Eat whole, real foods.
Make it your goal to have most of your nourishment come from unprocessed, real foods that are as close to the source as possible. What does that mean? Check out the ingredients. If you are eating a handful of almonds for a snack, the only ingredient should be just that: almonds! Whole foods fill your body with more vitamins and minerals, the nutrition we need to stay healthy on the inside.
Optimistim
Live your life looking for the best in everyone and everything.
🤗 Feel Good Hack ~ A Grateful Heart Works Wonders
Have a Grateful Heart
If you can be happy with simple things, then it will be simple to be happy. Find a book or a journal, or start a website, and write down three to five things you’re grateful for from the past week. … Some people write in a notebook by their bedside. In 2003, researchers Robert Emmons and Michael McCullough asked groups of students to write down five gratitudes, hassles, or events over the past week for ten weeks. The students who wrote five gratitudes were happier and physically healthier.
🤗 Feel Good Hack ~It Pays to Remember
The 20-Minute Replay
Writing for twenty minutes about a positive experience dramatically improves happiness. Why? Because you actually relive the experience as you’re writing it and then relive it every time you read it. Your brain sends you back. In a University of Texas study called “How Do I Love Thee? Let Me Count the Words,” researchers Richard Slatcher and James Pennebaker had one member of a couple write about their relationship for twenty minutes three times a day. Compared to the test group, the couple was more likely to engage in intimate dialogue afterward and the relationship was more likely to last. What does the 20-Minute Replay do? It helps us remember things we like about people and experiences in our lives.
🍎 Health Hack ~ Exercise is Good for Your Memory
Remember less as the years go by? You’re not imagining things: Your memory declines about 2 percent each decade because your hippocampus (the part of your brain that stores memories) literally shrinks. But you can even the playing field by keeping up with regular exercise, says neurologist Majid Fotuhi, M.D., Ph.D., director of NeurExpand Brain Center, and author of Boost Your Brain. “A third of your brain is made up of blood vessels, so it makes sense that your physical fitness impacts your brain health,” Fotuhi says. “Research shows that after a yearlong exercise program, the size of the hippocampus increases by about 2 percent, which effectively reverses age-related brain loss.”
🍎 Health Hack ~ Do You Eat at Least 7 of the Top 10 Healthy Veggies?
Top 10 Healthy Veggies
- Kale
- Spinach
- Carrots
- Broccoli Rabe
- Broccoli
- Brussel Sprouts
- Peas
- Tomatoes
- Asparagus
- Green Bell Peppers
🤗 Feel Good Hack ~ Add a Bit of Generosity to Life
Being Generous Kicks Up the Feel Good Feeling
You don’t even have to be really generous. According to a 2017 study published in the journal Nature Communications, even being a tiny bit more generous than you already are can make you happier in life.
🤗 Feel Good Hack ~ Hang Out With Your Dog
It’s nearly impossible not to be happy around your cute, slobbery pup, right? In a 2017 study published in the journal Frontiers in Psychology, researchers found that simply being around your dog amps up your levels of oxytocin, one of the chemicals that makes you feel happy. So take your furry best friend for a walk, cuddle up for a movie, or play fetch. It’ll lift both of your moods.
🍎 Health Hack ~ Another Benefit of Healthy Food
Healthy Food Might Help Reduce Depressive Symptoms
Switching from an unhealthy diet to a healthier one, even for a short amount of time, leads to fewer symptoms of depression . . . [In a] study researchers split a group of 76 university students who exhibited symptoms of depression into two groups. The first group made healthy changes to their diets, such as eating more fruits, vegetables, fish and olive oil rather than processed foods. The second group didn’t change their diets at all. After three weeks, the healthy eaters had fewer depressive symptoms, with depression scores moving into the normal range. The control group, on the other hand, saw no changes.
🍎 Health Hack ~ Chill Out
Feeling Stressed?
When you are facing an overwhelming issue, it is easy to get into a cocoon and feel like shutting everything down. But, sometimes all you need is to take a break and listen to some relaxing music. Music can be calming and is known to have a positive effect on the body and the mind. It can lower blood pressure, balance hormones, and reduce cortisol. If you do not have a favorite type of music, you may listen to some nature sounds. It may sound cheesy, but these two have the same relaxing effect as classical music.
🤗 Feel Good Hack ~ Choose the Right Friends
Feel Good About Yourself Today
Be sure the people around you make you feel good about you — no matter what your size or health condition. In addition, if close friends encourage you to smoke, overeat, or drink too much, find some new friends who have good health habits and also want a healthier you.
