We are growing generations of people obsessed with weight loss and calorie cutting at the expense of good health and habits. People are caring less about the quality of food they eat and instead we see lots of yo-yo dieting — moving from one fad diet or cleanse to the next. So what is the best way to eat healthfully and maintain a healthy weight?

First, simply surrender to the idea that your lifestyle needs to change with the end goal of vibrant, ideal health.

Switch focus. Take care of what’s going on inside, and the outside will fall into line.

When you switch your focus to health, several things happen:

• You start recognizing the negative things you say to yourself and therefore begin to adopt a healthier, more confident self-image. (Don’t forget mental health is a part of your overall health!)

• You become increasingly aware of your beautiful qualities and the image you once had of yourself may begin to change. Your new self-idea will radiate out into the world, attracting

• beautiful situations, connections, relationships, and opportunities, because you are oozing good vibrations and radiant health!

• You feel hunger less frequently, because you are eating nutrient dense foods filled with life force (qi).

• You reduce inflammation and therefore decrease your chances of chronic or autoimmune disease (and you’ll live longer and happier!)

• You experience more energy, focus, creativity, joy, and personal growth.

• You realize it’s not about your weight—it’s about your health and longevity.

It is only through lifestyle change that you will achieve optimal health and maintain your optimal weight. When you develop healthy habits you:

• will make healthier choices your default (meaning, you don’t have to think about it so much, (like the act of brushing your teeth.)

• build your own qi (lifeforce) a little more each day and with each choice inspire others to make lifestyle changes

• see health trickle into the rest of your life—love, work, relationships of all kinds

• notice an enormous improvement in mood

• grow stronger and lose those aches and pains

• glow!

What are these lifestyle changes? It’s not rocket science and it’s not a fad.

The Ten Imperatives for Optimal Health

1. Eat nutrient dense foods with a predominance of (ideally organic or low spray) vegetables and fruit. (No one gets fat or unhealthy eating mostly veggies and fruit, right?) These are high in cancer-fighting antioxidants and other vital nutrients.
2. Know where your food comes from. Small farmers care deeply about their crops and what you eat. Corporate farming, on the other hand, typically floods the market with GMOs, depletes the soil of nutrients, and is less optimal for your body. Organic food, while you might notice a nibble or two, is higher in antioxidants and such because (think about it) the food has to naturally fight off predators. Consider low spray, as well. Some small farms can’t afford to be certified organic, but they spray less or stay away from deadly insecticides, fungicides, and herbicides. Ask your store to stock locally grown foods and find out about the farms that supply them.
3. Think of food as “alive” or “dead” and cut out the dead foods. A food either builds your qi or breaks it down. Processed, white food is “dead,” causes inflammation, and is hard for the body to break down (sugar, breads, pasta, cereal, candy, and most packaged foods) while fresh veggies and fruit and grass fed, pasture-raised meats are “alive” –they contain more qi! What this means: food is medicine!
4. Most people should remove gluten (wheat, barley and rye) from their diet. It is highly inflammatory and a big cause of “leaky gut syndrome.” More on that HERE
5. Cut out or cut back on dairy— ideally using only grass fed butter, milk, and raw milk cheese, etc, if you choose to eat dairy.
6. Detox at least once a season. We live in a toxic world and our bodies become overburdened. Give your body a chance to recuperate by breaking down some of those toxins and getting them out of your system. For more information on detoxing, go HERE and for detoxing for weight loss HERE.
7. Exercise. If possible, every day in some form, but at least 3 times/week. Pay attention to your energy levels, and respect them. It’s okay to push yourself, but if you’re drained, then start with ten minute walks and as you build up your qi, build up your exercise. Remember, your cells think they’re either living or dying. Exercise reminds them to keep building your body up and living.
8. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep. Sleep is key to developing optimal health and brain power and for detoxification. For more on sleep, go HERE.
9. Most people need some basic extra nutrients that are missing from our depleted soils and foods: probiotic, vitamin D, magnesium, B complex vitamins, a very good multi. (Check with your healthcare provider first – and please don’t buy cheap brands like Centrum, which are filled with dyes and other nastiness.)
10. Work on your mindset, which is KEY to creating change. Notice the way you speak to yourself. If you are abusing yourself mentally, you will never make changes. If you want to read more about this, check out my post in Psychology Today about how to really follow through on any resolution.

When you make a lifestyle change, it is really a relief. You stop beating yourself up over choices, you drop the obsessive thinking about food, you start to feel so much better about yourself and in your own body. Once you start noticing the increased physical and emotional strength, energy and decreased aches and pains, you’ll continually become more motivated.

The more automatic your healthy lifestyle becomes, the better feel, sleep, look. Pretty soon you’ll start to hear this from everyone you run into: “What are you doing? You look great” and you will say, “I feel great–thanks!”

Here’s to feeling great!

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