Optimal Health and Wellness Habits

20 simple and practical health and wellness tips to

add structure to your life

help you maintain a healthy lifestyle

and get the most out of your day.

There is power in investing in your mental, physical, and emotional health. With those investments also comes a sense of balance…it can be easy to burn yourself out when starting new routines and building habits. I would suggest the book Atomic Habits by James Clear and signing up for his weekly newsletter for some inspo there!

I compiled a list of my personal favorite health and wellness practices that have majorly benefited my life.

Start small and build from there. Know that even one slight improvement is a step in the right direction. (Preaching this to myself as I’m writing this post!)

1. Establish a solid morning and night routine

   Start and end your day with a healthy routine. Building these habits will be a game-changer. I linked my routines more in-depth in these blog posts: Healthy Morning Habits & Healthy Evening Habits

2. Wake up with the sunrise

   I highly recommend investing in a sunrise alarm clock. My ideal “waking up with the sunrise” would be on the beach with the perfect sunrise view that naturally wakes me up every morning.

3. Take extra care of your oral health

   Of course brushing your teeth is key but using a tongue scraper and oil pulling in the morning are also important. Swish one teaspoon of coconut oil in your mouth for about 10 minutes in the morning and spit it in your trash can or toilet.

   Here are my favorite tools and products for my teeth:

   Moon electric toothbrush
   David’s natural toothpaste
   Coconut oil for oil pulling
   Tongue scraper
   Water flosser
   Non-toxic teeth whitening strips without sensitivity

4. Make the bed

   I’m sure you’ve heard before that doing this one small thing each morning sets you up for success for the rest of the day. I like making my bed every morning a priority because it makes me feel accomplished early in my day and sets my nighttime routine up for success.

5. DRINK A Morning cocktail & lemon water with Himalayan salt

   Mix 1/4 teaspoon of Himalayan salt in 12 oz warm water and a couple of lemon slices. Lemons are full of vitamin C and loaded with antioxidants. Himalayan salt adds vitamins and minerals to your body, is good for your skin health, improves digestion, and has many other benefits!

   Morning cocktail: A mixture of the following in a 4 or 8-oz glass. Each of these ingredients has a multitude of benefits, so I like to mix them all together for a morning cocktail that actually tastes really good!

   100% cranberry juice

   100% pineapple juice

   Aloe vera

   Coconut water

   Chlorophyll drops

   Apple cider vinegar

6. Smoothie with collagen powder or PROTEIN POWDER

   Truvani marine collagen powder

   Truvani plant-based protein powder

   Post-workout smoothie recipe:

   1 scoop of protein
   1 frozen banana
   1 scoop of cashew butter
   4 oz water
   Ice
   
   Beauty smoothie recipe:
   ½ cup frozen blueberries

   1 frozen banana

   1 tablespoon cashew butter

   1 scoop marine collagen

   1 cup yogurt

7. Meditate

   I love listening to guided meditations lying on my back with my legs straight up against the wall. This position is proven to reduce stress and anxiety. These are the meditations I enjoy listening to this Guided Meditation on Apple Music.

8. Gua sha

   Gua sha is a key part in my nighttime skincare routine as a form of self-care. Using a gua sha tool has so many benefits! It promotes the lifting and smoothing your skin, helps with lymphatic drainage, reduces jaw tension, and much more. I use the Mount Lai Jade Gua Sha tool.

9. Get CREATIVE

   Personally, I love expressing my creativity through creating social media content, being a tourist in my city, sitting at a coffeeshop on my computer, working on my blog, social media, and even my work tasks. If the weather permits, I love changing my scenery to an outdoor setting, ideally the beach, because nature truly puts me in my best mindset and greatly improves my creativity.

10. vitamins and supplements

    I’ve tried a few options for this and have found I love Persona Nutrition or Atheltic Greens. Both have proven well worth it and lived up to the hype!

11. HOT GIRL WALK

    This one is self-explanatory. Getting fresh air and movement daily is important for many reasons, including mental and physical health.

12. MOVEMENT

    This one goes along with the hot girl walk; however, I like to prioritize movement in various group workout classes or my apartment gym with weights. Hot yoga and Solidcore pilates classes are my favorites!

13. 15-MINUTE CLEANUP

    My daily 15-minute cleanup has been a game-changer in keeping the space around me clean and organized. My mental health is greatly affected by my surroundings. Clear space = Clear mind. I like setting a timer on my Alexa, playing upbeat music, and getting it done!

14. box breathing

    My therapist introduced me to this breathwork concept. This helps with grounding yourself and calming your mind. Breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4, exhale for 4, and hold for 4. I try to do this in moments throughout the day when I may feel extra anxious and notice a significant decrease in my stress levels.

15. whole foods

    Eating a whole-food diet means generally eating foods close to their natural state.

    Try to include the following foods in your weekly grocery shopping list:
    whole grains (brown rice, quinoa)
    dark leafy greens (spinach, kale)
    fresh and frozen fruits (grapefruit, berries, oranges, bananas, apples)
    healthy fats (avocadoes, walnuts, almonds, chia seeds, olive oil)
    veggies (broccoli, cauliflower, bell peppers, carrots)
    meat and poultry raised without antibiotics or hormones
    fresh or frozen fish (halibut, cod, salmon, snapper, sea bass, shrimp)
    eggs
    dairy products (feta cheese, parmesan, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese)

16. Grounding

    Healthline describes grounding as “earthing, a therapeutic technique involving activities that ‘ground’ or electrically reconnect you to the earth.” I don’t know about you, but I feel reconnected whenever I’ve spent time in nature. It’s almost euphoric. The sand, grass, sea, and lake are all great. It can be hard to practice grounding in winter, but I try to substitute where I can even if that’s getting fresh air. To enjoy the health benefits of grounding, 20 minutes daily outside with shoes off. Sand, grass, in the lake or sea,

17. pamper night

    These are some of my favorite nights! I try to have one a couple times a week. Mine usually consist of exfoliating with a dry brush, taking a candlelit bath, exfoliating in the bath, shaving, applying a face mask, gua sha massage, applying almond oil on my body, and doing my gel nails at home. This bathtub tray is also a great Amazon find!

18. monthly getaway

    This is something I wish I were better about, tbh! I think it’s so beneficial for your mental health always to have some getaway planned to look forward to. This could look like a staycation or visiting somewhere you’ve always wanted to travel to. Either way, you will change your scenery, open yourself up to new experiences, and meet new people.

19. WRITE your goals

    This one may be a given, but you always do yourself a favor when analyzing and auditing your life and setting concrete goals. I also love setting mini challenges for myself. So maybe a 30-day workout challenge to make fitness fun again or a 30-day tech detox to go through your apps, emails, socials, phone notifications, etc. and clean everything to allow for new energy and space!

20. practice a GRATITUDE mindset

    Gratitude has the power to transform your life. I’ve heard great things about the 5-Minute Gratitude Journal, but you can also collect your gratitudes daily in other ways, such as your notes app, writing them on a post-it note, or keeping a notebook full of them, etc.