Building Resilience Part II: Physical Health

Welcome back everyone! I hope you found last week’s post about building mental resilience helpful, not only is this so important for maintaining mental & physical health but it’s also key to living a happy and fulfilling life. Today I share 9 ways to build your resiliency to physical stress, like environmental toxins, injury or illness.

1. Exercise

I don’t think I need to spend much time convincing you exercise is important for our overall health, if you are not exercising regularly I suggest you try the following:

• Start slow: it really doesn’t matter what kind of exercise you do as long as you make it a regular habit and you listen to your body. Don’t push yourself too hard, exercise shouldn’t be something you dread.

• Try different things: try new ways of moving your body, there are a ton of free at home workouts on Youtube and social media, many gyms and studios have an introductory class or pass (once they re-open), try a new activity, sport or just go for a walk. See what you like, if you don’t enjoy it you probably won’t make it a habit.

• Schedule it: schedule time into your day for movement, utilize the alarms on fitness trackers to let you know when you’ve been sedentary for too long, many also have groups you can join that share your daily steps and you can participate in challenges for accountability.

• Have fun: like I said, make it something you enjoy, and if you start something and you don’t like it, don’t do it! I often turn off an exercise video and just a pick a new one.

2. Reduce Chemical Exposure

We are exposed to so many chemicals and toxins in our daily life, i.e. pollution, plastics, cleaning products, fragrances, non-stick cookware, exhaust fumes, pesticides in our food, conventional makeup and personal care products… Many of these chemicals produce free radicals (which can build up and damage our cells) and endocrine disrupting substances that can wreak havoc on our hormones. Start paying attention to the products in your home, read labels and look into ingredients. Slowly start replacing these items with cleaner products that are more natural, a good place to start is removing all synthetic fragrances including air fresheners, laundry detergent, perfume, lotions, fabric sprays etc. These chemical concoctions are considered “proprietary” and companies do not have to disclose the ingredients, the ingredient “fragrance” can contain up to 3000 different chemicals. If you’re interested in learning more about WHY these chemical and products are dangerous in the long run, comment and let me know- I was skeptical at first too, until I removed them from my life and saw the difference for myself.

3. Support Detoxification Pathways

Detoxification is a natural process; our bodies are constantly working hard to filter out toxins. The problem is modern life can make this a pretty overwhelming task, with all of those toxic substances we are exposed to. By reducing our chemical exposures, we can prevent an overload of toxins, but we can support our natural detox process with through diet and lifestyle to help prevent these toxins from sticking around longer than they should:

• Stay hydrated with pure filtered water (urine should be a pale straw colour)

• Exercise regularly

• Practice deep diaphragmatic breathing daily

• Ensure you are having at least one bowel movement per day

• Dry skin brush or break a sweat (while exercising, in hot yoga or in a sauna)

• Eat lots of plants & fiber esp. cruciferous vegetables (like broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, bok choy)

• Cook with herbs & spices like garlic, turmeric & cilantro

• Eat brazil nuts (high in selenium which is required for the formation of glutathione, only eat a few a day!)

• Start your day with lemon, apple cider vinegar or chlorophyll in your water

• Drink herbal teas like dandelion root, fennel or milk thistle

4. Support Digestion

Since proper digestion is necessary for absorption of nutrients from our diet, supporting digestion is a no brainer for building resiliency. It doesn’t matter if you eat the perfect diet, if your digestion is impaired you’re not going to benefit much. Not to mention at least 70% of our immune system resides in our gut and the gut-brain connection means our gut health also affects our mood. To learn more about supporting digestion and gut health check out these posts:

• Eat Your Way to a Healthier Gut

• Lifestyle Habits for a Healthy Gut

5. “Clean up” Your Diet

Avoid processed foods and refined sugars, grains, flours and oils. These foods are inflammatory, have no nutritional value, impair digestion and gut health and negatively impact our health in numerous ways. See the next 2 tips for what to eat instead!

6. Eat the Rainbow

Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables ensures you are getting a wide range of nutrients our bodies need to thrive. Brightly coloured fruits and veggies tend to be high in antioxidants to help protect us against oxidative stress and dark leafy greens are rich in minerals, fiber and phytonutrients that support bone, heart and brain health as well as healthy digestion and blood sugar balance. Aim for a “plant-based” diet with plants as the foundation and adding in good quality fish, animal products and healthy sources of fat for a well-rounded diet.

7. Eat Your Protein

The basic building blocks of protein known as amino acids play many critical roles in our body, including:

• building and repairing tissues

• production of enzymes, hormones and neurotransmitters

• building blocks of bones, muscles, cartilage, skin, blood and immune cells

Protein can also help to keep us satisfied and reduce cravings, build muscle mass and may even boost your metabolism. There are many factors to consider when choosing your protein sources, a simple rule of thumb is variety- you should eat a variety of different protein sources both animal and plant based (if you eat animal products). Choose high quality animal products, include protein with every single meal (most snacks), consider food combining and bioavailability in regards to plant based proteins and remember that while protein is v. Important animal products should be a complement to your diet, not the star of the show.

8. Support Brain Health

We need to nourish our brain to prevent neurodegenerative diseases & support our mental health. We can use food, herbs, stress management and sleep to improve our brain resilience -check out my previous posts for more resources:

• Supporting your mood with food

• Building Resilience Part I: Mental Resilience

• 5 Ways to Manage Stress & Anxiety

9. You guessed it, Prioritize Sleep

Deep sleep is when our body repairs and recovers mentally and physically. Sleep is required for proper wound healing, memory consolidation, brain regeneration, immune support, hormone balance...the list goes on. If you need some help getting a good night’s sleep revisit my post on improving sleep.

If you are ready to start nourishing your body with real whole foods but you’re not sure where to start and need additional support, my meal planning services may be just what you’re looking for! I offer custom 1 or 2-week meal plans (learn more here) that are customized to your preferences, lifestyle and schedule. I also offer a monthly meal plan subscription service for just $45 CAD per month (learn more here).

Until next week,

Jess