When I was 20 years old I had a life-changing spiritual experience that shifted my priorities about EVERYTHING, especially optimal health! I was sick of how society was failing to deliver, so I thought I’d try my luck at figuring it out myself. Now I am 50 years old, I’m more excited about health and fitter than I have ever been in my life.

This week’s video is the holy grail for optimal health. I share the tried and tested things I do EVERY DAY. The things that make all the difference between thriving and living a truly fulfilled life and dragging yourself through the trenches. Some of these things are super simple… and maybe you are already doing them?

As you listen, I want you to notice what you already do. And which ones you can start doing? If you do JUST ONE extra of these in your life, it’ll take your health up a notch!

Talk to me… tell me what you are doing already and what you feel inspired to start.

  1. Healthy wholefood plant-based diet for optimal health

Eating healthy food has been a priority for me since I was in my early twenties. I accidentally stumbled on health when I noticed my health skyrocket after eating fully plant-based. Then, to make it more interesting I kept meeting the most remarkable people who’d reclaimed health after being given months to live with diseases such as cancer or being in horrendous pain from various conditions. We’d hang out and my jaw would drop when I heard their stories! And even Woody Harelson’s yoga teacher came to a potluck at my house, in Sussex. He’d been told he’d never walk again, but he proved everyone wrong! He had the healthiest plant-based diet you could imagine. So, the importance of healthy choices became embedded in my consciousness! And for me 30 years later, when you’ve done something for that long it becomes impossible to do it any other way.

No matter where you are on your journey, the key is to eat more plants. Just start there! And we can ALL do that. Especially fresh fruit and vegetables and unprocessed foods. None of this fake, pretendy vegan food nonsense!

I eat a 100% wholefood plant-based diet, making sure every single morsel is nourishing. I’ve never worried about where I get my protein or nutrients from… or calculated this and that. I just make a bee-line for healthy food and have done so for 30 years. Living proof that it works.

Recipe ideas… 10 super helpful easy plant-based recipes to go your started

  1. Exercise, fitness and movement

Movement is medicine. Exercise is probably the BIGGEST marker for health. Healthy exercise is essential for optimal living.

How much you need to do depends on where you are currently at. If you are fairly sedentary, then going for a walk every day or doing simple chair yoga will help move the dial in the right direction.

I do a fair amount of exercising daily, gradually increasing over recent years. Remember it’s all relative! Getting started is the important thing.

Here’s what I do at the moment…

  • A brisk walk of around 5 miles most days.
  • An intense mountain, hill or coast hike at least once (usually twice) a week (8 to 15 miles).
  • Small group classes with a personal trainer (3 to 5 times a week). To build core strength, muscle mass, bone density, and keep springiness. All of which are ESSENTIAL as we get older.
  • Yoga (my plan is about 3 mini sessions from you tube), mainly for mobility. I need to work on this as it’s the one thing I usually make excuses not to do argh!!!
  • I’ll do a run if I am short of time and swap out some of the hiking.

When it comes to fitness and movement, be inspired by what others do and (super important) DON’T compare yourself to others… (we are all guilty of comparison and not feeling good enough at some point).

Just do your best and celebrate your small victories. For some of us, exercise will mean yoga, pilates, or dancing and for others it will be running, walking or badminton.

An excellent podcast Dr Chatterjee with Peter Attia on the importance of excercise as we age

  1. Pure water for optimal health

With our bodies composed of somewhere upwards of 60% water, it is an important element for human life and a massive part of what we consume daily.

Tap water varies in quality from region to region; it has frequently been proven to be laden with contaminants in the form of fluoride, chlorine, hormones, drugs, arsenic, heavy metals, pesticides and pathogens. Shocking right?

To be safe, I always filter my water or draw it from a spring.

For many years I’ve used a Berkey Filter for tap water… which for me, is an investment in health. There are less expensive options available too, but for optimal health, the berkey comes up top due to its ability to remove practically everything not good for us.

  1. Sunlight, or light

You are probably familiar with not getting enough light in the winter and how draining it is? How it brings your mood right down? That’s because light is essential for health and mood. I learnt this spending many moons in Maui, with my partner at the time constantly banging on about light being crucial for health.

We have to be much more conscious of this the further away we get from the equator, especially here in the UK, or heaven-forbid, if you live somewhere even further away.

