10 ways I combat inflammation, illness and stress - Diet, exercise and metal health

Stress, head aches, upset stomach, low energy, mood swings, chronic pain... sound familiar? With today's lifestyles forcing us to engage with more and more stress and over-stimulus a huge number of people are struggling with chronic pain, mental health disorders, inflammatory illnesses etc. than ever before. 

How is this so? Did people 50 years ago have these issues but they were just un diagnosed? Were most people depressed and anxious but its just now we talk about it more? Um I think not. As someone who struggles with many of the above, I have to really try and control my environment to make sure I don't make myself run down and sick. 

2020 is taking it's tole on all of us I am sure and taking care of our health in these hard times is really difficult. I wanted to share some ways that I safeguard my mental and physical health to ensure I don't 'crash'. If you have any more suggestions feel free to leave them in the comments below. 




1. Staying away from sugar, alcohol and gluten, These are not your friends in stressful times as they can lead to more inflammation in the body along with mood-swings,binges and bad decisions. As a personal choice I started to limit my alcohol intake a few years ago and I have been gluten free for the last 6 Years. 

2. Eat higher quality foods. This isn't always possible for everyone but I do believe we can all make better choices. I am awful for craving comfort food as soon as my mood starts to plummet however, much of the food I often crave can make things worse. Making sure I eat a balanced diet when I am stressed stops things getting worse and helps my body get the nourishment it needs to deal with bad situations. 

3. Exercise. Sometimes I can't even get out of bed and I know we all have days like that. Exercise can play a massive part in improving our mental and physical health. Sometimes I like to just go for a gentle walk in nature to lift my mood...it always helps. 

4. