12 HEALTHY HABITS & TIPS | change your life + feel better long term

- It's a little cold and dreary outside today, so I thought it was the perfect time to make a hot cup of tea and chat about some

healthy

habits

. One of the things I love about starting a new year is that we tend to be more introspective, so it's a perfect time to evaluate our

habits

and assess whether or not they are still serving us positively. As many of you know, almost eight years ago, I was diagnosed with celiac disease a

long

with a handful of other autoimmune conditions, just for good measure. And since then, I've been on a wellness journey, discovering what works best for me and my body.

So today I thought I would share with you some of my favorite

tips

, those

healthy

habits that I think are very important and will help boost

your

immune system,

your

overall well-being and will help you

feel

better

in the

long

run. So let's dig deeper. (soft music) You've probably already noticed that my YouTube channel is mostly about recipes, and that's because when you cook at home, you can control the exact nutrients that go into your body, as well as the quality of ingredients. I understand that eating out is quick and easy, and I'm all for eating out at a nice restaurant or ordering takeout from time to time.

But when takeout makes up 80% of what you usually eat, it's time to reevaluate. Restaurant meals typically contain higher amounts of sodium and saturated fat and simply have more calories than home-cooked meals. And let's be honest, they usually don't start with high-quality ingredients. That's why studies have shown that people who cook for themselves more often than those who eat out tend to be healthier overall. I have traveled quite a bit and have noticed something interesting, mainly in Western culture. And we have these notions of what breakfast, lunch and dinner should be like, mainly because of how we have been promoted.

Breakfast consists of a bowl of cereal or toast with jam or pancakes with syrup. Lunch could be a sandwich, salad or even a slice of pizza, and dinner could be chicken, beef or fish, perhaps accompanied by rice or potatoes and vegetables. But in other parts of the world, food is simply food and can be eaten at any time of the day. On Instagram, you'll often see me eating leftover salmon and sweet potato for breakfast, or a couple of soft-boiled eggs and greens salad for dinner. The fact that you can eat any food at any time of the day is a very simple mindset

change

, and yet it is very important to remember.

Building on this last point, you'll do your body a lot of good if you simply eat more vegetables for breakfast. Breakfast is usually one of our most beige meals due to the foods mentioned above such as cereals, bread, pancakes, pastries or even oatmeal. So I challenge you to be creative with your breakfast and opt for a lot more color. Strain spinach and other greens into a scramble for breakfast. Top your bread with sautéed vegetables or healthy proteins and healthy fats instead of butter or jam. Or

better

yet, swap your bread entirely for sweet potato toast.

You'll often hear wellness people say that when you wake up in the morning, the first thing you should do is drink a glass of water with lemon or apple cider vinegar. And if you have lemon or apple cider vinegar, great, but I want to simplify it even further and say that you just drink a glass of water and not just in the morning but several times throughout the day. Water is essential for

life

and your body needs it to function properly. But in the morning, water will increase your mental clarity and alertness, and speed up your metabolism.

So before drinking coffee or tea, drink a big glass of water first and then make sure you stay hydrated throughout the day. I tend to crave snacks between meals, especially when working from home. That's why I've found that it's really important for me to keep healthy snacks at the forefront. If I opened the pantry and saw chocolate right in front of me, I admit that I would challenge even my willpower not to grab it. So instead, I keep chocolates low and out of sight in my pantry and keep healthy snacks like nuts front and center. The same goes for my countertop and refrigerator, where the fruit is always visible and the vegetables are meal prepped and ready to eat because, at the end of the day, it's about helping yourself make healthy choices.

It should come as no surprise that I'm a big fan of meal prepping, as those are some of the most popular videos on my channel. But I prepare meals for two main reasons. Firstly, it helps save time in the kitchen during the week and secondly, it also ensures that healthy meals can be prepared quickly and easily. When I contemplate what I'm going to prepare, I'm actually also mentally meal planning, thinking about what I'd like to eat later in the week. And I've found that planning ahead is 90% of the job when it comes to staying on that healthy path and making healthy choices.

