3 More Habits to Support Optimal Health

[This is a followup, an addition to “3 Habits to Support Optimal Health”. If you didn’t read that post yet, no worries. There is no particular order to follow—just 6 habits to consider adding in to your prevention and resiliency plans to support optimal health. So, start here or there. Just choose one habit to start incorporating, and once it’s a steady part of your life, come back and choose another one.]

Resilience: the ability of a person to adjust to or recover readily from illness, adversity, major life changes, etc. —Dictionary.com

I advocate for taking preventative measures to shield our mental and physical health; I also know that even the most prepared can become derailed. I certainly have.

Therefore, to support optimal health, it’s imperative to equip yourself with tools that can serve for both prevention and recovery.

1. Eat foods that fuel you and support optimal health.

If you are feeling bogged down, it might be time to take a look at your food choices. While sugary foods may ease your mood at the moment, and packaged foods seem convenient, you know they can deter your health.

Using a Food-Mood Journal

It’s a good idea to keep a food journal for about a week. You’ll gain perspective on your eating habits and how what you eat, and when, affects your overall health—mood, mental alertness, physical energy, digestion, sleep, etc.

No judgement, please! The purpose of a food journal is twofold: to help you discover foods that make you feel good, and to get to the root of unhealthy eating patterns so you can make better choices for yourself….not so you can beat yourself up. I have created a Food-Mood Journal that you can download. Just click the photo preview below.

Boost your health and brighten your days with colorful, crunchy, tasty, nutritious and wholesome foods that will fuel your brain and body. Experiment with new foods and see how switching up your diet affects your moods, how you sleep, and how much energy you have for your day.

Choosing Foods for Optimal Health

Read labels carefully and try to eat mostly foods you wash and serve or chop and cook. Maintain variety with different vegetables and whole grains.

To support optimial health, choose mostly:

• fresh fruit
• leafy greens
• cruciferous vegetables
• beans and lentils
• avocado
• nuts
• sesame and pumpkin seeds
• whole grains
• wild caught fish
• organic free-range chicken and eggs
• organic grass-fed beef.

If you would like more guidance in this area, I created a short program called RENEW to help you Restore, Energize, Nourish, Empower and Win back….YOU! It’s a 4 week mind-body online course delivered through email. One part is all about the food-mood connection and includes a Food-Mood Journal printable and a Food-Mood Recipe Guide. It’s on sale only until the end of December. Click the banner to discover more about RENEW.

My RENEW program will get you well on your way to supporting optimal health.

2. Connect with others to support optimal health for you and them.

Even if you’re an introvert like me, you will benefit from socializing. Practice discernment of course. You don’t have to attend every get-together or develop relationships with everyone you meet.

Who are your people? Who do you enjoy spending time with? Who do you laugh with? Who can you talk to and release a little steam? Who loves you?

Grab your phone and give them a call—a real phone call, not a voice message. Don’t try to multi-task. Just hear their voice and give them the gift of listening and then of hearing your voice. Let them know at the beginning if you only have a few minutes, so there are no expectations for a long call, and then give it your full attention.

Who have you been neglecting to call? Who have you been waiting on to call you? Call them! Don’t wait.

If they live nearby, make plans to meet for coffee, go for a walk, check out an art exhibit or comedy show, try out the new local healthy eatery.

Solid relationships are worth the time investment and great remedies for down days, so reach out and connect. Bust out of your solo routine.

It’s a challenge for me, too. I like to surf, workout and run alone. I like to eat, shop and explore a museum alone. I like to play the ukulele, read and write ALONE.

But I have a family and friends. I love them, and they love me. So I make the efforts to include them in my life and step into theirs when invited….

….and thus our lives are richer.

When There’s No One Close to Home

No one nearby? That’s ok. After those phone calls, go out on your own.

Look for opportunities to volunteer and help others out. Offer warm greetings to neighbors, shoppers in line behind you, bus or taxi drivers, cops on the corner. Seek out people often overlooked or just passed by and boost their day.

