5 Truly Transformational Ways to be Healthier

There’s so much noise right now in the wellness industry, it’s hard to know what to trust. As a wellness and consciousness expert, I’ve tried them all.

These are the 5 truly transformational practices that I’ve distilled down to over the many years searching for the next best thing.  

1. Fast Breathing & Cold Showers.

Some may know this as the Wim Hof Method, named after the Dutch superhuman that pioneered the technique and proved anyone could achieve levels of health never before thought to be possible.

Check it out - the deep breathwork pumps the body with vital oxygen and alkalizes your system. You wake up the body giving it an adrenaline shot of energy while at the same time calming the mind.The cold then tricks your body into going into survival mode.

This improves metabolic efficiency, boosting vital health markers, increasing your growth hormone and testosterone levels, lowering inflammation, releasing endorphins and happy hormones like dopamine. Try it for a month and you’ll want to climb Everest in shorts like Wim Hof!

2. Celery Juice.

Drinking straight celery juice daily is the number one thing the Medical Medium recommends for healing (and he’s right!) It might seem simple, but that's the the best part - it is simple.

With just some celery and a way to juice it, you can transform your health and digestion in as little as one week. Celery juice is that powerful for healing. I personally put my father, who has high blood pressure, on a daily celery juice plan instead of taking the blood pressure medicine the doctor recommended.

By his next check up, his blood pressure had dropped significant levels and, as an added bonus, he lost 10 pounds. Just try it; it’s pretty amazing.

3. Meditation.

Meditation, in a way, is like exercise for our brains: it’s been shown to assist in mental health maintenance, improve our memory, empathy, and sense of self — similar to how exercise boosts our resilience, muscle strength, cardiovascular health, and blood pressure/cholesterol.

A Harvard research study showed that meditating for just 8 weeks  actually significantly changed the brain’s grey matter — a major part of the central nervous system that is associated with processing information, as well as providing nutrients and energy to neurons.

Best of all, it’s as simple as taking a few minutes out of your day to just sit and focus on breath. Not bad!

4. Yoga stretching and rolling.

Flexibility is often overlooked vs. strength but is the most critical factor as we age. It improves circulation, increases range of motion, helps fight infection and prevents soreness and injury.

Yoga and rolling/myofascial release done daily keeps your body flexible and happy. I like using 42 Bird’s cork yoga and rolling products for my daily practice. Not only are they beautiful to keep around my apartment, using natural, sustainable products makes me feel more grounded and connected to nature.

5. Love.

For some this may seem obvious, for others, you may be asking “What does love have to do with health?” Lots. Love improves our physical health.

It actually releases Oxytocin which reduces aches and pains, increases energy and enables us to experience life more often on the upbeat. Love helps with our mental health. A strong partnership can put the kibosh on cortisol, the body’s stress hormone.

In an experiment at the University of Chicago, strongly connected people handled stress better than their single peers did. Overall, love increases our happiness which leads to less stress, a longer life and greater feelings of gratitude and connectedness. Love to love.

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On average, it takes more than 2 months before a new behavior becomes automatic — 66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances.

In one study, it took anywhere from 18 days to 254 days for people to form a new habit. So be kind to yourself; start with the one or two things that sound the most doable and see how you feel. You’ll thank yourself.