25 Health & Wellness Tips Learned Over 25 Years

1. Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning

Coffee’s great too, but it’s best to start your day by re-hydrating with a full glass of water. Hydrating first thing in the morning helps to aid digestion, enhance skin health and boost energy.

2. Make half your plate veggies

A simple hack for healthy eating (and portion control) is to make half your plate veggies at each meal. The veggies pack in essential vitamins, minerals and other phytonutrients important for health and longevity. And, because they’re rich in fiber, they help to aid digestion (aka keep you regular!) and keep you feeling full longer.

3. Get a fitness tracker + track your steps

Using a fitness tracker (like a Fitbit or Apple Watch) to track your steps is an easy way to make sure you’re getting enough physical activity each day. We aim for 10,000 steps daily, which has significant physical and mental health benefits. A fitness tracker will also remind you to get 250 steps each hour (another important measure of health-see tip #8!) When it comes to a healthy lifestyle, doing just a little bit is better than doing nothing at all. If you want to go on a walk but don’t have time for your usual hour-long walk, take a short walk around the block. A 5-minute walk is better than no walk at all!

4. Switch to non-toxic household cleaning products

Conventional household cleaning products are full of harmful chemical ingredients that are not good for our health (or the health of our kids or pets!). Switching to healthier alternatives is a simple way to reduce your exposure to environmental toxins in your home.

5. Use non-toxic skincare + personal care products

Similar to cleaning products, conventional skincare and personal care products are formulated with toxic ingredients we should not regularly let absorb into our body’s largest organ. Reduce the toxic burden on your body by switching to non-toxic personal care and beauty products.

6. Take a probiotic daily

Maintaining a healthy gut has significant impacts on digestion, skin health, immunity, mental health and more. Taking a daily probiotic with a glass of water each morning is one of the simplest things you can do to boost your gut health (which, in turn, boosts overall health in many ways too).

7. Eat real food

Aim to eat real food that’s made of whole food ingredients you would have in your own kitchen pantry, or that your grandmother would recognize. (Yup, this rules out most packaged food, sorry!) This is a little different than suggesting you eat only “health foods” (many of which are increasingly processed!). “Real food” includes unprocessed foods like an apple, a cucumber, soybeans or a steak, as well as foods loosely processed from one (or few) real-food ingredients, like butter, olive oil, yogurt, tofu, etc. In other words, aim for foods that could be reasonably made in your own kitchen and avoid foods that can only be made in a lab.

8. Stand up every 30 minutes while working

Reduce the harmful effects of sitting (like at your desk job) by standing up and moving around for a minute or two every half hour.

9. Get sunlight every day

Vitamin D is one of the most important nutrients for overall health, and sunlight is one of our best sources of it. Aim to get at least 30 minutes of sunlight each day-preferably in the afternoon, and without sunscreen. Not much sunlight in the winter where you live? It might be worth supplementing with a vitamin D supplement and/or other food sources of this essential nutrient.

10. Fill your home with houseplants

Houseplants help to cleanse your indoor air (sadly, it probably needs it!), they’re pretty, and research even shows they improve mood, creativity and problem solving!

11. Sweat every day

Aim to sweat in some way each day-whether that’s via running, biking, dancing, hot yoga, or any other physical activity you enjoy.

12. Have a daily green smoothie

Green smoothies as a snack or simple, on-the-go breakfast are an easy way to get your greens in each day.

13. Cultivate a positive mindset

“The only difference between a good day and a bad day is your attitude.” It’s true-mindset is everything! Cultivate a positive mindset by recognizing negative thought patterns and countering them with positive thoughts or affirmations.

14. Get enough sleep

Most adults need 7-9 hours of sleep each night. But in addition to quantity, quality of sleep matters too! Follow tips on getting quality sleep-like keeping your bedroom cool at night, avoiding blue light after dark, and more.

15. Start your day with a healthy morning routine

Start each day with fulfilling activities that set the tone for how you want to feel-whether that’s inspired, relaxed, productive, or something else.

16. Practice gratitude

Practice gratitude each day-this could be when you wake up, before bed, or during your lunch break at work.

18. Do things you enjoy

This often gets overlooked as an essential element of healthy living-doing things each day that you enjoy! Whether that’s exercise, baking, crafting, reading a book or watching TV, reserve time each day to spend doing activities you personally enjoy.

19. Choose organic foods when possible

There are a gazillion health, environmental and social reasons to choose organic foods, so we’ll let that more detailed post linked do the talking and just remind you to choose organic foods whenever possible. They better for your health, the environment, and the farmworkers growing your food.

20. A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar keeps the doctor away

Apple cider vinegar cures everything (well… almost everything!). A teaspoon of apple cider vinegar in a glass of water helps aid digestion, relieve bloat, boost immunity, regulate blood sugar levels and more. We recommend organic, raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar.

21. Smile often

Smiling boosts your physical and mental health (it’s true!), so find ways to smile as often as you can throughout the day.

22. Use a yoga ball as a desk chair

Save your back/shoulders/neck and strengthen your core by using a yoga ball as a desk chair.

23. Manage stress with self-care activities

Chronic stress is detrimental to both your physical and mental health. Get to know your stress triggers (the things that cause stress for you, either quickly or in the long-term) as well as your stress releases (the things that can help calm you when you’re stressed) so you can proactively cope with stress and maintain healthy levels.

24. Intermittent fasting can promote weight loss

We’re not really into dieting (restrictions are no fun!), but intermittent fasting is more of an eating pattern than a diet. It has several notable health benefits for reducing inflammation and contributing to longevity, and can help speed metabolism to promote weight loss.