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Monthly Archives: February 2022

boost your immune system

How to boost your immune system naturally

Weakened immunities contribute to illnesses and diseases and leave us vulnerable. Boosting immunities can help prevent illness and help speed up recovery if we do get sick. Plenty of things can wreck our immunities, including-

  • Stress
  • Lack of sleep
  • Anxiety
  • Vitamin deficiencies
  • Dehydration
  • Poor, non-nutritious diet
  • Prolonged inactivity

Thankfully, we have ways to build your immune system by making healthier choices. Even in the middle of a cold or touch of the flu, there are things we can do to improve our health and recover faster from illnesses.

Micro Habits Can Shift Your Health and Boost your Immune System

You don’t need an IV infusion of Vitamin C to boost your immunities…although, it may help. Extreme measures aren’t necessary to get your body protected and able to fight off bacteria and viruses.

Making tiny changes can really make a big impact. Here are some the ways to build your immune system:

  • Drink more water
  • Eat a healthy diet
  • Exercise regularly
  • Get plenty of sleep
  • Reduce stress

It’s fairly easy to learn how to boost your immune system naturally in each category which contributes to protecting your health. Consider these sustainable micro habits to build a better immune system-

Ditch your latte for a water bottle- Adding a water bottle to your car, gym bag, or backpack can help you make drinking more water easier. The simple micro habit of leaving home with a water bottle can help you drink more water and boost your immunity.

Meal Prep for a healthier diet- Spending one day to prep nutritious foods for the week can help you protect your body against illness. Adopting the micro habit of meal prepping fresh foods can help ensure you get healthy food into your body every day without fail.

Take the stairs and ditch the elevator- Creating a micro habit of passing up the elevator or escalator for the stairs is an easy way to challenge yourself to move your body every time you enter a multi-story building. A simple micro habit of always taking the stairs can build muscle, increase stamina, and fight disease with each step you take.

Use essential oils for a calm night’s sleep- Using oils on your skin or pillow can help you relax and drift off to peaceful sleep. Making a habit of using calming scents like lavender as part of your nighttime routine can make a difference in the quality and quantity of your sleep.

Meditate for five minutes- Creating a micro habit around meditation can help you center and calm yourself. Giving yourself a laser-focused short-time commitment can help you destress and boost your immunities. Once five minutes becomes automatic and easy, you may choose to extend your time or keep it at a fast and easy five minutes.

Your habits influence your health. You can learn how to boost your immune system naturally and prevent illnesses by learning ways to build your immune system.

Learn more about 13 Ways to Boost Your Self-Esteem That Work Today

Black woman meditating practicing anti stress yoga

Ways to improve Your Mental Health

When it comes to health and wellness, most people think about their physical body. Eating right and exercising regularly are habits that come to mind instantly, but our health and wellness are more than that. Our mind is just as important as our body and paying close attention to our mental health ranks right up there with heart health. Our minds and bodies are interconnected and the health and welfare of one impact the health of the other. You may have a wonderfully fit physique but if your mind isn’t healthy as well, there could be problems on the horizon.

In the same way, we create small habits to influence our physical health, we can create small habits to improve mental health too. Many habits can help-

  • Regulate mood
  • Inspire and promote creativity
  • Fight issues like depression and anxiety
  • Prevent cognitive decline

Here are some ways to improve mental health:

Top Tip: Engage in activities that bring you joy- From blasting your favorite playlist while driving the back roads, to running a weekend 5k, doing activities you love impacts your mind. Developing a micro habit like engaging in weekly ‘me-time’ can make a big difference in your mental health.

Top Tip: Learn to breathe- Breathing exercises can help regulate mood, heartbeat, and reduce stress and anxiety. Make a micro habit of deep breathing exercises before, during, and after challenging experiences. Taking a moment to engage in a breathing exercise only takes a moment, but can make all the difference during a difficult time.

Top Tip: Play games and complete puzzles- Doing brain teasers, games, or puzzles can help prevent cognitive decline and keep your mind active. Make the Sunday crossword puzzle a micro habit you enjoy each weekend or play Words with Friends to unwind and keep your mind fresh.

Top Tip: Enjoy bouts of creativity- Our minds love to be creative. Whether you love painting, writing, or any other creative outlet, create a micro habit that allows you the time and freedom to be creative. If you engage in a serious line of work, creativity can be even more important to offset the stress that often accompanies stringent types of work.