Getting outside every day is going to help with daily exposure to daylight, even when there is cloud cover. Behind a window in a vehicle doesn’t count.

In the darkest months, I recommend getting a Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) lamp, or ‘happy lamp’ as my friend Sheelah calls it. The SAD lamp mimics the sun and is said to elevate your serotonin levels, which can help regulate your system during the winter darkness. NOTE: If you are exercising a lot, you might not need this. I now tend to do my exercise at 6 am in the morning, which generates all the right chemicals in the body and negates the need for the SAD lamp.

Helpful video in depth about the importance of light for health explaining medical lectures clearly…
Sunlight: optimize health and immunity

  1. Mindfulness and healthy thoughts

A key part of healthy living is our mental health. This is why I’ve woven mindfulness into my daily life. It’s a constant work in progress haha. The important thing is not perfection, but rather making the effort, showing up and doing your best… consistently.

Mindfulness is simply being aware and noticing with curiosity…

  • It’s watching your thoughts. Are they healthy or unhelpful?
  • And watching your emotions. Are they balanced and aligned with the actual situation?

Mindfulness is about the self-regulation of these thoughts and emotions. Probably my biggest challenge so far, being a woman wearing my heart on my sleeve haha! But with constant application, and a tonne of self-forgiveness, I am proud of how I am doing.

  1. Community and social relationships for optimal health

Essential!

According to studies, the key factor for anyone who lives a happy, fulfilling life into old age is community and relationships.

For me, this involves making an effort! I am in a choir, I go to exercise training classes with a group a few times a week, not only for the fitness element but as a conscious effort to be part of a community who are bettering themselves. Also, I am part of a mountaineering group as I love being around mountain people. I err towards being reclusive, so living alone means that I have to remember to schedule meet-ups with friends for an oat matcha or lunch.

There are classes and meet-ups for everything like sewing, languages, yoga, chess and walking. Then there are loads of voluntary groups too. Something for everyone.

Studies: The impact of social relationships on longevity

  1. Spirituality and mindset

A bit like mindfulness BUT spirituality is soul-deep. Spirituality is all about purpose, and being of service.

Perhaps the foundation of all things that I do in life, my entire motivation for living a healthy life is spiritual. After a profound spiritual awakening at the age of 20, spirituality is woven into the fabric of everything I do. Basically, if I am healthy I get more energy to be of Divine Service in this precious world!

For you spirituality might mean being the best version of yourself, being a better parent, spouse, partner, friend and seeing the Divine in everyone. Believe it or not, this is also an essential aspect of a healthy, fulfilled life.

To explain it in its most simple essence, this means.

  • To be curious, aware, and surrendered to the divine flow.
  • To see every challenging situation as an opportunity for growth and learning.
  • To shed limiting beliefs and re-align with soul, cultivating a healthy mindset that aligns me with my deeper purpose.
  • Being the change.
  • To see the light in all things and experience the deep peace and harmony as messages from the divine.
  • To see challenges as reminders of something to learn or let go of.

  1. Learning something new every day to keep my brain active

Use it or lose it!

Think of the brain like a muscle, that NEEDS exercise!

I love learning new stuff. Thank God, because it keeps my brain active and stops it from going into cognitive decline! I literally set time aside every day to learn something new. It can be anything. I often go off on big explorations after listening to podcasts and buy books as a result. I read (offscreen) daily to keep my brain active and firing up helpful pathways.

  1. Sleep

Sleep is precious. It’s an essential time for rest, rejuvenation, repair and growth of our bodies. It also gives the brain a chance to untangle itself from busy thoughts. For me I need about 8 hours of sleep a night and tend to go to bed early, which allows me to rise early, full of energy the next morning.

Switching off my phone at night and winding down mindfully, reading a book or meditating are helpful practices to encourage a good night’s sleep.

Sleep and longevity: how sleep effects your lifespan

The most important thing!

Remember, we are all at different stages with things. It’s not about perfection. It’s about doing the best you can. I have been doing this for a LONG TIME! So I am being an example of what is possible and what works. What you decide to do and whether any of this strikes a chord, is completely up to you!

I invite you to look at what you are already doing.

And next look at what you can start doing now. Let’s Go!

You got this!

Together we rise.

Love & Plants
Anastasia x