Hey hey, friends! Welcome back to the HF Podcast, today we are going to be talking about 3 things that you can do to move you forward toward a healthier body and mind! I love starting with these 3 things because they don’t require you to buy anything or go anywhere - you can literally apply these tips today! So let’s get into it...

Hydrate! Water, water, water!

The first thing you can do is to HYDRATE! Okay, I know you probably hear this a lot, and if you are one of my family members, you are probably rolling your eyes right now because I say this all the time, but it’s for a good reason! The majority of us are dehydrated right now...and yes, I said us because sometimes I slack on this too. Dehydration can cause so many symptoms. Most of us think, well if I’m peeing and I’m not thirsty, I’m fine. That’s just simply not true! Not drinking enough water is one of the top causes for headaches, muscle and joint pain, indigestion, bloating, constipation, skin issues like dry skin or breakouts, and fatigue - just to name a few! Our bodies NEED water and just cannot function optimally without it. 

So, how much water should we be drinking every day? There has been a lot of confusion about this in the past, but I think most health professionals pretty much agree now, you should aim to drink half your body weight in oz every day. So, that means if you weigh 150 lbs, you should aim for 75 oz every day; if you weigh 200 lbs, you should aim for 100 oz. So whatever your current weight is, just divide it in half, and that’s your goal.  Now, if you’re not used to drinking a lot of water, that probably seems like a lot, so just start small and build your way up to that amount - it’s the goal, so that means you probably won’t start out hitting it every day and that’s okay. 

One of the best tips that I have found for increasing your water intake, is to use a water bottle that you like, and that is easy to carry around with you -  24-32 oz and either glass or stainless steel are the best options. (I prefer stainless steel because it keeps my water cold and I don’t have to worry about my baby shattering it!) Aim to drink one whole bottle full of water before breakfast, before lunch, and before dinner. You can also set an alarm on your phone to go off every hour or two to remind you to go fill up your water bottle. It may take a few days to a few weeks to get into the habit, but eventually, you will start to feel so much better and your body will start to crave more water, so it won’t really be a chore anymore. Also, real-life... you will likely also notice that you have to pee a lot more once you start upping your water intake, but that is a GOOD thing. Your body is working hard to flush out toxins and get rid of things it doesn’t need. It’s good for your liver, kidneys, digestion, and skin to get rid of all those toxins. So, just be happy about all the good it’s doing for your body and know that it won’t last forever. Your body will adjust and you won’t always be running to the bathroom that often. 

I’ve had several people tell me that they struggle to drink water because they just don’t like the taste, and I actually had the same problem several years ago when I started trying to drink more water, so let’s talk about a few ways you can work through that. 

• One of the simplest ways to add a little flavor is to add some fresh fruit! A wedge of lemon, lime or both is a great way to enhance the taste and get a boost of vitamin C. You can also add a sprig of fresh mint with a few slices of cucumber for more of a spa-like experience. 

• Play around with the temperature of the water. Some people prefer super cold water and some like it better more at room-temp. Just try a few options and see which way you prefer and which way you are able to drink the most. 

• Another option to help with the transition to drinking more water, especially for those of you who are big soda drinkers, is to switch to a naturally flavored carbonated water option like La Croix or Perrier. Just be sure to read the label and make sure that there aren’t any added sugars, or artificial sugars and flavors. Ideally, you would still work to transition mostly to just regular water, since carbonated water can leave you feeling a bit bloated, but this is still a great way to ease yourself into it. 

So, go get yourself some water to drink as you finish reading this post! :) 

Reduce your stress! 

I can already hear you laughing, but hear me out. We all know that chronic stress is bad for us. It’s bad for our physical health, our mental health, our relationships - just bad in general. We don’t really need to be told that, right? But I think a lot of us don’t fully understand just how much it can affect our health. Did you know that chronic stress can not only cause things like anxiety and depression, insomnia, and headaches but also cause you to have decreased immune function, imbalanced hormones, and weight gain? 