Your mind is just as important as your body and finding ways to keep your mind healthy should be a priority. Develop habits to improve the mental health that helps you unwind, play, and boost your mental health.

small habits that make a big difference

3 Micro Habits That Add Years to Your Life

Everyone hopes to live a long and healthy life. It’s all about the quality of life as we get older. It doesn’t make sense to live a long time if we aren’t able to enjoy it. Making healthy choices helps ensure our later years are filled with energy, mental clarity, and mobility. There are small habits that make a big difference in your life. The choices we make when we are younger accumulate and determine much of our health as we age, but it’s never too late to start making healthy choices. Every step you take to care for your health can add years to your life.

Simple Habits Create Longevity and micro habits to change your life

Adopting small habits can help ensure longevity. Small things done regularly can make a big difference in your health and contribute to living well into your eighties and nineties. In some regions of the world, men and women are living to see their 100th birthdays and beyond. These men and women share certain habits that anyone can adopt and improve the likelihood of becoming a centenarian too.

3 Micro Habits That Add Years to Your Life

You don’t have to weigh yourself down with a checklist of habits to live healthier and longer, you can easily add small habits that make a big difference. According to experts, the micro habits to change your life that help with longevity include:

  • Filling your plate with fruits and veggies
  • Moving your body 30 mins a day
  • Getting adequate sleep each night
  • Let’s break these habits down

Eat more fruits and veggies- The recommendation for longevity is eating a diet rich in fruits and veggies. Many of the centenarians studied eat what’s known as a Mediterranean food style. This is a diet high in quality olive oil, avocado, very little red meat, and lots of fruits and veggies. Creating a micro habit to get more fresh fruits and veggies on your plate is a simple and sustainable habit anyone can do.

Get moving for 30 minutes a day- One of the keys to longevity is building strong bones, muscle, and joints as well as a strong and healthy heart. Strength training and cardio are complimentary forms of exercise that cover all the bases. Design a micro habit that helps you commit to 30 minutes of exercise each day. From walking with your dog, to hitting the gym, there’s no wrong way to build a habit around physical fitness.

Get enough zzzzz’s for your body- Most people think of sleep as a luxury, but it’s an anti-aging necessity. Our bodies heal and rejuvenate while we sleep and it’s essential for our cognitive skills to. Create a micro habit to ensure you get enough sleep for true rest and restoration.

Living longer isn’t just for the lucky few. People who live well for a long time make staying healthy a priority by making small habits that make a big difference. Choosing micro habits to change your life that support healthy living are an easy and sustainable way to celebrate many more birthdays to come.

Five ways to practice more self-love on Coast Live

HAMPTON ROADS, Va. – Valentine’s Day has come and gone, but it is never too late to practice Self Love Practices from Holistic Family Dr. Erica Steele shares her top tips for practicing self-love everyday!

Chandler Nunnally 0:07
All right, welcome back. February, as they say is the month of love but so often people focus on the love they receive from other people like a lot of us on Valentine’s Day, but it’s important to create it for ourselves here to discuss the importance of self love and healthy relationships is Dr. Erica Steele from Holistic Family Practice in Virginia Beach. Dr. Steele. This is something that I’m really passionate about. I’m really excited to talk to you today. Thank you for joining the show. Of course. Thank you guys. for having me so much. I always love coming in because

I think this is something that a lot of people can relate to. I know I’ve definitely had Valentine’s Days in years past where I felt left out of the party. If I had more Self Love Practices from Holistic Family , that wouldn’t be an issue. How can people like me and our viewers at home learn to love themselves more?

Dr Steele 0:55
Yeah, well, I think it first begins with self concept and self concept is how you perceive yourself right? So if, if I’m always looking outside of myself for love, but then I’m lacking a healthy self concept. I’m never going to be able to receive the love that I so desperately want. So I say that’s the really the first key is knowing a healthy self concept. And that takes work right? How you perceive yourself, affirming to yourself every single day, every single moment. All of the wonderful things you’re really your self talk is really important.

Chandler Nunnally 1:29
How do you achieve that level of self awareness where you’re able to kind of exist inside your own head and not be caught up in all the negative thoughts? I mean, like I personally get caught up thinking about like mistakes that I’ve made in my past. Sometimes it’s like things I said throughout the day. That I feel bad about. I mean, it becomes like a tornado of negativity. How do I get out of that mindset?

Dr Steele 1:54
Yeah, so there’s two sides of your brain there’s your subconscious mind which houses your experiences, Self Love Practices from Holistic Family perceptions of those experiences, beliefs, etc, from the past, and then your conscious mind which is your logic your voice your reason your decision making, and they both have to agree, interestingly enough, and so really, it’s about releasing the past and letting go right if they can, if those two sides of your brain can agree, like I did the best that I can, you know, I’m working really diligently on fixing this I forgive myself. All of this affirmations of self love are so important. If you continue to beat yourself up mentally, over and over and over again. You’re really never going to love yourself or move forward in yourself healing.

