This week I’m going to run through my ‘Top 11 Favorite Lifestyle Enhancers’ that you can start today. Picking any 1 of these from this list and practicing it for 40 days will almost immediately positively impact your health. Many of these you may have seen if you’ve been following me for awhile, but a good reminder, I think, is always helpful (at least, I know it is for me!). So, find something in this list that resonates with you and give it a good go for a few days, up to 40 days. 

1. Take a cold shower. Cold showers, especially first thing in the morning, opens up your capillaries to remove toxins, increases your overall circulation, and improves lymph flow. For more on this, go to my earlier post.
2. Walk 20 minutes a day. A brisk walk can help improve circulation, strengthen lung capacity, increase muscle mass, and elevate your mood.
3. Drink 8, 8 oz glasses of clean water every day. Start first thing in the morning to flush your kidneys and liver, then throughout the day, it’ll help keep you mentally focused, satiate feelings of hunger, and positively impact your joint range of motion.
4. Change out your cleaning products. Make sure all of your cleaning products are made with plant-based substances and are non-toxic. Believe it or not, your cleaning products could be contributing to your health issues. Take a look at the website, EWG’s Guide to Healthy Cleaning to see how the cleaners you currently use rate on the health scale. You’ll be surprised that many conventional household cleaners have been found to contribute to allergies, skin conditions, respiratory conditions, asthma, reproductive difficulties, and cancer. And, yuck, all of these nasty chemicals end up in our water supply, which affects animals, plants, and comes back around to us!
5. Take 1-3 teaspoons of turmeric per day. See my post on turmeric on how to prepare it to give you the best health benefits. This is anti-inflammatory, anti-bacterial, and great for just about everything from joint pain to snoring!
6. Decrease or eliminate all refined sugar and high fructose corn syrup. Both of these can lead to weight gain, diabetes, pain, digestive issues, headaches….you name it.
7. Decrease or eliminate gluten from your diet. Gluten is the protein found in wheat, barley, and spelt, which makes these grains super delicious, but, at the same time, can contribute to inflammation, bloating, headaches, thyroid issues, digestive problems.
8. Make your sleep a priority. Getting 7-8 hours of good, sound sleep every night is imperative for healthy weight, positive mental attitude, and overall health and vitality
9. Drink a green smoothie every day. See my post on this for more information. One of my all-time favorite daily tonics for vitality and overall good vibes.
10. Limit your daily exposure of electronics. Basically, computers, TV, ipods, phones, kindles, ipads, etc. are little beacons of electromagnetic radiation and don’t jive well with our own, human electromagnetic force field. Too much of this stuff can sap energy.
11. Take 3-11 minutes everyday to sit, close your eyes, and long deep breathe. Taking a few minutes to ‘un-plug’ every day gives time for introspection and to ‘feel yourself out’. Are you feeling stressed? Sad? Happy? Angry? Sometimes we don’t even know what we feel because we’re too busy looking outside. Give yourself some daily love. If you’d like a little tutorial on the yogic way of practicing Long Deep Breathing, you can watch my short video. 

My Challenge to you: Pick one of the above tools and try it for 10 days. Pull out your phone or paper journal and write down how you’re feeling mentally, emotionally, physically at the beginning of the 10 days. Follow along in your journal as you continue along with your new habit. At the end of the 10 days, check in with yourself to see if you notice any changes in how you feel. I’d love to hear from you on my Facebook page! Have fun with this! These are all things that I have implemented into my life over the past many, many years. Start with one (or all, if you’re really excited to try it!) and see how it goes.

Lots of love and, as always, thanks so much for making the world a better place by being the best version of you.

From beautiful Northern New Mexico,
Dr. Arjan