For many of us, myself included, we sit at a desk for most of the day, and that doesn't do our bodies any favors. Movement is essential to maintain bone density, flexibility and muscles, but let's not forget that it also helps stimulate our immune system and reduce stress hormones. So focus on moving several times throughout the day, which could be standing and stretching at your desk, walking around the block, doing yoga, going for a walk, or riding a bike with your kids. The more you can move and keep your blood flowing throughout the day, the better, and there are apps and timers like Time Out or Pomodoro to remind you to take breaks and give yourself a little boost if you need it.

There is incredible healing and rejuvenation that happens to our bodies when we surround ourselves with green trees, lush grass, and blue oceans. For me, the impact on my stress levels is quite immediate and I can

feel

any stress or anxiety I may have calming down again. That's why you often see me on nature walks through the hills of Orange County, or you can see me skating along the beach, just smelling and breathing the fresh ocean air. When we get out into Mother Nature, not only will our brain get some much-needed downtime, but our body will get some vitamin D and our immune system will be refreshed.

And then you will notice that it is practically impossible not to feel calmer and more centered. That's why I always try to spend at least two hours of one-on-one time with Mother Nature each week. Nowadays we are all incredibly connected with laptops and mobile devices, and it can be very difficult to disconnect them. But that's exactly why we need to turn it off and make it a priority. Not only does looking at our phones cause horrible posture and spinal alignment, which then upsets the delicate balance of other things in the body, but I think we've all read enough studies to know that it's not good for our mental health either. . .

So set limits with your screen time. Turn off pop-up notifications, and when you're at home, try to disconnect completely. Instagram and YouTube will still be there tomorrow, but you might have time now to take that walk, read a book, or prep some vegetables for the week. Of all the

tips

I share with you today, the one I constantly work on and probably always will is stress management. I always say there's a reason I called my business Downshiftology, and it's because sometimes we teach what we most need to learn. The simple fact is that we will never live in a completely stress-free world, but we can learn to manage our stress better with practice.

Meditation, yoga, and acupuncture are great ways to reduce stress and calm both body and mind. And I'm a big proponent of all three. But even just five minutes of closing your eyes and breathing deeply a few times also works wonders. I always say that sleep and stress are just as important as food in

term

s of the impact they have on the body, so if you feel like your anxiety or tension level is rising, take it as a sign that you need a quick rest and maybe sit and take a few deep breaths. So speaking of sleep, it really is one of the most important, yet often overlooked, factors in staying healthy.

When we sleep, our brain repairs and renews cells, the body regenerates and produces critical hormones, and our immune system fights infections. When we sleep, a lot happens in the body and that is why lack of sleep is linked to so many different health problems. For optimal long-

term

health, sleep must be a top priority and we must remember that it is absolutely essential for our physical and emotional well-being. In fact, I think it's so important that I already made a separate video with some sleep tips, so if you haven't seen it yet, be sure to check it out.

If there was one health tip I could shout from the mountaintops, it's this, and it's that there is no one-size-fits-all solution when it comes to diet, health and wellness. A certain diet or supplement may have been beneficial for your coworker, your mom, or your sister, and it may not have the same effect on you. And that's because you have very different genetics, a different microbiome, different stress levels, different ancestry, and, well, pretty much everything. The best thing you can do for your health is to discover, and I mean, really discover what makes you feel better. And then remember that what made you feel good last year may not be the same thing that makes you feel good next year.

Our bodies are not static. They are always changing, so we too must be open to

change

. Now, I'm sure I could go on with more habits and tips, but I think those 12 are the ones that have had the biggest impact on my

life

and changed my wellness journey more than I could have ever imagined. And I think the bottom line here is that none of these are necessarily transcendental. In fact, you probably already knew many of them, but the key is to do them. And when it comes to all of these healthy habits, it's actually a cumulative effect of many little things that add up over time.

I hope you enjoyed the video, and if you have any additional healthy habits or tips, you can share them in the comments below or on my Instagram or our private Facebook group. If you like the video, be sure to like it. Share it with your family and friends. It always means a lot when you share it. And we'll see you again next week with a new and tasty recipe.