From years of working with clients and giving them advice, here are our best health tips. We have tried to divide them up by category so that you can quickly locate the best ones for you.

Total Body Health Tips

1. Listen to your body.  Your body is a beautiful machine. It will tell you when something is wrong. If you are not in tune with your body, try a couple of mental exercises to help you listen.
2. Take vitamins. Research has shown that even with a fabulous diet, you still cannot get all the nutrients and vitamins needed for your body to operate at “prime.” Make sure your vitamins dissolve as they are more absorb better.
3. Get your sleep. This health tip is one of the best. Getting enough sleep is critical for your body to operate in prime condition. Sleep deprivation affects your brain, your muscles, and your lymphatic system.
4. Take care of your mind. In this era of non-stop media, your mind needs calm. Take 5 minutes at least every day to stop and smell the roses. Meditation works for some, but some cannot stop even to meditate. Take a break from the rat race.
5. Gift your body. Yes, do something nice for your body every day. If a massage is not in the budget, soak your feet in warm Epsom salts. Lather on a body lotion. Put on a mask. Be nice to YOU!
6. Breathe.  When you wake in the morning, stand up and stretch your hands to the ceiling and then to the floor. Then breathe in, tilt your head back, and hold for 3 seconds. Then let the air out.  Repeat 3-5 times to get the oxygen moving to all of your organs.
7. Stretch and Move. You can be 90 and still stretch. It helps your body bend and move, plus if you breathe at the same time, it can put oxygen deep into your muscles. Use a Yoga mat if necessary, but get yourself moving.

Nutrition Health Tips

1. Eat five to six times a day, preferably three meals and two snacks to keep your metabolism working.  This also will save your insulin level, so that you don’t store fat.
2. Good fat is your friend. Essential fatty acids not only put oils into the body, but they provide vital nutrients in the body. Fats found in avocados, olive oil, coconut oil, and nuts give your body and your brain food.
3. If your stomach bloats, your body didn’t like what you just ate. People become sensitive to foods and can suddenly become sensitized. Dairy, gluten, yeast, sugar, and other foods can make your body vulnerable.
4. If you belch or burp, something you ate did not agree with you. Having acid reflux is your body telling you that something you ate did not agree. Of all the health tips, listening to your body talk is very important.
5. Drink water. Try at least ten glasses a day.  Your cells need water for hydration and to help carry nutrients. You body does not get hydration from sodas and the other chemical-laden drinks.
6. Avoid processed foods and refined foods.  This includes bread, flours, sugar, chips, candy, cake…you get the picture.
7. If your stomach doesn’t have to work (release enzymes), then what you ate was not good for you. If you eat ice cream, your body does not have to process it. It provides no nutrients to the body.

More Health Tips

1. Look at food labels. Stay clear of low fat, reduced fat, no fat, saturated fat and trans fat. Look for additives, chemicals, preservatives, hydrogenated oils, sugars, sugar alcohols and artificial sweeteners.
2. Reduce your sugar.  Eat food that has 9 grams of sugar or less. Watch out for dressings, toppings, ketchup, mayonnaise and other flavorings that increase the sugar in your diet.
3. Limit your fruit. Fruit is an antioxidant and very good for you, but your liver can only process so much sugar. You want to keep your insulin level throughout the day, so too much high glycemic fruit will raise your insulin.  This will turn on fat storage.
4. Portions. There is nothing cool about super-size, big, or gluttony.  Too much food or overeating, because the portions are too large if a huge problem (so to speak).
5. Take snacks with you. If you are on the go, in the car or on a subway, take snack packs of nuts, apples, or protein powder.  Having snacks with you helps you eat more often and prevents you from grabbing something with chemicals or sugar.
6. Eat breakfast. Just like sleeping this is one of the critical health tips. Really, we know you have heard this before, but here is why. When you go to sleep, your body has stored up energy from all the good stuff you ate that day. Then you sleep for 8 hours. During that time, your body uses energy to operate the vital organs and systems. When you wake up, you have about 15% left and you use that within the first hour.
7. Don’t starve your body. By not eating breakfast or skipping meals, you are starving your body.  Your body is really smart and it will store all of the food that you are eating as fat. Don’t eat and watch yourself get fatter. You are slowing down your metabolism.

Most of these health tips are common sense. In this racing technological world, we need to slow down, eat right, nourish our brains and our body.  It’s all about being #bellastrong.