Tips for Beginners: Staying Healthy
life is hard; food doesn't have to be #100 [vol3, 9.3]
In the final days before my oldest left for college, I found myself wanting to blurt out all the health tips, fire hose style if you will.
Truth is, that’s not helpful on any level.
Here are a few of my baseline tips for staying healthy.
Eat something fresh everyday.
He’s living on campus with a meal plan that is basically fast food. Without enough fiber the digestive system will SLOW down and that’s not good at any level.
Practical application: apples keep for a week at room temperature; grab a bag and eat one a day. They say it keeps the doctor away.
Keep those bowels moving at all costs.
If we think of our body as a factory with several outlets for waste, when one of the outlets becomes sluggish or clogged all together, it makes the other outlets work harder. The body works harder and is prone to illness in this state.
Besides the digestive system, other places the body removes toxins are the respiratory system (runny/stuffy nose, cough, sneezing) and the skin (rashes, acne, sweating). All these bodily functions can be good to remove junk. I encourage all of them and why I don’t recommend anti-perspirants. Deodorant, yes!
A runny nose and cough are definitely annoying. I do not suppress either. Support the body through the weakness with rest, increased liquids, and supplements among other things. Warm tea with honey can be soothing for a dry cough.
If the nose is stopped up a saline rinse can work wonders. If we get a rash, I do not give an anti-histamine…the rash is a clue the body is working to rid itself of something unwanted. Support it with an epsom salt bath or an oatmeal bath. Drink more water to flush your system.
If you find yourself constipated (as is often the case when I travel), ask a few questions:
Have I eaten anything fresh today? An apple or some veggies could help.
Have I been drinking enough water? Coffee and sodas don’t count.
Have I had much exercise lately? A short walk works wonders.
When was the last time I ate something probiotic? I travel with probiotic pills because I can’t always find probiotic food. At home we drink raw milk, kombucha, kefir, and eat fermented veggies. Here’s an article I wrote about buying fermented food.
Limit sugary things, especially those with caffeine and artificial colors.
Oh sugar! It’s everywhere. Offered by everyone! Yesterday we were in a physician’s office and they offered donuts to patients! Gahhh!
Beyond saying no to empty calories, I exhort you - read labels for hidden sugars! Look around at the epidemic of obesity in our culture. Try to firmly plant in your mind the evils of sugar.
Did you know sugar actually robs the body of other vital nutrients? Yes. Depletes nutrients from other foods. This paper from the National Library of Medicine asserts that obesity is a state of nutrient and energy deficiency.
In order for your body to metabolize candy it uses stored resources of vitamin B, zinc, magnesium and chromium just to name a few. When continuously consuming sugar and foods with little or no nutritional value you deplete cells of vital micronutrients (vitamins and minerals), without adding anything back in. A sweet potato on the other hand is rich in vitamin B, zinc, magnesium, chromium and iron.
Before eating anything ask yourself: will this help or hurt my body? Am I eating enough protein? Ideas I gave my son to supplement on campus dining - rotisserie chicken, cheese sticks, cottage cheese, nuts, hummus, greek yogurt, and natural peanut butter (lots of hidden sugar!). Hamburgers are actually a great real food option (skip the American cheese tho).
Recap - three things for beginners to be mindful of
eat fiber
keep bowels moving
limit sugar
Dinner Tonight
Brats are thawing (from a local farmer so they provide essential vitamin D), will roast sweet potatoes and frozen/steamed broccoli both veggies with lotsa butter. Usually we have raw sauerkraut with this meal but I haven’t made any in over a year and forgot to buy some yesterday!
Bread
The past 2 Sundays we’ve had lunch guests so I’ve made this super easy bread. It has almost zero hands on time. If you can read, you can make this bread. It’s perfect with soup. And perfect for Sunday lunch. I mix Saturday night and bake Sunday morning.
If I will be around for 2-3 hours, this is probably our favorite bread. Also very easy, she has a YouTube video on her site to show you how.
Life is hard, food doesn’t have to be.
Julie
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