Natural Ways to Reset Your Health for 2022
As you settle into the new year, it’s not too late to make a few minor changes in your diet and lifestyle to help reset your health. A health reset will help you develop healthy habits, kick out bad habits, sleep better, gain energy, improve digestion, reduce inflammation, and feel your best.
If you answer yes to any of the following questions, it’s time for a health reset.
Have I gained a few extra pounds that I can’t seem to lose?
Do I get bloated after eating?
Do I feel sluggish and tired during the day?
Am I addicted to unhealthy foods?
Do I have cravings for sugary or starchy foods?
Do I have difficulty focusing or experience a foggy brain?
If it’s time for a reset, here are a few tips to help you get started.
Plan Ahead
It takes at least three weeks to develop a habit, and a health reset is a great way to establish healthy habits. Find three weeks in your calendar and schedule the reset.
Write down the reasons why you are doing the reset. Be specific; What is motivating you? What would you like to change in your life? Plan to make small changes over time; there is no need to overwhelm yourself. Set right-sized goals and hold yourself accountable to those goals.
Prepare your house and kitchen; remove any unwanted food and distractions that may cause stress or make it difficult to stay on plan. Make a relaxing space so you can focus on developing good body practices.
Get Support
Find people to support you during the reset. Tell everyone you’re doing a health reset; saying it aloud will help you stick to it. Friends and family can offer great support so invite them to do the reset with you.
Eat Whole Foods
What you eat and how you eat will significantly affect how you feel, how you function, and how your body reacts to external factors. During a reset, you want to focus on eliminating or minimizing foods that cause inflammation or sensitivities.
Here’s a simple diet plan you can follow during the reset:
Consume unlimited amounts of:
Water and herbal teas
Greens, sprouts, and herbs
Raw and lightly cooked vegetables
Fresh fruit
Legumes
Seeds
Whole grains (no wheat)
Consume the following in moderation:
Organic seafood and poultry
Nuts and nut butter (natural only)
Natural sweeteners
Eliminate during the reset:
Eggs
Beef, pork, lamb, and wild game
Gluten and wheat products
Vinegar (apple cider vinegar is ok)
Dairy
Refined sugar
Fake and processed foods
Caffeine and coffee
Tobacco
Alcohol
Drugs
After the reset, introduce eliminated foods back into your diet one at a time to gauge how a particular food makes you feel. Keep a journal and ask yourself the following questions:
Am I tired?
Am I bloated or gassy?
Do I have a headache?
How are my bowel movements?
Am I unable to fall asleep or stay asleep?
Am I having intense dreams or nightmares?
Am I irritable, moody, or depressed?
You may notice the above reactions immediately or within 24-48 hours of introducing a new food, which is why it’s essential to add the eliminated foods back slowly into your diet.
Sleep Well
Good-quality sleep is essential for your well-being. If you are not sleeping well, then you are not healing well. When you sleep, your body repairs tissue and muscle and consolidates memories, allowing for the formation and storage of new learning. Sleep also helps you maintain a healthy weight, clears your mind, restores your mood, and enables you to fight viruses and colds by keeping your immune system in check.
Move Your Body
Along with improving your physical health, movement and exercise are effective ways to cleanse the body of toxins, clear your mind, and boost your mental health. Regular exercise can lower blood pressure and improve sleep quality and cardiovascular health. Aim for 20-30 minutes a day.
Take Care of Yourself
Developing healthy habits around body practices provide you with essential opportunities to love and pay attention to your body, relieve stress, improve circulation, and improve muscle and organ health. Meditation and deep breathing allow you to reduce stress and clear and calm your mind. Massage and heat therapy is good for soothing various physical ailments and promoting a peaceful and relaxing mind.
Shift Your Mindset
Having a healthy mindset will lower your stress, increase your life span, provide better psychological and physical well-being, and energize you. Here are a few ways you can develop a healthy mindset:
Compliment friends and family
Nurture friendships and relationships
Go out of your way to thank someone
Spend time with positive people
Treat yourself with kindness and compassion, and stop judging yourself
Release negative emotions
Give back or volunteer your time to a charity
Focus only on what you can control
The Bottom Line
A health reset is a simple way to introduce and maintain healthy habits and kick out any bad habits that creep into your lifestyle. Give it a try and kickstart your journey to feeling your best!
Want to learn more?
I run a 21-Day Reset group program three times a year and the spring program is just around the corner! If you would like to be notified when registration opens, join the waitlist and I will email you with more information.