By Brenda Dixon, Certified Health Coach
When do you set healthcare resolutions? Most of us would say New Year’s Day or perhaps after a significant birthday. For me, my resolution was set on April Fool’s Day, 2019. Not exactly the traditional path, but I was overwhelmed with my autoimmune issues that had controlled my life since I was 16, and I had prayed many years for relief that didn’t include a bunch of prescription drugs with bad side effects.
Around that time, I read on a friend’s social media page about a company that advertised an easier way to get more fruits and vegetables in your body. I thought the idea was ridiculous, in addition to some of the other health suggestions mentioned! But my friend was a certified health coach — and I wasn’t (yet). That still didn’t reduce my resistance to the idea of whole-food nutrition in capsule form. What did get my attention was her post that she was off all her autoimmune medications. What? Is that even possible?
The last medication I was prescribed was $3,600 per month. Who can afford that kind of expense when it was only to make the symptoms less severe? I was intrigued with the notion of a medication-free option. I was sick and tired of being sick, tired and hurting all the time, so I jumped in — all the way in — and it changed my life.
I found JuicePlus and used that “easy button” to add more fruits and veggies to my diet. It was the first step in making intentional choices about my health. My cholesterol dropped 30 points, my energy level increased, and I felt like a real person again instead of a medical chart example. The best result is that I removed both autoimmune diseases from my medical chart!
This experience gives me such a passion to share this simple solution, and to show people what it’s like to feel good! I believe that so many people don’t know what it’s like to feel good. And by making small changes, they can improve their health journey from here on out. How good would it make you feel to know that by sharing JuicePlus, you could help someone rewrite their DNA? Great, I would say! And to withhold sharing that knowledge would be to not care about other people, and that’s not me.
I started using a 10-day guideline (see insert) that made things simple. Some of these things you may already be doing — maybe you have sleep nailed down, or you always drink plenty of water. Here is the list so you can see what each guideline affects and how easily you can incorporate them into your daily health plan:
- Eat more fruits and veggies (including JuicePlus plant powders) — Most of us know we need to eat more fruits and vegetables. But even when we think we are eating healthy, we don’t get the quality, the quantity, or the variety of fruits and vegetables we need. Are you a big beet fan? Me, either! Is broccoli or garlic or rice bran your favorite snack? Right, I thought so! That’s where JuicePlus comes in because it gives you the nutrition of 30 fruits, vegetables, and berries every day.
- Move more — Are you eager to exercise? I am … most of the time! But even if we can’t do a workout routine every day, just moving more — parking further away or taking the stairs instead of the elevator, for example — will add up!
- Drink more water — This seems so simple, but it’s one of the things that can get you into big trouble with dehydration. I have friends who have been hospitalized because of dehydration. In severe cases, it can be life-threatening. If water bores you, add something fun (but natural!), like lemon or lime slices, cucumbers, or other fresh foods. We need 50 percent of our body weight in ounces of water per day. Once I understood how much it benefits everything in our body, from digestion to brain and heart health, it was easier to deliberately keep tabs on how much water I had a day.
- Sleep better — How can our bodies perform well if they are “on” 24/7? Rest is important. And remember that it isn’t like a bank account; you can’t store sleep and withdraw it when you are a tad low!
- Bring caffeine into balance — Would this be hard for you? I thought it would be impossible because I am a coffee girl! But I learned that caffeine is inflammatory, and since the goal was to reduce inflammation, I found a great decaf coffee in a K-Cup so I can still enjoy my coffee and leave the inflammation behind.
- Manage sugar cravings — I thought this would be the most difficult. My grandfather would have had dessert after breakfast if he thought that would have been possible. And it passed straight through to me — no passing GO, no collecting $200! And the sneaky ways sugar is added to a lot of our food makes it challenging to reduce our intake. But this is about managing our cravings, right? So, we can do this!
- Eat more whole grains — This is not a statement about whether you should eat meat. It’s just saying that eating more whole grains is better for us.
- Balance alcohol — This one may be tricky for some people. The guideline isn’t saying, “no alcohol,” but if 50 percent of your calories for a meal are from alcohol, it might be time to get the old calculator app on the phone and see how alcohol can be in balance with everything else.
- Stop late-night eating — This includes late-night hot chocolate in bed, reading and unwinding. This one was tough because that was my go-to bedtime routine! I changed and now have lemon tea instead. Not quite as satisfying, but I feel much better and that is a huge payoff for me to make the swap!
- Celebrate your success! — We all need to be gentle with ourselves and celebrate! Your body will thank you for the changes — now and years down the road as well!
Research demonstrates a link between inflammation and what we put into our bodies. In fact, evidence increasingly shows that chronic inflammation may be the actual cause of almost all diseases. We’re talking about heart disease, cancers, and even neurological diseases. And changing the DNA that I mentioned earlier? Well, new research shows that we can control the on-off switches in our genes. For example, certain forms of diabetes can be turned “on or off” by how we take care of our bodies! You can have more control over the gap between your “health life” and your “age life.” Ideally, we want them as close together as we can get. And this is where JuicePlus can help.
JuicePlus is a company that has been in business for more than 50 years, and there are more than 40 clinical studies (gold standard, double-blind, peer-reviewed) that document how powerful it is to eat more fruits and vegetables. I’m no longer a skeptic. I’m a believer, and I’m living proof of the power of getting more whole-food plant nutrition in this body of mine. Come join me and let’s get healthy!
Brenda Dixon is a Certified Health Coach and JuicePlus affiliate. To learn more, visit brendadixon.juiceplus.com/us/en.
