As a young-ish mom diagnosed with a disease that could potentially steal my mind and my body from me, I know that there are things in my control and things I need to “bless and release,” as my mentor often says.

Here’s my 5 ways to keep my health in check:

1. Get all the labs done

Many doctors won’t do this unless you ask, and some might direct you to a naturopath or holistic doctor. In July I cut my hair and sent it to a lab for analysis in order to check all of my vitamin, mineral and heavy metal levels. When looking at different issues your body may be experiencing, this is a great step in the right direction to solving the problem, or identifying what could lessen the symptoms of that problem. I do believe that there are root causes for different health issues we encounter and it’s a great idea to use these levels as a starting place.

My lab results showed an imbalance in a few of my mineral levels. It also showed that my body is in a state of chronic stress. I found this so interesting because when the body is in that chronic stress state, it can deplete your body of the necessary minerals. In my case we found that my calcium was depleted which can be linked to muscle spasms, saddened mood, brain fog and memory loss. All of these are something that also is attributed to to MS, so being able to balance this deficiency definitely has helped those issues!

2. Prioritize strength training

One of my lovely brain spots damaged the communication between my brain and my leg, limiting the way I can exercise. Although I cannot walk miles or run anymore, that doesn’t give me an excuse to neglect my fitness.

I cannot emphasize how important strength training actually is and how beneficial it is to your body in the long term. Not only does it increase energy levels and improve our moods, but its positive effects on brain health is a huge win. Specifically, it helps protect against degeneration in specific subregions of the hippocampus. This is really important when it comes to memory function!

3. Maintain balanced stress levels

Although I didn’t feel abnormally stressed, the proof was in my labs. Is there even a baseline for what normal stress looks like? I will save that for another post. Years of not finding ways to reduce my stress levels through practices like yoga, meditation and gratitude really wreaked havoc on my mental health. A book that changed my life came along right before my ectopic pregnancy, after my fourth baby. 1000 Gifts by Ann Voscamp changed how I viewed the mundane parts of life and really opened my eyes to giving thanks in all things, even the ugly. But that’s not enough. I needed to find something to physically calm my body. This led me to organic CBD has been an amazing tool to help physically calm my nerves. I didn’t realize how much of my stress I was carrying around in my joints, skin, and stomach. A healthy mindset and a balanced body are the key to reducing stress.

4. Food is fuel

While there is so much to unpack in these three words, I truly view food as something that serves my body and gives me energy. That’s it. I love to meal prep because as a mama to four, schedules are crazy and things go much more smoothly when there’s chopped veggies on hand, dinners planned, and a few prepped lunches available.

5. Limit as many toxins as possible

We cannot control the quality of the air we breath, the chemicals leeching from our couches or carpets we currently have, but we can control what we choose to put on our skin every day. Since our skin is our largest organ, what we put on it matters. Common culprits are laundry detergent, skincare, artificial fragrances. When working with clients and helping them to make safer switches, perfume is always the hardest product to eliminate. While we love a good “intoxicating” scent, the irony is that the chemicals, many of them lasting forever inside our bodies, are in fact intoxicating. If you want to know how safe the products are that you use, email me your labels and I will read them for you!

The truth of the matter is that the majority of people treat their health like an Uber ride, relaxed in the back seat until reaching the destination. Here’s a news flash: no one makes it through life in the backseat. At some point our health will force us to get out, take the wheel and drive. While it may feel overwhelming to switch from being care free to being intentional about our health, these five steps can really help make it a simpler way to start!