7 EFFORTLESS HEALTHY HABITS OF HEALTHY PEOPLE - Toronto Functional Medicine

At TMB, we empower our patients to take responsibility for their health. We work with people actively seeking to better their health. Thinking the mind and body are separate and reaching for a passive “quick fix” will never be the long term solution. In order to see actual, long-term changes, you have to ask WHY, take INVENTORY, and put in the WORK. You have to ask yourself with an open mind, “How do I actually feel?” and then DO something about it. And a great place to start is by nurturing simple healthy habits.

HOW DO YOU MAKE HEALTHY CHOICES SECOND NATURE?

You begin with small habits. Small daily habits like choosing colourful foods, addressing STRESS, moving, taking high quality supplements and drinking plenty of (warm) filtered water can help boost our immune system – For some people, these small, everyday habits come naturally, but even for those people, habits take time to foster. Take Dr. Bhat for example – patients always poke fun at how ‘healthy she is’ but hey, it’s only because she’s been living her truth for so long that saying no to a bag of Halloween candy has now become second nature. It’s not hard or taxing – It’s easy! On the other end of the spectrum, if she does treat herself to something (she does love chips!), there’s no guilt or shame attached to it. Cool, it happened – Let’s move on!

7 THINGS HEALTHY HABITS HEALTHY PEOPLE DO EVERY DAY
(AND YOU CAN TOO!)

Those who have been actively making their health a priority have a certain mindset around what they put into their bodies and minds. Below are 7 habits that this type of person (usually our patients!) are doing whether they realize it or not! (i.e. have become automatic habits!). Check them out and see if there is one or two you can add!

Body curiosity

Take interest in your body! Ever complain about back pain, maybe just take a pain killer and/or ‘wait’ for it to get better? People who take an active approach to health naturally have a body curiosity. They reflect, what did I do movement wise? Have I been under stress? Did I sit too long? They also get curious movement wise and might try a few stretches or fascial release moves, go for a walk or keep still. If none of that helped, as a next step, they might seek professional help, like when patients come to us for our FIIX visits.

Skipping the added sugar

This one cannot be emphasized enough. Sugar (in the volumes we consume – because it is added to literally everything these days) and high fructose corn syrup are detrimental to our health. This includes our energy (energy crashes anyone?), our mood (who needs more reasons for mood fluctuations in 2020!), our immune system, and our hormones and our GUT health! First piece of advice in skipping added sugar is to shop the outside aisles of the grocery store.

This is where most of the whole foods are. The colours, the fibre, the perishables! The inside aisles is usually where the added sugars are. Including, and most importantly, skipping the pop and candy aisles! (we know, we know, it’s Halloween, poor timing, but you get the point). If you haven’t yet ditched sugar, ditching it from drinks is a great first place to start (pop, soda, iced tea, hot chocolate, ‘juice’, drink crystals etc.)

Greens at every meal

When health is top of mind, you are naturally inclined to add greens to your meals throughout the day. You’ll always be mindful of it and find a way to incorporate them to the meals/snacks you make. Fact: Beige all day is not making anyone healthier. We use greens as a base line because other colours can usually sneak into processed foods, but greens usually means a balanced (whole foods) meal.

Movement

Being able to move our body’s freely is something most of us take for granted. Moving/exercise is also very good for our health. Movement can become second nature, even if it’s just squeezing in 5 minutes a day. Of all the healthy habits we’re sharing, movement is one of the simplest places to start.

TMB TIP
Have you been following along with our totally FREE TMB in ten challenge over on Instagram?
Head to Dr. Bhat’s page for a FREE 10 DAYS OF 10 MINUTE workouts/stretches/fascial release and more!

Being your own health advocate

What is best for you might not be best for your sibling or even your spouse. With our medical system directed at treating symptoms and not necessarily the whole person/human, it is imperative to be your own number one health advocate and do what’s best for YOU. When you get handed a diagnosis or a prescription, it’s totally fair to ask questions/seek what else might be available etc. This is where many of our patients end up finding us. The band-aid solution they were handed didn’t work for them like promised, or they asked more questions like ‘is that really the best option for me’ or ‘are there more natural or diet and lifestyle alternatives?’ We’re not saying band-aid solutions don’t work, we just don’t see the people they worked for cause they don’t end up in our office!

Reading labels

When you grocery shop, do you flip over the label to read the ingredients? Dr. Bhat found “keto cookies” the other day but low and behold, when she went to read the label there was cane SUGAR in it. When keto, avoiding sugar is one of the main goals. Just one example of why it’s so important to read labels, because if the (non regulated) marketing words on the front are loud enough (“gluten free”, “non-GMO”), we can end up trusting them and making false assumptions. (i.e. assuming a ‘keto’ product wouldn’t have sugar in it!).

Going to sleep on time

Literally no one ever has said “I regret going to bed early and having a great sleep last night”. But people ALWAYS say “I feel worse when I stay up late”, or “I don’t get as great of a sleep after drinking alcohol”. Being mindful of getting to bed on time (just as we are mindful of waking up in the morning – we set alarms!) means being mindful if the time, and start winding down within an hour to 30 minutes before bedtime. Otherwise, if you miss that window, your adrenaline will kick in and that is the exact opposite to a good night sleep. If you get in the healthy habit of going to bed at the same time each night, eventually it will become an effortless decision.

FOSTERING HEALTHY HABITS WITH TMB

The good news is we are responsible for our own well-being! However, taking responsibility doesn’t mean googling your condition and being your own doctor and doing this on your own. BUT… We should certainly be learning to navigate choices on our own inner compass. How do you FEEL after eating that certain food? Or being around that certain person? Listening to/watching that certain topic? Dial up the good stuff and dial down the bad stuff. When you know what makes you feel good – whether it’s taking 5 to close your eyes and deep breathe, getting to bed on time, hugging your children etc. do MORE of that! We are in 2020 people, let’s bring MORE joy into our lives, not less.

If you’re already implementing healthy habits but still aren’t seeing the progress you’ve been hoping for, we can help.
Book a consultation with our team today!

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This article is excerpted from our weekly TMB Magazine — an exclusive subscriber only publication that is packed with all sorts of in-depth latest study breakdowns, functional medicine insights and wisdom from Dr. Bhat and her team.