whack as we age and enter menopause, however, before we start running around blaming our hormones and excusing the inability to change the shape of our body, give protein a shot.  Eating enough protein will change your body, your hormones, your metabolism, how you feel and how you look.  It’s a way easier place to start than finding a concoction of pills and potions that may or may not work and cost you a pretty penny.

A few easy protein sources… eggs - now your two hard boils and a piece of toast isn’t enough protein for the day… try a couple eggs mixed with some egg whites and your toast… now you’re looking at between 25-35g of protein and you’re off to a great start.  Cottage cheese, greek yogurt, turkey, chicken and meat in general, black beans, edamame, canned tuna, natural peanut butter and of course, your good old protein powders.  Use a watchful eye on protein bars would be my only warning… some are marketed as these great sources of nutrition but in reality they are overpriced candy bars.  

Your protein intake should be about a gram per pound of you OR if you have a goal weight, a gram per pound of your goal weight.  An easy way to tell on the packaging if something is high protein is by using this ratio:  10g of protein per 100 calories.  If something was 250 cals you’d be hoping for around 25g of protein in that item.  

5.  Get yourself outside

           We already talked about how good sun is for you but being outside and in nature is a natural calming agent, reduces anxiety and stress, brings in some fresh air to the body and movement.  It’s a double, triple threat free option for your health.  If you're feeling really brave, ditch your shoes and stand barefoot in the grass or dirt for a little while.  They call this grounding.  Now it sounds crazy that standing barefoot on the earth can have so many good side effects but try and see  for yourself.  Watch for improved sleep, better day/night cortisol rhythm, reduced pain and stress, can boost the  immune system, speed up wound healing and actually reduce the blood viscosity.  What??  Seems like it’s worth a shot to kick your shoes off and grab some free healing from the dirt.  

Bonus (and super important) Rest

            My grandmother used to tell me that rest is a weapon.  I used to nod and smile and say, “Okay, Gram,” all while thinking riiight…  Turns out she was correct.  Resting is one of the top things you can do for your body to improve just about everything.  From your mental clarity, mood, functionality of your systems and being able to build muscle and burn fat, rest rivals time in the gym.  If you have the choice between rushing through a workout or sleeping for an extra 30 mins, go catch a few more ZZZ’s.  The benefits outweigh a rushed workout.  When our bodies are at rest that’s when the focus on repair, replenish and resuscitation come in.  If we deprive our bodies of the rest we need, we are not fully healing from the wear and tear the day before, we aren’t dealing with inflammation that can happen from activity or nutrition and we aren’t allowing our mind to work at its full capacity.  Make sure you’re getting 7-9 hours of sleep every night.  You will thank yourself and your body will start showing you with all the things you’ve been hoping for and working towards coming true.  

Well, there you have it, 5 plus a bonus way to improve your health without spending a dime.  Who doesn’t love to have a gym membership, try the latest cream, find a miracle pill, etc… but the truth is beyond the gym membership (and that only counts if you use it,) and a multivitamin, you are spending money and getting nothing in return.

Before you need to start investing in the next best supplements or weight set, I suggest doing some basics and seeing how far that will take you.  Often we get the cart before the horse and take all the supplements and muscle fueling powders, creams and rubs when we could save those items for a plateau, a special event coming up, needing a boost in a particular area.  Most of us just need to do the basic, hard, repetitive work to see the results we have been waiting for.  Give it 6 months and see what happens.