A Healthy 2011 in 10 Steps

My Top Lifestyle Recommendations for a Healthy 2011

The start of a new year is always a good time to evaluate your past mistakes and make a fresh start. So if you haven’t been leading the type of lifestyle you’d like to be, I give you permission to wipe the slate clean right now.

Today is a new day, and today can be the day you start leading a lifestyle of health and wellness. With that in mind, here are my top recommendations to make 2011 your healthiest year yet.

1. Learn How to Effectively Cope With Stress

In my past experience treating patients with serious chronic illnesses, the vast majority have previous emotional stress that contributed to their problem. And for most of the serious illnesses, the trauma stems back to their childhood.

But according to at least one recent study, it doesn’t take serious trauma to cause these changes. Even normal “everyday” emotional experiences can have a detrimental impact on your future health.

Meditation, prayer, physical activity and exercise are all viable options that can help you maintain emotional and mental equilibrium. 

2. Get Optimal Exposure to Sunlight

Vitamin D, often referred to as “the sunshine vitamin,” is different from other vitamins in that it influences your entire body. Vitamin D receptors have been found in almost every type of human cell, from your brain to your bones, so its power to optimize your health is truly great.

Please remember that vitamin D will optimize over 2,000-3,000 genes in your body or 10 percent of your total genes!

Studies have shown you can decrease your risk of cancer by MORE THAN HALF and lower your risk of many other common diseases simply by optimizing your vitamin D levels with sun exposure.

3. Eat a Healthy Diet That’s Right for Your Nutritional Type

Natural whole foods, is your first step toward increasing your chances of living a longer, healthier life.  A drastic reduction of grains and sugar in your diet, while focusing on the foods that are right for your unique biochemistry.

4. Eat Plenty of Raw Food

One of the most important aspects of a healthy diet that is most frequently overlooked is the issue of eating your food uncooked, in its natural raw state.

Unfortunately, as you may be aware, over 90 percent of the food purchased by Americans is processed. And when you’re consuming these kinds of denatured and chemically altered foods, it’s no surprise we have an epidemic of chronic and degenerative diseases.

Ideally you’ll want to eat as many foods as possible in their unprocessed state; typically organic, biodynamic foods that have been grown locally, and are therefore in season.

But even when you choose the best foods available you can destroy most of the nutrition if you cook them. I believe it’s really wise to strive to get as much raw food in your diet as possible. 

5. Optimize Your Insulin and Leptin Levels

Eating sugar and grains will increase your insulin level, which is one of the fastest ways to premature aging. Leptin is another heavyweight hormone associated with the aging process.

Like your insulin levels, if your leptin levels become elevated, your body systems will develop a resistance to this hormone, which will wreak havoc in your body.

6. Exercise

The benefits of exercise are staggering, and if you think you can achieve or maintain optimal health without it, you’re deceiving yourself. For example, it helps you to:

• Sleep better
• Lose weight, gain weight or maintain weight, depending on your needs
• Improve your resistance to fight infections
• Lower your risk of cancer, heart disease and diabetes
• Help your brain work better, making you smarter

7. Consume Healthy Fat

The science is loud and clear on this point: omega-3 fats are essential for optimal health.

The omega-3 found naturally in fish and seafood is high in two fatty acids crucial to human health, DHA and EPA. These two fatty acids are pivotal in preventing heart disease, cancer, and many other diseases. Your brain is also highly dependent on DHA -- low DHA levels have been linked to depression, schizophrenia, memory loss, and a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's.

Unfortunately most fish commercially available today (even wild-caught varieties) are polluted with mercury, PCBs and other toxic substances, which is why I recommend you take a supplement like krill oil or flax seed oil instead of getting it from your food.

8. Limit Your Exposure to Toxins

The number of toxic chemicals and their sources is so large, addressing them all could easily require an entire library, but I believe you can help you keep your toxic load as low as possible by becoming an informed and vigilant consumer.

This includes tossing out your toxic household cleaners, soaps, personal hygiene products, air fresheners, bug sprays, lawn pesticides, and insecticides, just to name a few, and replacing them with non-toxic alternatives.

9. Make Pure Water Your Primary Beverage

Every day your body loses water through urine and sweat, and needs to be replenished. You can actually survive without food for months, but without water you’d die after a few days, so needless to say, water is absolutely essential to life.

You can easily tell what your water requirement is by using your thirst and the color of your urine as guides. Your urine should be a very light-colored yellow. If it is a deep, dark yellow then you are likely not drinking enough water.

Further, if you are healthy, then drinking whenever you feel thirsty should be an adequate guide of how much water you need. You can confirm that you are drinking enough water by looking at the color of your urine, as mentioned above.

As for obtaining clean, pure water, installing a water filter in your home is your best bet. 

10. Get Plenty of Quality Sleep

Scientists have discovered that your circadian rhythms regulate the energy levels in your cells. In addition, the proteins involved with your circadian rhythm and metabolism are intrinsically linked and dependent upon each other.

Therefore, when your circadian rhythm is disrupted, it can have a profound influence on your physical health. For example, research has also linked disrupted sleep cycles to serious health problems like depression, coronary heart diseases, and even cancer.