It is a New Year, let's forge the New YOU.

Let’s be honest, how many times have we tried every New Year to get in shape and clean up our diets and lifestyles?

If you are anything like me you have had some success and some failures or anywhere in between. I am going to be brutally honest. In this time it’s even more important to work even harder on those changes and stick to them. With that Virus, you know the one….. taking its toll on the way we live life, and for those that have been affected in major ways, my heart goes out to you and yours.

If there has been one thing I have taken from some of the best holistic healers and health professionals in the world, it’s that there is no stronger defense to sickness than a healthy immune system and a healthy body and mind. I truly wish this was talked about more in the mainstream news channels and outlets because it is so vitally important for our well being and safety.

So this year let’s band together and show everyone what being a symbol of health looks and feels like! I promise you won’t regret it. There is no better feeling, in my opinion of course than feeling truly healthy, the great part about taking on a healthy lifestyle is you get the reap all the benefits. Looking great comes with the package, it’s a bonus effect of a healthy lifestyle.

So what are some of the things we can be doing right now to dive headfirst into this healthy lifestyle??

Here is a quick list of some of the very simple things that we can do to change our lives in a positive way and strengthen our immune systems rapidly.

SLEEP! Really, this might be one of the most underrated health improvement strategies, get more good quality sleep! Get off the television, phone, etc. before bed, make sure you are sleeping in a dark room with electronics outside of the room, get a simple alarm if you use your phone, and for goodness sake don’t sleep with your phone next to your head or under your pillow. Do not eat your last meal 3-4 hours before bed, food hangovers are real! Cooler temperature settings are said to be quite beneficial in helping to stay in a deep more regenerative sleep as well.

Let FOOD be thy medicine, a very simple concept, yet one of the hardest to keep up with. So let’s make it very simple. Eat whole foods. That’s it, if it has ingredients you cannot pronounce or don’t know immediately do not keep it in the house. Remember you are what you eat, literally. Tell me, would you rather make your body, down to the cellular level out of hydrogenized oil and sugar, or some strong grass raised beef and organic hearty vegetables? The choice is always ours, it makes it infinitely easier to set up your living quarters to the environment that is beneficial to you. That means get rid of the crap foods and replace them with whole foods. If you need help with that I know a wonderful local company, you may have heard of them, Greenfork. Check us out at www.eatgreenfork.com. Restaurant quality whole food meals delivered right to your home. We can also help with health coaching if you need some coaching, no problems!

MOVEMENT! We were made to move, there is no doubt that we have a society that is set up for us to be very sedentary, and without question that is no Bueno for our health and immune systems. There are many facets to movement, but let’s keep it simple. One of the most fundamental movements we can do is walking. One of the best times to walk is after a meal, put away the dishes, bundle up, and get out the door for a bit. Go for a short walk after every meal, maybe walk on phone calls, listen to a podcast or a book and just walk, you won’t regret it. There are so many options here, find a great exercise program online, youtube, for your fitness journey, with minimal equipment. Perhaps all body weight. Join a gym and get a routine started. Start a hiking routine, it may be winter but with the right gear, some of the most magnificent sights can be viewed!

MENTAL SELF CARE, this can become a complicated subject, for the sake of this blog we will keep it simple. Sometimes, if not most times, simple is the best. I see great benefit in Journaling, it’s an activity that takes minimal time and it really helps me exfoliate all kinds of thoughts, by getting them out of my head and on some paper, even helping clarify different feelings and thoughts. It’s such an amazing and simple tool. I also like to combine my journal time with GRATITUDE. Yet another highly underrated tool for mental health and wellbeing. Fear is running rampant during this time, there is no doubt. Fear is an easy way to down-regulate your immune system. So let’s focus on the complete opposite! LOVE and what we are grateful for in this life. I like to jot a few things down in my journal entry every morning, you can also just go over in your head some of the things you are grateful for, I like to while in the shower. Then sit and examine how you feel, it can be anything! Your grateful for your bed, your kids, your ability to move your body, the list goes on. Let’s spread the love and not the fear.

This was just a very brief overview of some of the simple things we can do to raise our health and our wellness through these times of uncertainty. So this year let’s show ourselves what we are made of and get the health bug, let’s spread LOVE and WELLNESS for all. This is our lives, so let’s make the best of them!

Thanks for reading, I wish you all the best!

Chef Chris Berglund