Chandler Nunnally 2:37
We just had a great graphic up of five steps to self love specifically, there was one listed the mental diet. What does that mean? Yeah.

Dr Steele 2:46
That’s all that chatter, right? That’s the That’s all the things you’d like. I’ll give you an example. Right? So I was at the gas station yesterday. And you know, of course, gas prices are interesting right now. And I go, you know, immediately I said something negative about to gasp races, right. And immediately I caught myself I said, now we’re in an abundant universe, right? Money flows all the time, right? And so keeping a mental diet means that you’re present to what you’re telling yourself and really what you’re affirming to yourself every single day, every single moment. It does take work. Right so it’s not you know, an instant you know, tool that you can pick up but through practice and time and patience, you can definitely develop deeper self care strategies.

Chandler Nunnally 3:27
Number three on that list affirming self love, I had such a hard time with affirmations I can never believe the things that I’m trying to tell myself What advice would you have for somebody like in my situation.

Dr Steele 3:41
So state to kin to sleep is right when you’re about to go to sleep, right saying that affirmation that you want because it goes into the subconscious mind. Also playing it at low volume while you’re sleeping. And then first thing when you wake up, also creating that affirmation as well. So there are ways to kind of reprogram that subconscious mind and affirm it where you know, it leads into your day, right? So you’re affirming it right as you’re going to sleep while you’re sleeping right as you wake up and then that way it just naturally bleeds into the conscious mind and conscious awareness while you’re working.

Chandler Nunnally 4:15
Doctor Steele for viewers want to learn more about this. And by the way, thank you so much. I didn’t mean to turn this into a personal therapy session. extremely helpful, and I hope that it’s you know, valuable for the folks watching at home. Where can I send everybody if they want to learn more and if they want to talk to you?

Dr Steele 4:31
Yeah, so we have a free webinar coming up where we go into this topic much deeper self care, self love. It’s a free webinar also to create that self love and self care but also to create healthy relationships with other people.

Chandler Nunnally 4:44
Dr. Steele, thank you so much. There it is all the information 1213 Laskin Road Suite 108 staging6.holisticfamilypracticeva.com This has been such a valuable lesson for me. Thank you so much for coming on the show today.

Dr Steele 4:56
Awesome. Thank you.

Micro Habits Can Fight Illnesses and Disease

Many illnesses and diseases including digestive issues, high blood pressure, or type II diabetes are influenced by our lifestyle and choices. While genetics does play a role in our predisposition for certain illnesses and diseases, whether or not they manifest is often tied to our personal choices and lifestyle. Healthy habits to prevent diseases can prevent, reduce, or reverse some illnesses and diseases resulting in better health, money saved, and a higher quality of life.

You are What You Eat

What you eat matters. The healthier the foods you eat, the more they contribute to your overall health. You can choose foods intentionally to combat certain diseases and illnesses or prevent them altogether. Food represents many things including comfort, celebration, and culture, but mostly it represents a path for your health. Creating micro habits for your diet can help fight disease and illness with very little effort.

What You Avoid Makes a Big Difference

Choosing healthy foods is one of many important healthy habits to prevent diseases, but so is avoiding the wrong foods. You benefit your body by what you add but also by what you avoid. Avoiding salt, fat, and sugar can make a big difference in your health. What you eat matters, but so does what you don’t. If you have a habit of eating highly processed foods, you can make a big shift in your health simply by curbing some of what you choose.

Try these micro habits to create prevention of lifestyle diseases –

  • Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning and before every meal
  • Give up table salt when eating meals
  • Eat snacks that include a protein + carbohydrate + healthy fat to manage blood sugar
  • Consume probiotic and prebiotic food each day for gut health
  • Go latte, cocktail, or soda free one day per week
  • Eat a leafy green salad at dinnertime
  • Order pizza with thin crust rather than thick
  • Drink a green smoothie for breakfast each day

Healthy habits to prevent diseases don’t have to be outrageous to be effective. The more you get used to the changes the easier they will be and you’ll be able to add new habits to the mix. Be patient and allow enough time to adjust. Your healthy body will react and the feelings of more stamina, healthy glowing skin, amazing digestion, and more will motivate you to keep adding micro habits to your routine. You will also benefit from the prevention of lifestyle diseases.