Budget-Friendly Health Investments

As prices rise we often look for ways we can cut back, but we know that our health should never be compromised.  Fortunately, I truly believe that health is accessible without expensive gadgets, pricey ingredients, or designer products.  In order to maintain our most valuable asset, we can use simple tools to tremendous advantage.

Invest in your health:

1.  Meal Plan

• Meal planning is helpful in many ways, from reducing stress to having fewer take out meals.  It's also a great way to prevent food waste.  
• Eating seasonally is also worth considering.  Read about winter produce tips here.
• Here's a meal plan with a focus on fibre, which keeps you full longer and can help digestive health (if fibre makes you feel worse, we need to chat).
  
  Download Meal Plan

2.  Local Farms

• We are so lucky in this area to have several options for locally grown produce, eggs, poultry and meat.  It's a wonderful way to source healthy & vibrant ethical food, while supporting our own community.  It can often be more economical than the grocery store, but can require a different way of shopping.
• This is the time of year that you start to sign up for CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) veggie shares for the 2023 season, or start planting your own seeds for your garden.
• I will attempt to keep a positive spin, but I do feel that our food supply and soil is greatly damaged.  Knowing where your food is coming from, eating food that hasn't come from a manufacturing facility, and being confident in the farming practices are becoming more and more important.
• Higher quality, nutrient dense food actually keeps you fuller longer.

3.  Develop Health Hobbies

• I enjoy a good TV show as much as anyone, but having hobbies that support health will contribute to your overall well-being. 
• Find something you enjoy:  walking, hiking, biking, swimming, yoga, sauna, epsom salt baths, playing music, gardening, dancing... anything.
  
  

4.  Sleep

• Often underrated, quality sleep is vital to health.  When you prioritize sleep your recovery, mood, energy, immunity, thinking and stress management all improves.
• I've been experimenting with "mouth taping" to try to improve the amount of restorative sleep that I've been getting and it's been very helpful.
• For more information about getting a good night's sleep read more here. 

5.  Sunlight

• In a way, our bodies can be solar powered.  Vitamin D, which we make through a complex manufacturing process when sunlight hits our skin, is involved in many different pathways and imperative to multiple systems like our immunity and hormones.
• Sun also helps to set our circadian rhythm, or sleep wake cycle, so that we release the right hormones at the right time of day.  It may sound weird but a good night's sleep can depend on getting morning sunshine.
• New research also suggests that the sun structures the water in our bodies and literally turns our electrical systems into a battery.  Pretty cool.
  
  -> There's a saying that we are just complicated houseplants with feelings :)
  
  

6.  Breathe

• The way that we breathe sets the tone of our nervous system.  Fast, rapid breaths go along with a sympathetic dominant, or stressed, state; while slow & deep breaths support a parasympathetic, restful state.  Being in parasympathetic mode is also needed for good digestion.
• Try taking a few moments to check in on your breath and slow it down if you can, you may notice a sense of calm and peace.

7.  Focus on Prevention

• Whenever possible, focusing on health from the side of prevention is ideal.  Any insights, strategies, or tests that help to work in this space will help you in the long run.  Of course there are no guarantees, but generally speaking healthier people have better resilience when things do come up. (Pay now or pay later)

In many ways, the simplest strategies provide the best outcomes when it comes to our wellness.  Walking, eating, sleeping and breathing well are all incredibly powerful tools for shifting towards health.


Take care,
Dr. Christa