Spring Renewal: Your Complete Wellness Checklist for Mind, Body, and Environment (Part 3)
Part 3: Body, Mind & Mindset, and Environment
It’s time for the weekly Nourish. Cultivate. Thrive. Nourish+ with Dr. Fowler, DCN article.
This is Part 3: Body, Mind & Mindset, and Environment of a 3-part article that covers your comprehensive spring checklist for Spring Renewal.
Click on the links if you missed Part 1: Nutrition or Part 2: Supplements and Medications.
Let’s dig in!
Body
Review over how much of the following you’re doing
Total exercise and physical activity
Moderate to vigorous cardio/aerobic activity
Strength training or weight lifting
Body weight exercises (isometrics, plyometrics, HIIT, SIIT, calisthenics, yoga, Pilates, etc.)
Stretching
Ask yourself what you can take off your plate to get in more physical activity, if you’re currently not getting any. If you’re getting too much—yes, that’s a thing—what can you pull back on to add some strategic rest into your routine?
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans recommend the following:
Adult should do at least 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) to 300 minutes (5 hours) a week of moderate-intensity, or 75 minutes (1 hour and 15 minutes) to 150 minutes (2 hours and 30 minutes) a week of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity, or an equivalent combination of moderate- and vigorous-intensity aerobic activity. Preferably, aerobic activity should be spread throughout the week.
Additional health benefits are gained by engaging in physical activity beyond the equivalent of 300 minutes (5 hours) of moderate-intensity physical activity a week.
Adults should also do muscle-strengthening activities of moderate or greater intensity and that involve all major muscle groups on 2 or more days a week, as these activities provide additional health benefits.
The amounts listed above may be a lot for most busy people. The bottom line is that any movement and physical activity is better than none at all.
Mind and Mindset
Check-in on the following:
How have you been feeling lately?
Rate your overall wellbeing on a scale of 1-10 (one being low and 10 being high). What could you do to increase your rating? What is prohibiting you from doing these things?
Do you have a space you can go to that energizes you? Whether at home or elsewhere.
How often do you do things that energize you?
How often do you do things that deplete you?
What can you start or stop doing to do more of what energizes you and less of what depletes you?
If the things that deplete you are not optional (like your job, being around certain people, etc.), what positive coping mechanisms can you lean into to counter their depleting effects?
Environmental
The idea here isn't to do everything listed below. Pick 1-2 to start, and try adding on a new one quarterly.
Donate or throw out clothes, toys, kitchen gadgets, etc. that you haven’t used in 2 years
Replace any torn, ripped or stained clothing items worn frequently
Reduce clutter inside the home; find novel ways to organize, if needed
Change your sheets and pillow cases (this should be done, ideally, every 1-2 weeks)
Consider replacing your pillow … we use our pillow everyday, yet we don’t often clean them. Over time, pillow cases are insufficient for the dust (and dust mites), dead skin, oils, saliva, etc. that makes its way on to the pillow itself. Plus, a pillow can be a key sleep helper or inhibitor.
Replace torn, ripped, or stained bedding and towels
Replace plastic containers that have heat or freeze damage. It’s a best practice to not microwave in plastic; the toxicants in the plastic and microplastics can leach into your food
Consider replacing all plastic food containers with glass, food safe silicon, or other food-safe material
Replace body care products like shampoo, conditioner, bodywash and lotion with toxin-free and natural alternatives. The EWG Skin Deep Database can help you see if your current products are problematic. Doing this gradually as you run out of products can help save money and reduce waste.
Consider getting a water filter pitcher or a reverse osmosis system; you can use the EWG Tap Water Database to see what’s in your tap water; you also can look for datasheets at your local water authority. If your diet contains sufficient minerals, there is no need to worry about mineral loss from using a reverse osmosis system.
Swap to reusable stainless or protected glass water bottles instead of plastic, single use bottles of water. Many of these bottled waters have been exposed to heat during transit which causes microplastic to breakdown and be present in the water, which you end up ingesting
Replace harmful chemical kitchen cleaning products and detergents with safer versions. Check out the EWG Guide to Healthy Cleaning database to look up current products and future products you’re considering.
Replace any scratched or damaged nonstick pans, which can leach chemicals into your foods, especially when cooking at high heat; consider other materials than non-stick
A word on EWG. Some practitioners and researchers are not a fan of the EWG; they often point to lack of transparency with their scoring system amongst other reasons. EWG is not perfect. However, we must start somewhere and they do a generally decent job of citing their sources for the ingredients they consider harmful and providing some reasoning as to why they’ve deemed something harmful.
For things like old towels, sheets and blankets that may not be in good enough condition to donate, consider donating them to local animal shelters. They are often looking for these types of used items for bedding and bathing the animals in their care. They also will usually take partial bags of dry pet food, unopened canned pet food, and the remainder of medication. Our cat, Misha, despises most medications and sometimes it’s a bit of trial and error to find one that we can give her without inflicting trauma on her or ourselves … at almost 19, we’re not about to make things more dramatic and traumatic than absolutely necessary, so this has resulted in several barely used prescriptions. Our local shelters have gladly taken the unused amounts for some of the medications. Shelter and adoption groups may have varying rules and needs, so be sure to check first.
References
USDA. Food Product Dating. https://www.fsis.usda.gov/food-safety/safe-food-handling-and-preparation/food-safety-basics/food-product-dating
The Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Physical Activity Guidelines for Americans: https://odphp.health.gov/sites/default/files/2019-09/Physical_Activity_Guidelines_2nd_edition.pdf