Taking Charge of Your Health

I love essential oils as much as the next person, but they are not a cure all for every ailment that we have going on. They also are not a band aid for every issue, and a lot of the time people are using an essential oil to mask a larger issue. Natural living and holistic remedies also come with the understanding that if there is a larger issue going on the root of the problem needs to figured out and tackled before we can really begin healing. For the longest time I was coasting on using essential oils to help with my back pain, and it worked! I thought it was all fine and dandy, until there was a point I was relying on the essential oils far too often or it wasn’t working anymore. Turns out, I had scoliosis! Essential oils weren’t going to put my spine back into place, sadly. Once I found other ways to manage the pain and begin healing on that particular issue I was doing much better. I still use essential oils for pain management, but I also go to the chiropractor and do yoga because those are much better for actually helping the real issue.With that in mind, it’s important to take steps to being healthy and take charge of our health. Other than slapping essential oils onto everything.

5 Basic things we can do to help improve our overall health

• Find time to get outside daily:

-I have nothing against supplementing vitamin D, but it’s truly not a necessary supplement we need. Unless you live in an area that is truly cloudy or darker most of the year getting outside will do the trick. Even on somewhat cloudy days! I know it doesn’t seem like it but sun still is getting through the clouds, otherwise it would be pretty dark during the day. Mushrooms are also a great source of vitamin D as well, and you can soak them in the sun to gain a little extra as well. Much of our dairy products also come fortified with Vitamin D, although I am not as much of a fan as this. If you maintain a diet with ample variety and get outside 15-30 minutes daily there really shouldn’t be an issue. Also getting outside can really help improve overall health, it’s not super great to be sitting inside all day long breathing in stale air. Open windows as much as possible, get fresh air and go outside. The outside is not something to be afraid of, even on seemingly “bad” days. Bundle up, dress accordingly and enjoy the fresh air.

• Eat a Whole Foods Diet:

-In a world where fast food is best, and homemade just takes too long (trust me, with 2 kids I know this feeling all too well.) we honestly do not eat very well at all. Trust me guys, I am probably the WORST with diet. Ask my husband. Pop is my vice, fast food is my weakness. It’s not great, and I don’t feel great when I cave and eat those things. You don’t need to be fancy about it or eat vegan/cut dairy/cut gluten etc. Just eat more homemade Whole Foods. Add veggies into your diet, get those fresh fruits. Make what you can at home from scratch. Trust me, you will feel so much better for it. Fast food, and many items we can buy from the store are full of preservatives and artificial additives. It’s great if we want food to keep for years. The toll it takes on our bodies though is a lot. Aim for 70-90% Whole Foods. Cook easy things with healthy healthy food, meal prep in advance to make it easy to eat healthy. A lot of health issues we have to day are 100% due to diet, and looking at the food that America eats alone, its not wonder we are in such poor health.

• Add herbs into our daily lives:

-Herbal remedies are a great and natural way to support our health and help guide us to healthy living. Replace common cold medicines with herbs. Use herbs to supplement what we are lacking. By adding a herbal tea to your day you can gain some energy or even some extra nutrients. I take an herbal supplement rather than a daily vitamin and I have been loving how great I am feeling because of it, you can check out the herbal supplements and medicines (my all time favorite brand, I highly recommend Earhley) that I use at Earthley.  With the herbal remedies I use, we feel better so much faster as well. I have nothing against medicine in it’s appropriate time, but why are we using medicines to mask symptoms rather than using an herb that tackles the actual problem? It doesn’t make any sense. You can also check out Mountain Rose Herbs for all things herbs/herbal teas to add to your daily regime.

• Find an exercise that works for you:

-I know, the dreaded E word. But trust me, I am bad at this too. For the longest time I thought that it needed to be fancy, or a lot of work. A daily walk can be your exercise. Like I said, I do yoga and to be honest sometimes that is not a lot of work. But getting moving is the key. Not staying stationary. I know as the weather begins to cool it can be hard to get out and move, but I encourage people to find something to go do. I know a lot of people in my area like to hit up the mall and just walk laps. It might seem daunting at first but once you get into a rhythm it’s not so bad. Exercise can help keep us from being stationary couch lumps. No one knows how to be a couch lump better than me.

• Cut out media for the majority of the day:

-This is also one I am working on. But sitting in front of the tv all day, or pursuing social media all the time with no breaks can really take it’s toll. I mean staring at screens all day? That’s asking for a glare headache. Find ways to cut out the screen time. Set time limits for social media, make goals for the amount of tv time you will have during the day. Maybe 1 movie a day, maybe move the tv from the living room altogether. If you make it hard to access, you want to use it less. Find other things to do, go for a walk. Go to the library, make goals for the day. Maybe make a rule to not touch devices until you finish chores. For me, I try to not touch my social media until I read my bible. I’m not perfect at it, but it helps when I can actually do it. Pick days you just won’t post at all, and take breaks as well. Take a week for yourself, don’t go on at all. Doesn’t need to be that often but once in a while just step back. Aim for 90% of your day to be screen free. It’s a hard goal, one I am still not reaching, but it’s a good goal to have in a world obsessed in the online space.

It can be easy to neglect our overall health in favor of bandaid methods, even when using more natural options. But if we focus on working to better our overall health we will feel so much better. I know it’s super hard to break habits, especially in todays world, but health is more important and these are things to strive for. Do we need to be perfect? No, perfection is hard to obtain. But starting now and setting goals can really help, and implanting these things with our kids can help ensure we are teaching other generations to better their lifestyle and work past the mainstream way to live our lives.