Low-Hanging Fruit
You’ll often hear people talk about health as if it were simple. “Just drink more water!” or, “Who knew that by just getting better sleep I could heal my body?!”
And that’s true. Improving health can be simple. But, health and wellness as a whole? Not so simple.
If you only knew what the liver alone does for the body, or how cortisol impacts testosterone, or how saliva plays a role in digestion. You could spend years in school just learning those “simple” things.
Ask any practitioner, allopathic or naturopathic, psychiatrist or endocrinologist. Whether using radiation or radishes (or both) to treat their patients, anyone who’s gone through extensive medical training and years of clinical experience will tell you there’s so much to know about the human body, how disease develops, and how to restore health. In fact, much of what there is to know remains unknown.
Even with all my health and nutrition education, I still get confused. Because when there’s so much to know, there’s so much overwhelm about what to do. And I find, the overwhelm itself can be one of the biggest deterrents from people taking steps to improve their health.
Enter: the low-hanging fruit.
You may not realize it, but every second of every day, you’re sitting under a glorious tree, whose fruits are hanging within arm’s reach. So, if you get easily overwhelmed like I can, stop looking through the text books, stop making appointments with Dr. Google, and stop looking to all four corners of the earth. Instead, look up, see the fruit right in front of you, and pick that one.
Below is a list of 12 of the lowest hanging fruits that can improve almost any health condition*. The point is not to do them all at once. Rather, see what resonates with you and pick that fruit. When you’re ready, reach for another.
*Hint: Western medicine silos off illness as if only this medicine works for this medical condition, when the body can heal from almost anything under the right conditions. Healthy lifestyle habits (such as the ones below) can improve a variety of ailments.
Stop using deodorant with aluminum. Many conventional brands (usually the ones that have enough funding to pay for lots of advertising) have aluminum in them. Why? Because when aluminum sinks into skin, it blocks pores, preventing sweating. Sounds nice. Except for one major problem: Aluminum is neurotoxic and carcinogenic. There are worse things in life than a little sweat. In fact, sweating is NEEDED for regular detoxification. Next time you’re buying deodorant, look for ones without aluminum.
Drink (filtered) water first thing in the morning. It’s not like making a smoothie with lots of ingredients and having to wash out your blender. Water is the easiest thing to prepare and drinking it first thing in the morning is essential for healthy detoxification. After a full night’s sleep, our liver is dehydrated. Starting the day with coffee can only add to the dehydration. Start the day with water.
Pick your dirty clothes up off the floor. Talk about a low-hanging fruit right in front of you! Whenever you notice clothes, dirty dishes, or clutter around you, stop and pick it up. How does this improve health? You’d be surprised how decluttering and having a clean, organized space creates room for good energy flow, in and around you.
Throw away your candles. Burning candles in your home, though sweet smelling and lovely to look at, is the equivalent of putting your mouth over an exhaust pipe. Candles are made from a petroleum byproduct called paraffin. When candles are burned, they emit volatile organic compounds (or VOCs) which are toxic in a number of ways.
Stop cooking with aluminum foil. See #1. Aluminum is a harmful chemical which has been linked to numerous health conditions, including neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s. When aluminum comes into contact with high heat, it can leech into your food.
Get rid of your plastics. Plastic never breaks down fully - not in the environment and not in your body. In fact, micro plastics are found inside the human body, and even inside a baby’s poop. Plastics can be harmful, but especially so when in contact with heat (think: putting hot foods in plastic Tupperware or heating Tupperware in the microwave). All those takeout containers that are delivered in flimsy plastic? Stop it! The chemicals that leech into the body from heated plastic are incredibly harmful endocrine disruptors. Get a water filter system instead of buying plastic water bottles, swap your plastic Tupperware for glass containers, and so on.
Pick one (or more) inflammatory food to avoid. Many health condition are caused (or at least worsened) by inflammatory foods. These includes gluten, dairy, sugar, alcohol, and anything with pesticides like glyphosate. Of course it would be most beneficial to avoid all inflammatory foods, but it’s a tall ask to overhaul your diet in one swoop. Instead, for now, focus on cutting back on just one of them.
Go to bed (earlier). Sleep is often viewed as one aspect of health, as if it’s its own thing. But did you know that NOTHING can heal, no disease can improve, no health goal can be achieved without consistent, quality sleep? In other words, you can workout and diet all you want, but if you’re not sleeping well, you’ll have trouble losing weight. You can pound the supplements, medication, and green juices, but if you’re not sleeping well, your body cannot assimilate any of the health benefits. GO TO BED.
Eat your fruit. Next time you’re thinking about grabbing a juice or smoothie, just reach for the fruit instead and eat it whole. When you blend and especially juice any fruit, you’re loosing nutrients, particularly the fiber that is not only so beneficial for health, but necessary to slow down the sugar absorption. Without fiber, sugar quickly spikes glucose levels in the body, which causes systemic inflammation, and over time, those repeated spikes lead to disease. Besides, it takes about 3-4 apples to make 1 glass of apple juice. So when you drink a juice, you’re ingesting a ton of sugar all at once. Eat the fruit, don’t drink the juice.
Get light (in the morning). Getting adequate sunlight in your eyes and on your skin in the morning helps set and maintain your circadian rhythm. Conversely, exposing yourself to light in the evening can confuse the body into thinking it’s time to be awake. You want to help your body align with natural light, so step outside for a morning walk (10 minutes is enough) and limit your screen time in the evening.
Eat your veggies first. Did you know that eating your foods in the right order helps to stabilize blood sugar, and in turn, creates less inflammation, less aging, and increases longevity? If you’re not ready to remove certain foods from your diet or add in new ones, then don’t. Keep the foods you’re currently eating, but just make it a point to eat your foods in this order: Veggies first, protein and fat second, carbs (included starches and sugar) last. For example: broccoli, followed by chicken and avocado, then potatoes and a cookie.
Open that spice cabinet. We all have a spice cabinet. Some of us have exotic spices spilling off the shelves, and others have just a salt and pepper shaker. Both are acceptable. Don’t overlook these herbs and spices as simply tasty additions to your meal—they have numerous health benefits, ranging from increasing beneficial bacteria in the gut, to disarming and removing toxins, and improving brain function. Next time you’re cooking or sitting down to a meal, start sprinkling away!
Aside from avoiding overwhelm, the other benefit to grabbing these low-hanging fruits is that most of them are foundational! What I mean by that is, they need to be done regardless of what else you’re doing. No matter what modalities, medications, or therapies you’re using to heal, it won’t be enough if you’re not doing the basics, or worse, if your habits are adding fuel to the flame. For example, if you’ve been diagnosed with an inflammatory disease (most diseases are) and you’re taking medication to reduce inflammation, while at the same time eating inflammatory foods, the body will be at a standstill. The body will certainly be confused (“Do you want me to increase inflammation or reduce it? Make up your mind!”).
Being foundational means they should not be skipped over, overlooked, bypassed. So many people come to health coaches because they’ve “tried everything” to heal and nothing works. They went straight for the detox smoothies, the supplements, the protein powders, they signed up for yoga 5x a week and, in their minds, are “doing all the right things.” But when asked, “How are you sleeping?” or, “Are you drinking enough water?” they stop short and admit that they didn’t even think about those things.
Well, start thinking about them. Everyday is an opportunity to pick a low-hanging fruit to add to your basket, and over time, keep filling it up!