EXTREME HEALTH MAKEOVER

THE TOP 10 WAYS TO FEEL BETTER, LOOK BETTER AND LIVE BETTER

Extreme Health Makeover Good health is your best asset—so you need to make sure you
protect it on a daily basis. The good news is that being healthy is
easier than you think, especially if you follow these 10 tips from
acupuncturist and herbalist Aimee Raupp, M.S., L.Ac., author of
Chill Out & Get Healthy: Live Clean to Be Strong & Stay Sexy.

Prepare to live long and prosper.

1. Chill out!
Every single day, take a five-minute breather. Turn off your phone, step away from your computer, shut off that TV and set an alarm for five minutes. Sit quietly and take deep belly breaths—so deep that your abdomen rises. While you’re breathing, check in with yourself. How are you feeling? Are you holding a ton of tension in your jaw? Are your shoulders up to your ears? Is your stomach upset? Are you anxious or happy or sad or just plain ol’ blah? Check in and chill out. It only takes a few minutes a day to dramatically improve how you feel. If you’re feeling zealous, take two five-minute chill-out breaks a day!

2. Do NOT eat soy.
That’s right, I said it. I know you’re thinking soy is good for you, but unfortunately, it’s not. Soy products—organic or not—are so overly processed that they are actually indigestible, toxic and can cause a host of illnesses like thyroid disease, hormonal imbalances and infertility. Read your labels! Upwards of 70 percent of all packaged foods (even the ones in health food stores) contain soy and soy derivatives like soy oil, soy flour, soy lecithin and soy protein isolate. Stay healthy and skip the soy!

3. Sleep seven to eight hours each night.
There’s really no other way to put it. Sleep is imperative to good health. It is your body’s time to restore. Studies have shown that people who sleep six hours or less per night have higher incidences of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, depression and stroke.

4. Take an omega-3 essential fatty acid (EFA) supplement.
Omega-3s are the uber-anti-aging compounds and play a major role in regulating hormones, reducing inflammation, and improving memory and cognition, plus—even better—they’ll make your skin look amazing! Omega-3s are found in cold-water fish, flaxseeds, walnuts, whole grains, nuts and green leafy veggies. Your best bet, in addition to eating omega-rich foods, is to take an omega-3-rich supplement like cod liver oil or fish oil. Two of my favorite brands are Nordic Naturals and Green Pastures. Unfortunately, some brands are contaminated and do more harm than good.

5. Practice prevention.
By this I mean do things that will prevent illness and disease. Exercise, express your emotions (as opposed to repressing them), make healthy food choices, meditate, keep your weight in a healthy range, get acupuncture, drink enough water and by all means stay in touch with your body. Ignorance is not bliss when it comes to your health. When you’re in tune with your body, you can sense when your health is heading down the wrong path.

6. Love yourself.
This is so important, I will say it again: Love yourself. No one else will if you don’t. Be nice to yourself. Be forgiving. Work on letting go of some of your emotional baggage. Look into the mirror each morning and say something nice to yourself. It’ll not only do wonders for your self- image, but it will make you healthier and boost your immune system.

7. Avoid added sugars! Avoid added sugars! Avoid added sugars!
Added sugars like high-fructose corn syrup, crystalline fructose, table sugar, sucrose, dextrose and corn syrup are refined and processedand are contributing to America’s obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemic. Not to mention, they contain toxins like arsenic, lead and chloride. Try to keep your added-sugar intake under 10 grams a day. Read labels!

8. Poop every single day.
When you have an efficient and healthy digestive system, you should eat something, digest it, take the nutrients your body needs and excrete the waste. If you eat every day, you should be pooping every day. If you’re not going daily, toxins are hanging out in your colon, causing inflammation and a weakened immune system. Eat a healthy amount of fiber each day and get your poop on!

9. If it sits on your counter and doesn’t go bad, don’t eat it.
By this I mean do no eat processed, preserved, packaged, microwave-ready foods. You should be eating foods as close to their natural state as possible. Foods should be organic and hormone-free. Foods should be free of additives and chemicals. And they should go bad if left out for too long because they are alive and fresh. A food that doesn’t go bad is loaded with preservatives, pesticides and hands down is B-A-D for your health. Eat clean, organic, hormone-free, wholesome food.

10. Everything in moderation.
This is an adage you need to live by. Be moderate. A huge part of being healthy is not being so stressed about not being healthy that you stress the health out of yourself. Be forgiving; if one day you are really craving a bag of chips, then by all means have them. If you don’t poop seven days a week every week of the year, it does not mean you’re going to get colon cancer. Get it? My rule of thumb is to apply the 85 percent rule to the above nine recommendations. Making healthy choices, being your own health advocate, eating organic, avoiding soy and taking supplements doesn’t have to be a full-time job—just do it 85 percent of the time and you should be good to go!

For more from Aimee, go to www.aimeeraupp.com.