Getting Back on Track

My Top Five Tips for Getting Back on Track

Ever find that after a busy season, holiday or family vacation you need to pull yourself back up onto the wagon to get back on track? Consider these five tips as a way to optimize your health!

• Movement -
  • USDA recommends people move their body for 150 minutes per week - this breaks down to 30 minutes, five days a week or ten minutes, 15 times. What I recommend is that you choose an activity that you enjoy to optimize the likelihood of consistency. 
  • When doing movement, stay within your aerobic heart rate zone! When we maintain our heart rate in our aerobic zone, we run our cells aerobically with oxygen, which is up to 16 times more energy efficient compared to our anaerobic heart rate zone. The goal is to stay in that energy-efficient, clean burning, oxygen-eating aerobic zone for the vast majority of time during exercise. Use this information to calculate your aerobic heart rate zone.
  • Put movement on your schedule, ideally in the morning before anything gets in your way. Show up for your movement appointment as you would any therapy, dental, or chiropractic appointment.
  • Breaking the myth - you do not, I repeat, you do NOT need fancy, expensive equipment to get healthy and to move your body. All you need is yourself, and ideally proper footwear.
• Nutrition - 
  • Minimize processed food - most processed food has harmful, toxic oils in it. The oils are considered TOXIC because they can not handle heat and when they are introduced to heat, they convert to trans fats. Trans fats lead to the formation of free radicals which not only turn normal polyunsaturated fatty acids into mutants, but can damage any part of your body: cell membranes, chromosomes, other fats etc.
  • Minimize refined sugar intake - most Americans are consuming, on average 200-pounds of sugar per year! Consuming refined sugar not only puts you at risk for diabetes, but it changes how your hormones work, significanly impacts your circulatory system, cholesterol, and can lead to birth defects among many other things. Refined sugar is just as addictive as cocaine. 
  • Eat clean - switch to organic to minimize your exposure to harmful pesticides and herbicides, all of which have been linked to cause certain birth defects, obesity, diabetes, ADHD and various forms of cancer. 
  • See food as energy - fuel your body with food in a way that will serve you, your health and your goals.
• Sleep - 
  • Recommended amount of sleep per night is seven to nine hours. How much sleep do you need to thrive?
  • Minimize blue light at least two hours before bedtime - if this feels impossible, consider purchasing blue-light blocking glasses. Blue light blocks the release of melatonin, a natural hormone that makes us drowsy and promotes our sleep cycle.
  • Create an optimal sleep environment for YOU - what temperature does the room need to be? Does it need to be dark? What about white noise? Do you hate your sheets? Change them out!
  • Consistency when it comes to bedtime and wake up time - yes, even on the weekends. Figure out how many hours you need to thrive and adjust your bedtime and wake up time so you get just that. 
• Fluid Intake - 
  • Standard recommendation is six to eight glasses of eight fluid ounces per day OR half your weight in fluid ounces. Consider splitting up the day into quarters and set consumption goals.
  • Consider drinking eight fluid ounces of luke warm, lemon water in the morning to assist with boosting metabolism and liver detoxification.
• Stress Management - 
  • Stress is energy in the body - the three ways to move energy is through movement, sound or your breath. Considering moving your body, breathing it out or screaming it out to let it out. 

Every moment is an opportunity to get back on that wagon, to pursue your health and to choose something that will serve you. 

What will your next choice be?