It’s let’s be healthy AF week here. At 40 I want to be kicking off the second half of my life not sliding down to the end.

There is a difference between just surviving life (living a long life, possible on many medications and injuries) and thriving through it (living a long live disease free and active as fuck!).

I want to thrive.

In order to achieve this you need to work on both mental AND physical toughness. Being disease free doesn’t just mean “never being diagnosed with anything”. It means being so darn resilient that nothing can get you.

The physical side is maybe the easier side to start on, as we can see it. Our bodies, our blood tests, scans. We can achieve a disease free lifestyle by setting ourselves up for success. This means removing processed foods and processed sugars. This means increase our fiber intake DRASTICALLY by consuming more fruits and veggies. WHOLE foods are going to serve us best as we will be getting all nature intended.

Example. The fiber in fruit is key to its benefit, not just the phytonutrients we associate with its vibrant colors. Not only is this fiber going to slow the uptake of the sugar found in fruit but it is also going to feed the “good bacteria” in our gut boosting our immune system and digestion. Both key in living disease free. If we just take a multivitamin to get our minerals and vitamins we are robbing our bodies of ALL the benefits nature intended us to have.

This also means hitting the gym and lifting heavy weights. Without external load, our bodies to not adapt and over come/grow, they simply just adapt using the same stuff they had before just differently. You MUST lift weights.

The mental side of living a disease free life is not so simple in today’s day. We are hit with stress from all sides. Stress in work, family life, social media pressures, the idea of what we should have, who we should be. Stress to keep up on all the latest political discussions, the latest pop culture (seriously so far out of touch with today’s pop culture. I swear 10 years ago was the 90’s), making sure our kids are the best at sports, the best in class. Heaven forbid we allow our kids to be kids, get muddy and fail a math test because they were playing outside!

So to combat this stress we need to work in some deep breaths, time away from the screens, meditations, time in nature, time with family. We need physical connection: hand holding, snuggles, hugs, kisses, sex… all of it. We need to feel the humans we are around.

By working on living a disease free life we are working towards a life that we can thrive in. One that takes us farther than we could ever imagine. When your brain and body are healthy they can do great things.

Next… we dive into removing processed foods.

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