How to jump-start a better health

People continue to create barriers for themselves when it comes to starting the journey to good health, and this usually starts with joining a gym. There’s too much traffic; membership is too expensive; I don’t like the gym; the list goes on. I believe a healthy lifestyle is more about making daily healthier choices and developing consistent habits, ones that don’t necessarily have to cost you a lot of money.

Avoid wheat for the day, you won’t regret it
Wheat is a major problem and probably the most influential food action you could take today. It’s not actually the wheat that is the problem but the wheat’s protein Gluten. The sticky protein, Gluten, is a big irritant to most people’s gut.

Being Gluten intolerant doesn’t just mean having gut problems like wind and a bloated stomach. Gluten can also cause an auto immune response from Leaky Gut Syndrome resulting in: Arthritis, Headaches, Back Pains, Depression and more. Gluten is everywhere so be careful. Common foods include: Breads, Pasta, Sauces, fillers in Sausages, and Cereals.
Try and avoid Gluten for 30 days and see just how amazing you feel without it.

Dream about What You Really Want
Do you know what you really want out of life? Have you ever taken the time to think about it?
Setting goals and taking control of your life is important for your overall happiness. There is something very intrinsically rewarding about achieving a goal. Generally the harder and longer a goal takes to achieve the more rewarding it will be. The subconscious mind has a clever way of finding solutions for you but you have to set it a goal first. Dream big and don’t worry about how you will get there, just let your subconscious take care of it.

Here’s a proven goal setting technique:
1. Close your eyes and dream about what you want your life to be like in 5 years. How will it look and feel?
2. Now ask yourself what skills you need to achieve your dream? List them down.
3. Next work backwards and plan out your pathway to your dream. Where will you need to be in 3 years, 2 years, 1 year, 6 months, 3 month, 1 month, 1 week?
4. Write out your road-map and stick it on the wall. Tick off each week as you progress towards your 5 year dream.
This technique is highly effective. Don’t sweat over the small stuff, it will sort itself out. Trust your subconscious to find a way. Take control of your life and you could be living your dream in only 5 years!

Spend more time standing
For some people the idea of standing more often terrifies them but the truth is sitting down is not very good for our backs. When we sit down huge amounts of pressure is transferred to the lower back, far more than when standing. It always amuses me when people say their back hurts and so they need to sit down. If you have a bad back you are better to either lie down or stand up.

One simple technique to prevent prolonged sitting at work is to set a stopwatch on your computer. Every 50 minutes take the time to get up, move around, drink some water and look at something other than the computer screen. You will be amazed at how much more productive you will become by using this simple method.

Limit fruit intake to 1 piece per day
What? I know what you are thinking. ‘Reduce fruit, I thought that was good for me?’ Fruit is good for you but only in small doses. Fruit contains high amounts of sugar. I know it’s the natural sugar Fructose but it’s still sugar.Sugar is the largest cause of obesity today. No, it’s not fat, it’s sugar. Sugar consumption has drastically risen over the last 50 years and fat consumption has drastically dropped, but we are all in worse shape than ever. We have more gyms, medical practitioners and health carers than ever before but we still can’t stop the obesity epidemic. Stop sugar and it all goes away!

Here’s a quick guide to Fruit and Sugar:
1. Avoid all Sugars including syrups and artificial sweeteners (they are even worse than sugar).
2. All ingredients that end in “ose” are a sugar. For example: Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose, Maltose etc.
3. Limit fruit to one piece a day. Only eat seasonal fruit. Fruit is not a meal.
Fruit has changed a lot over the years. Our ancestors would have eaten fruit that was much smaller and more sour. They would have only eaten it when it was in season and usually to fatten up for the winter. Be very very careful with fruit and sugar!