What are the ways to live a healthy lifestyle?

What you will get from this article:

• Learn how to live a healthy lifestyle that fits your needs
• Discover why health fads never work for living a healthy lifestyle in the long run
• The 3 Mandates of Extraordinary Health
• Understand the difference between what your body needs versus wants
• Access downloadable resources to help you stay on track with your health goals

Click here for a downloadable pdf

One of the telltale ways of knowing you are poisoned is that you find yourself tired and lagging throughout the day. You’re nodding off in the middle of the day or unable to focus on tasks, even though you feel like you’re taking care of yourself. If you feel this way, and you’ve had 5, 6 or 7 hours of sleep, there’s a problem. Your body has toxicity inside it and is using its energy trying to figure out how to rid itself of that toxicity. Your body is not going to be able to function at its most efficient level if it’s trying to deal with problems instead of focusing on basic functionalities.

It’s time to stop fueling your body with acidic food and beverages. Commit to fueling it with foods that make you feel strong and vibrant. It’s up to you to stop giving power to negative thoughts – your mental and emotional health greatly affects your energy and physical state. Stop neglecting your body by not working out. By becoming more aware of the physical, emotional and environmental hazards that you are subjecting yourself to, both intentionally and unintentionally, you stop poisoning your body and start empowering yourself to live a healthy lifestyle.

The second step in discovering how to live a healthy lifestyle is cleansing and detoxifying your body. Why is this imperative? Can’t you stop the poisoning? Perhaps switch to a more alkaline diet? Start sleeping more? Use cryotherapy? Work out 5 or 6 days a week? Stop indulging in disempowering thought patterns?

Imagine trying to drive a Ferrari and its oil has been mixed with sand. It doesn’t matter how much new oil you add to your car – if you don’t clean out the adulterated oil, the engine is not going to run. This is why learning how to live a healthy life starts with cleansing and detoxifying.

Colonics are one way to open the channels of elimination. Another method of cleansing is to stimulate the flow of lymph to help build your immune system. This can be achieved by deep diaphragmatic breathing, rebounding (jumping on a mini-trampoline), dry brushing or receiving a lymphatic massage. A third way to help detoxify your body is to complete a dietary cleanse – fasting to cleanse the digestive tract, blood, intestines, kidneys, liver and lungs.

The third key to living a healthy lifestyle is to give the body what it needs.

What does your body need? There are certainly things it wants, and you might have given in to those cravings in the past, but now it’s time to focus on what your body needs to properly function. The first thing your body needs is nutrients. You cannot expect your body to perform if you are fueling it with anything other than optimal nutrition. This is essential for energy and well-being. It’s the foundation of building the body you desire and living a healthy lifestyle that nourishes your entire being.

Second, strive for structural integrity and aerobic power. This means creating structural balance and maximizing natural nerve flow. Physical activity, particularly activities stemming from aerobic exercise, will increase circulation, and proper posture will help your musculoskeletal structure.

Third, emotional juice. Nurturing your emotional well-being is one of the most powerful ways to be healthy. What practices do you follow that make you your best? How do you ward off negative beliefs and encourage yourself to feel joyful? Start by introducing incantations into your daily routine. Find those magic moments throughout the day that you can use to find gratitude. Focus on thinking about the positive aspects of life and directing your energy to what’s good. What’s wrong is always available, but so is what’s right.

So many of us are making demands that our bodies can’t meet, making living a healthy lifestyle impossible. But if you adhere to these three mandates, you will not only achieve a healthier physical body, you will find your way to a healthier way of living.

When you lose interest in a goal, it’s almost impossible to work up the energy to pursue it. When you’re developing ways to live a healthy lifestyle, you must kick your drive into high gear. Use all the resources you have to reach your goal.

Learning how to live a healthy life means replacing old, unhealthy habits with new, healthy ones. Make those new habits “portable” so you can take them anywhere, and reward yourself for good behavior. 

Keeping your mind active and challenged is one of the most critical ways to be healthy. Engaging the mind prevents age-related cognitive decline and enhances virtually every aspect of life. As you seek out activities and books that are thought-provoking, living a healthy lifestyle becomes a source of joy and inspiration.

Your tribe is your strongest ally in discovering how to live a healthy lifestyle. Build extraordinary relationships with people who support, encourage and inspire you.

There is a positive relationship between optimism and understanding how to start living a healthy lifestyle. Thinking in positive, realistic terms is part of effective stress management, which is a key tool against anxiety. When you’re able to think optimistically, your energy increases and your inspiration returns.

Embracing gratitude involves speaking and reminding yourself about everything you’re grateful for – whether it’s people, places or things. Recalling all you are grateful for puts life in perspective and re-centers you after a stressful moment. Staying present throughout the day is one of the many powerful ways to live a healthy lifestyle.

Keeping a smartphone or laptop by your side seems necessary. Make concrete choices about how you use technology and where it fits in living a healthy lifestyle, especially if there are other things you could do. Give your eyes a rest by choosing a real book over a digital copy or going outside for a walk in nature instead of watching a movie.

Expand your interests outside of work by pursuing a passion that you love, or one that’s been on hold for a while. Curious about how to start living a healthy lifestyle? Sign up for an educational class on something that could turn into a sustainable activity if you dedicate time to it. 

One of the keys to living a healthy lifestyle is taking time to rest and relax. Don’t be afraid to step away from work and your other responsibilities and head out on a vacation, or at the very least take a day off to recharge.

Resting your body helps you recover quickly while exercising and improves your productivity and daily energy levels. Aim for at least eight hours of sleep per night if possible, but remember the quality of your sleep and rest is more important than the quantity. Invest in blackout drapes or a sleep mask to give your eyes a dark environment to rest in.

If you have trouble sleeping, a white noise generator or intermittent use of melatonin supplements will help relax your body as you lay down to rest. 

Getting up and moving around is a powerful way to improve your health and get your energy up. If you live close enough to your work to walk, do that instead of taking your car or train for a couple days a week. Going for a walk during your workday – even if it’s just around your office – will boost your energy and prime your mind for the rest of the afternoon.