If you just love to do things on your own, now and then treat yourself to lunch out at a special cafe, a class on something that interests you, a new church service, a park tour, etc. These types of outings will give you the best of both worlds: you can enjoy the majority of the time on your own and still get a little socialization.

Plus, you never know….you might meet a future friend.

What if you are down and out? It may feel safer to withdraw. The best antidote is talking with someone and sharing your feelings. We humans love to share experiences and offer support and advice to others.

Reaching out to friends and family for support is super important, especially if you’re suffering. Your people want to be there for you and will value the opportunity to help you out.

If you are struggling to find the support you need to make changes in your health, then look for a therapist, professional coach, or community, either in person or online, where you can connect with a trained professional or others going through the same and get support.

3. Fill your life with purpose.

To support optimal health, define goals for yourself, and not just based on actions or tasks to complete.

Who do you want to be? How do you want to live?

If you want to be a person who eats healthy, you will make better choices at the grocery store. If you want to be generous, you’ll find ways to give to others. If you want to live more positively, you’ll look for more good around you.

When You Feel Stuck

If you feel stuck, identify what is holding you back and take steps to find more meaning in your current situations, find more rewarding work, or add volunteer activities that will enrich your day-to-day life.

Strapped for time? Volunteering doesn’t have to take a lot of time.

• Help out a neighbor with a grocery store run.
• Dish out food at a local shelter one day a week.
• Walk a dog from your local animal shelter, or drop by during their outdoor play time (my son loves to do this since we won’t allow a dog aboard).
• Drop off items at a not-for-profit thrift store, and if you can, stick around for an hour to help with sorting.

If you can devote more time to volunteering:

• Join a service club that aligns with your values (I was part of the Kiwanis family for many years in the U.S., from a pre-teen while my step-father was a member, to Keywanettes in high school, to serving as Circle K Lt. Governor in college, to networking as a high school counselor in adulthood—highly recommend).
• Pick up a hobby that enriches your life: gardening, refinishing furniture, crafting, sewing, knitting, making art or music, etc… (ukulele is an easy instrument to learn in adulthood….trust me).
• Adopt a pet and experience an outpouring of unconditional love.

If your job, or another part of your life feels like walking on an endless treadmill, and you long for something more, you might consider working with a coach or therapist who can help you discover your purpose and put it into practice. I know someone ready to help you fulfill your destiny.

We all want to live a life of purpose. The key is to figure out what creates meaning for YOU, and then create goals and engage in behaviors that support your intentions. Living with a sense of purpose allows us to find our passions, pursue meaningful goals, live authentically and happily, and with greater health.

Bonus Strategy: Positivity for Optimal Health

When you view the world with positivity you can:

• feel better about yourself and more confident
• feel more content
• more easily build and care for meaningful relationships
• laugh more and enjoy your days more fully
• find balance between obligations and fun, relaxing activities
• find a sense of purpose and meaning in more of your actions
• become more willing to take risks, try new things, and change course when needed
• better manage stress

In conclusion, this is your life and your health, so I hope you will take charge of it.

Choose one area to focus on for a while and get extra help and support if you need it.

Stick around and you’ll find tons of blog posts and other free resources to help you get and stay on track with your goals. Sign up for my weekly-ish newsletter to receive notices when new posts are published, a free printable holistic wellness inventory and goal setting worksheet, exclusive wellness tips, tools, info, and special offers. When I create a new wellness guide or program, I always offer my subscribers a limited-time discount (like half price!) before listing it full-price and promoting it to the public.

So, go subscribe to my newsletter HERE and grab that FREE printable wellness inventory and goal sheet and start getting weekly wellness goodness.

OR, remember to check out my newest wellness guide, RENEW: A Good Start Guide to Help You Restore Your Body and Mind. You can find out all about it by clicking HERE. (By registering for my wellness guides you will automatically be signed up for my newsletter, but you can unsubscribe at any time.)

Thanks so much for reading!

Live, love and be well.

Jen