This week the weather has officially caught up with our calendars, we’ve recognized that summer 2019 is officially in the books and you’re kinda sorta looking forward to New England bursting into life through vibrant foliage, apple orchards, and crisp sweater weather! 

I’ve started to see the first slight flux of practice members coming in with congestion and signs of challenged immune systems.

So… I thought this would be perfect timing for sharing what my family does to stay strong through the fall and winter months here in New England.

First, like nearly all things it starts with mindset and the questions you ask. Our family makes monumental effort to devote all of our resources toward Health Promotion instead of Sickness Avoidance. 

What does this mean?

Essentially, putting my money, time, and energy where my mouth is!

Every week, I preach to our practice members the very best way to get and stay healthy is to focus on fulfilling your health requirements: eating nutrient rich, toxic void foods as much as humanly possible, physical training sessions 4-5 days per week, monitoring the thoughts that go into and out of our heads, and getting our nerve systems checked often (like weekly/biweekly), as well as getting plenty of sleep. 

When your lifestyle is focused on promoting your health by initiating the very best strategies to fulfill these requirements within your means, I’ve found people are far more likely to stay healthy.

By no means am I or my family perfect at executing this, but when the focus is there, the outcome is quite repeatable. I might add the repeatability is in direct correlation to the effort given.

To be certain our bodies are operating at their highest this time of year, we follow these 6 steps…

1. We get checked: I make it a priority to get my nerve system checked every Friday to keep my immune system revved up and my body’s master control system churning at its peak. I check my daughters and Lea weekly as well for the very same reason!
2. We tighten the fuel reigns: I tighten the reigns at the grocery store and strive to buy and eat only whole foods that are nutrient dense with the littlest toxicity. Sometime this is difficult to not get off track (especially around the holidays and with kids) but I’ve found that (in a nutshell) focusing on restricting grains and sugar and incorporating as many organic veggies, root vegetables, pasture raised, organic, wild meats / fish and healthy fats is the easiest way to do this. If you drink, dialing down alcohol is important too!
3. We prioritize and Rev-up the Supplements: I make sure that we never miss our essential supplements because these equate to raw materials or building blocks that our cells to use to keep us 100%. For example, in the spring and summer, Lea and I take about 7,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 and the kids take 1,000 IUs. In the fall and winter, however, we take about 10,000 and 2,000 respectively. We also strive to never forget our fish oil, probiotics, and multi-vitamins which are all important for multi-systemic function including immune function!
4. We train like your health depends on it: I strive to get a training session in about 4-5 days per week. Now, these could look like a 20 minute high intensity interval-style session all the way to a 40 minute longer strength training / aerobic session. Lea I get the kids outside as much as possible to get their training sessions in (otherwise known as playing) and one of us will watch the kids while the other has time for themselves.
5. We strategize and prioritize laughter: You know when you find something so funny that you can’t control every inch of you from laughing uncontrollably? Yeah, that should be your goal! We try to laugh… a lot! Our rule: movie nights only can be comedies (which isn’t too hard because it’s usually kids movies in our house;), Improv Boston is great (they have family shows too), charades, or what ever gets you going… do that!  Remember laughter catapults your immune system sky high! 
6. We prioritize sleep: We are sure to get plenty of sleep by getting to bed by 9:30 – 10 pm. Audit what you are doing in the late evening or nighttime and ask yourself if staying up late to watch Netflix or regularly going out for drinks will serve you well the next day or later that week. 

Again, by no means have we perfected this or do all of these things happen perfectly all the time. This blog is really about sharing what works for our family and the forethought behind the mindset and action steps we’ve laid out to keep ourselves healthy. Let’s face it, we all have responsibilities to our families, to our careers, and to our ourselves. When we’re not well, everything and everyone is affected. 

Remember, your health is a direct effect of your past and current lifestyle decisions… so focus on fulfilling your body’s requirements, promote your health instead of reacting or trying to avoid sickness, and good health will follow!