Hey hey friends, its Wellness Wednesday!

Okay, maybe that isn’t a thing-thing but its a thing today so lets go with it, LOL.

Today, I thought I would share my top 5 healthy habits and how they have helped me over the last 2 years.

If you are new around here, I shared my wellness journey HERE but the short of it is that 2 years ago I found myself very sick. I was in and out of the doctors office and they could not figure out what was wrong with me. I saw my general medicine doctor who said I was depression and anxious (true, but I had also just suffered a huge loss and we were in the middle of the pandemic) and a GI doctor who told me I had a ton of inflammation, precancerous polyps and see ya in 5 years. Ugh, what? Both doctors just threw medicine at me and wouldn’t look further into an underlying problem.

Now, don’t get me wrong….I believe medicine is amazing. I believe that there is a time for it and that it is an incredible resource but I just knew something was going on that needed to be addressed without the medicine. I saw a functional medicine practitioner and thankfully, we discovered the root cause. Candida overgrowth. And, high stress. Which was feeding the candida, as were all the medications they were putting me on. So, I was on a hamster wheel and thankfully, I have been able to jump off.

I am not 100% but I am feeling so much better about 1 year into this journey. It took months to figure out what was wrong and years to get to where I was (my FM doctor told me that my body was “barely functioning”) and here are 5 things that have helped me in my wellness journey.

1. Supplements - Every day I take multiple supplements to help my body digest food, regulate my GI system, support my skin (candida destroyed it) and help my body function better. Sometimes, it isn’t easy keeping track of them all but taking them directed by my doctor has been a game changer. I would encourage you to get blood work done and see where you could use extra support and see what supplements would be right for you. I am not listing mine because, I don’t have medical advice here and I believe you should seek that to understand what you body needs!

2. Exercise - I know, I know. Truthfully, I don’t love exercising but I know it is so good for me. For my physical health and also my mental health. I aim for 5 days a week and usually land at 3 days a week…I figure if I aim for less I will workout less so this has helped, LOL. I typically do the Peloton for 20-30 minutes and then will do a strength workout too and a stretch. I am by no means perfect when it comes to an exercise routine but I am trying to get better everyday. The goal is movement so sometimes that also looks like a bike ride with the kids or a family walk too. The bottom line, just move your body!

3. Chiropractor - I had seen a chiropractor off/on throughout my 20’s but honestly, I didn’t understand the full benefit of the chiropractor until I got really sick and my doctor recommend regular adjustments. I started out going multiple times a week, then weekly and then bi-weekly. I am now at the point where I just go monthly and I look forward to those appointments so much. Everything feels better when I am in alignment. My headaches are less, my body hurts less (candida overgrowth causes a lot of joint pain), my sinuses are clearer, my GI system works better. Basically, everything feels and works better when I regularly see a Chiropractor. 10/10 recommend.

4. More water, less caffeine - Boring. But, highly effective. I try to drink my body weight in water every single day and I really try to limit my caffeine to just 1 cup of coffee in the morning. Sometimes, I will do an afternoon iced coffee or a Celsius energy drink or maybe some tea when we go out to eat but mostly in my everyday, its 1 cup of coffee and then water, water, water. It’s free and it makes you feel 10x better when you body is hydrated.

5. Sleep - I am the worlds worst sleeper. Okay, that may be an exaggeration but I feel like I am pretty close. I have a hard time falling asleep. I don’t ever stay asleep all night, I wake up multiple times. I am restless. My sleep is always broken. It sucks. There is really no other way to put it. It sucks. But, I have been focused lately on getting better sleep. I stopped watching TV before bed (and being on my phone). I am reading more before bed again. I use a sound machine. If it hits 10pm and I am still wide awake (9 times out of 10) I force myself to lay in the dark and listen to the sound machine and daydream. I force my eyes closed and try to will myself to sleep and, it’s working. I know that sounds crazy but it is working so much and I have felt a little more rested. I am going to still keep leaning into this area but I see a huge improvement in my health focusing on getting better sleep.

You guys also know that I have gone low-tox, we aren’t non-tox and we likely never will be but going low-tox and ditching and switching a lot of our stuff to cleaner products has also been a game changer for my health!

So, there you go, 5 healthy habits I am focusing on. Do any of these resonate with you? What are your top healthy habits, I would love to hear them below!