When we encounter stress, our bodies produce a hormone called Cortisol. It is our primary stress hormone and is responsible for activating our “fight or flight” response. The effects of this release of hormones alter our immune function, suppress our digestive and reproductive systems, and slow growth function. This is actually a survival mechanism and how our bodies were created to respond to stress. If we were being chased by a wild animal, we would need to focus all of our body’s energy on surviving. We wouldn’t need to digest or burn more calories, and it certainly wouldn’t be a safe time to have a baby, so we wouldn’t need any of those functions either. The problem isn’t with the release of Cortisol… the problem is that our brains can’t tell the difference in a lion chasing us and our bank account over-drafting. We live in a constant state of stress these days, and therefore our bodies are continually releasing cortisol. And as we just learned, we can’t function well in that state for a sustained amount of time.

So, you’re anything like me, you’re probably thinking “well, that sucks… but stress is just a part of life. There is nothing I can do about it!”. And while it’s true that we can’t eliminate stress altogether, we can reduce it and we can help our bodies deal with the effects of it.

Here are a few ideas:

• Set some boundaries! Seriously! A lot of our stress, especially as women, comes from saying “yes” to too many things and trying to be all things to all people. We so often overextend ourselves to that point that we have no time, and we are always rushing or running late, which only stresses us out more. We want to take care of our families and our friends, have the perfect house, excel at work,  and get all the kids to all the places! Here’s a question that I have had to work through and I want to ask you to consider: Are we doing all these things just to prove to ourselves that we can and that we’re enough? 

• Let’s just be honest and admit that we aren’t enough and that is perfectly okay! We will never be perfect and will never be able to do it all perfectly! (Here is a link to another podcast called Work and Play by Nancy Ray - she has such encouraging things to say on this subject!) We need to set ourselves free from the expectation that we can meet everyone’s needs, and set some clear boundaries in our lives. If we don’t take the time to care for ourselves, we won’t be able to care for the ones we love, right?

• On that note, self-care! Pick one or two things that fill you up and allow you to regroup and feel refreshed. They don’t have to be elaborate or expensive. Maybe it’s just a hot bath before bed every night or 10 minutes of time to pause and pray in the morning before you start your day. You get to decide what that thing is for you, so sit down and plan to start making time to care for yourself starting today! 

Get better sleep! 

Sleep is so vital to good health and ensuring a good night’s rest is probably one of the most important things we can do to help our bodies and minds function well! Good sleep is essential for our bodies to be able to do things like recover from the stress of the day, repair our muscles and tissue from workouts and injuries, regulate our hormone levels (including the ones that affect our appetite, metabolism, and reproductive systems), retain knowledge and memories that we obtained throughout the day, slow the aging process, and reduce the risk of disease and illness.  

So, as you can tell from this list (that is by no means all-inclusive), there can be serious negative outcomes associated with not getting enough sleep. So, that prompts the question of “what is enough sleep?” According to the National Sleep Foundation, the number of hours of sleep required for optimal health can vary per individual, but the general recommendation is that adults sleep anywhere from 7-9 hours each night. It was also noted that we should pay attention to how we feel with differing amounts of sleep. For example, do you feel better and more rested with 7 hours vs 9 hours? 

Also, the quality of our sleep is just as important as the quantity of sleep we are getting! Here are a few suggestions for improving your sleep quality from the NSF:

• Stick to a consistent sleep schedule, even on weekends (waking at the same time each day)

• Practice a relaxing bedtime ritual (this can also help with the stress and self-care that we mentioned before)

• Exercise daily

• Evaluate your bedroom to ensure ideal temperature, sound and light (cool, and completely dark helps your body produce melatonin appropriately)

• Beware of hidden sleep stealers, like alcohol and caffeine

• Turn off electronics before bed (the blue light, as well as the EMFs admitted from the devices, have been linked with poor sleep quality and insomnia)

• Address any issues like Sleep Apnea with a trained health professional

• Most importantly, make sleep a priority! You must schedule sleep like any other daily activity, but don’t make it the thing you do only after everything else is done! 

Friends, I cannot stress enough the significance that working on these three things can have on your health! As I mentioned in the beginning, these are changes that you can make today, no matter what day of the week or what time of day you are listening to this, you can start now! We often get tricked into thinking that in order to move our health forward in a positive direction that we need to make these huge time commitments or spend a lot of money, but in reality it’s the small, daily decisions that we make that have the greatest impact on our health. 

Click here for a downloadable PDF of these tips!

Thank you so much for being here with me today and taking the time to listen in.