Today, I’m going to share with you the 5 health tips that have impacted my life the most.
First off, as a disclaimer… While I have a history in personal training, I am not a doctor. What I’m sharing with you is what’s worked for me, as well as countless others.
Affiliate disclosure: Please note that this post contains some affiliate links. Affiliates I’ve chosen are only featured because I genuinely believe in them.
It’s your responsibility to take whatever information you gather here, and research it for yourself. Seek out a doctor if you have any doubts about whether or not these tips will work for you.
The article is a more in-depth read, but if you don’t have the time, check out the video version:
5 Health Tips that Drastically Changed My Life
#1: Intermittent Fasting
One of the health tips that has impacted my life drastically is something called intermittent fasting. What is it? It’s a strategy that’s considered controversial. It means fasting for longer than you normally would overnight during your sleep.
For decades, we’ve been told that breakfast is the most important meal of the day. To skip it, we thought, would be unhealthy. Sure, feeding your body well enough is important. But skipping out on breakfast shouldn’t necessarily complicate that!
As we age, our human growth hormone decreases. This can cause a host of problems, such as weight gain, lean muscle loss, and difficulty thinking clearly. It can even contribute to depression!
Especially if you’re getting older, increasing your human growth hormone is extremely important, so that you can lose weight easily and hold on to any muscle you gain.
Intermittent fasting may not be ideal for women with hormonal imbalances. It could actually worsen your situation. If you’re considering it, I highly recommend getting your hormones checked.
There’s great balance with my own hormones, and I’m blessed that I can say that. I see myself benefitting tremendously from intermittent fasting. I’m able to stay lean more easily and put on muscle mass quickly!
Tip #2: Go Vegan!
This one was a huge game-changer for me, but it was something I battled with myself over for a very long time.
I knew about all of the benefits of giving up meat and dairy for years. As a previous physique competitor myself, I was sucked into the common belief that these proteins were necessary to gain muscle.
When you’re a bodybuilder, it’s considered normal to have 4 or 5 ounces of meat per meal. I didn’t think that there was any way I could get “enough” protein as a vegan, so making the switch terrified me.
This was something I wanted to do for my health. I wanted to do it for the animals, too… but would I get to keep my muscle and my strength?
Finally, I got fed up enough to take the leap, and let me tell you, the benefits I saw were drastic. I finally lost my annoying saddlebags – that little bit of fat just below my tush that just never seemed to go away.
If this is something you’ve been considering but don’t know where to start, I highly recommend this Vegan Starter Kit by the lovely people over at Nutriciously. This kit contains everything you need to begin the journey comfortably and easily.
The kit contains…
- A straightforward, to-the-point guide on how to eat well, portion, and what your new kitchen staples should be.
- Simple recipes to get started right away.
- A meal plan with 56 recipes and their shopping lists, so you always know the answer to: “What’s for dinner?”
- ‘Meal formulas’ – Easy, quick and lazy combinations to throw in a bowl that always work. Great for when you’re short on time.
- A restaurant guide for karma-free eating on the go!
- Cheat sheets for where to get all the right nutrients in your new lifestyle, and a FAQ answering all the common questions surrounding the decision to go vegan.
If you’re interested, you can check it out here!
We ladies typically hold extra stubborn fat around the derriere and thighs. When I went vegan, that came clean off… and stayed off.
Not only that, but I lift the same amount of weight that I did before going Vegan. People still walk up to me and ask me when my next competition is.
My body has also been more clean than ever. I restored the regularity I’d eventually lost from years of consuming dairy and meat. I don’t experience the gas and bloating that I would see each time I had a Whey protein shake.
I’ll eat raw for most of the day, until dinner. As it’s been said before by doctors and other experts, it will do your gut wonders to eat more legumes, healthy grains, and leafy greens. It did for me. I expect it to do the same for you, too!
Tip #3: The Bodybuilding Lifestyle
This was something I discovered many, many years ago. Essentially, I didn’t have an understanding of how building muscle or doing cardio could factor into how youthful and healthy I looked. Boy, now I sure do!
For some people, this lifestyle means little more than maintaining a certain look. For me, it’s been a part of my journey to being as healthy as possible.
To a lot of people, I know that the bodybuilding lifestyle means having an “on season” and an “off season”. They’re left with a lot of fat to get rid of after eating so much to gain muscle.
What studies tell us is, when you gain and lose more than 10% of your bodyweight over and over again, it’s very stressful on the body.
This was something that I got involved in at the beginning. Over time, I realized how draining it was on my skin. That’s not something that an aging person wants to have!
I live this lifestyle for bigger reasons now. I do cardio to increase the circulation in my body and lymphatic system, and to take care of my lungs. Ladies, if you want to keep your skin glowing, it’s great for sweating out the toxins, too!
Building some muscle will also help you boost your metabolism and process your food better.
I talk to a lot of ladies who are afraid that building muscle will make them look bulky and thick. It’s all a matter of experimenting at the gym and seeing how your body reacts. You will find that some of your body parts are predisposed to growing more easily. When you find out which ones those are, just don’t work them as much!
If you build your legs too easily, then squats wouldn’t be your best friend. They’re still a great exercise to keep doing, but you just wouldn’t do them too often.
Circulation is also important to prevent cellulite. So many of us have lifestyles that involve a lot of sitting, and the lack of circulation contributes to cellulite. Get moving!
Tip #4: Probiotics
Who would’ve thought that something so simple would be such a huge help for me? We know that we’re consuming things in our diet that mess up our intestines. To make matters worse, some people are genetically predisposed to slower intestines.
It’s extremely important to keep probiotics in your fridge all the time. What’s also important to add is that, when you eat out, you have no idea what kind of quality to expect from your food. It’s in someone else’s hands.
Among many other things, Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is something you could be eating, called an “excitotoxin” (a chemical designed to make food addictive, while killing your cells at the same time). MSG goes under so many names that the restaurant may not even know they’re using it!
There is a gut-brain connection that means you may experience some brain fog if your gut is not in good health. When you indulge or go out to eat, remember to take probiotics right away.
Tip #5: Healthy fats (Omega-3)
Healthy fats have changed my health and fitness tremendously. Because not everyone is concerned about their skin, their brain, or their heart on a day-to-day basis, it’s a detail that’s often missed.
Not only are Omega-3s powerful for your heart, but they’re great for having healthy skin. Sometimes you’ll see people with the little red bumps on the back of their arms, and that’s due to being deficient in healthy fats.
Again, for the aging person, you want to do anything you can to maintain your skin’s health and prevent wrinkles. You can consume chia seeds and flax seeds every day to get your Omega-3s easily.
Eating fat doesn’t have to mean getting fat. A lot of people are afraid to eat fat, because they think that it will make them gain weight. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The recipe for gaining weight is eating more than you burn – not eating too much of one macronutrient.
Don’t fear the fat… invest in some omega-3 rich foods!
I hope you enjoyed these 5 health tips. If you’ve seen some results with these, want to know more about them, or have anything else to contribute, feel free to leave a comment below. I’ll be happy to get back to you as soon as I can!