What is the best way to stay happy and healthy for the rest of your life? Many questions arise: What can you do to avoid pain and disease? How can you effectively stay away from cancer and heart disease? How can you make sure your child is safe? Is it about too much sugar, not enough fats or too little or not enough meat? What about fish? How long should we sleep? Are supplements the right way to go?
Naturopath, Sabine Schellerer goes behind the questions and invites you look at the basic foundation of having a healthy life + gives you 6 tips on where to start.
The questions on health and nutrition are endless and it’s more or less impossible to find the right answer. Each piece of ‘new research’ can conflict with previous research and what suits one person will not suit another. There is however one basic piece of advice that I like to give my patients when they start their therapy. This applies to each and everyone of us, no matter how young or old, small or big, male or female:
‘Find your rhythm again”.
This may sound trivial and almost too simple to be true. But just think about it for a second.
Humans are rhythmic beings, because humans are part of this world and part of nature. Everything in nature is rhythmic: We have day and night, ebb and flow, seasons come and go in a rhythmic way. The same with your body: Your heart beats in a regular pattern of Diastole and Systole, your breath goes in and out; stomach and bowel move food around in a pulsing motion.
So what happens when stress, the no. 1 enemy in the modern world, enters this rhythm? Well, it’s not stress itself that is the problem. The body is actually well equipped to deal with stress: to react adequately in a life and death situation, to deal with ten phone calls all at once and a screaming child next to you. Stress only becomes a problem when there is only tension without relaxation, when you just peak and never release, when you lose your rhythm.
“That’s all great Sabine, but what can I do about it, how do I get my rhythm back?” you may want to ask. Well actually, there are a few simple tips and tricks which can help you to “swing back” and find your rhythm:
1) Make sure you are active for 75 % of your day. 25 % should be reserved for breaks and me-time: stop and breathe deeply and mindfully every 1 1/2 hour, allow daydreams once in a while and take a short walk outside to detox your blood from electromagnetic waves released by smartphones and computers in the work place.
2) Don’t think too much about “what is healthy” and what is not. Listen to your body: Do I feel energized or does this dish drag me down like a stone? How about my fluid intake? Did I really drink enough water today? Is there always a cup or glass next to me?
3) Try to solve conflicts fast and don’t let them simmer. Don’t burden yourself with 100 and 1 tasks, all at the same time. Learn to say no, create boundaries.
4) Allow yourself one fun day per week! A day where everything is allowed, a day with no rules, a day with no obligations whatsoever, a day to be naughty, a day also to forget about health.
5) Don’t take supplements you don’t need. Be critical with every pill and herbal tea, otherwise you may be burdening your body unnecessarily.
6) Try to eat as natural as possible. Leave processed food in the shelves and go for the most colourful fruits and veggies you can find. When it comes to the so-called “Dirty Dozens”, find the organic version at your favourite grocer.
People who learn to live in harmony with themselves, who find their own rhythm and tempo, toughen their immune systems, invigorate their nervous systems and rejuvenate their hormonal systems can then live and breath prevention, because this is the best you can do is to stay happy and healthy for the rest of your life.
Sabine Schellerer is a naturopath at City Osteopathy and Physiotherapy – read more about Sabine here
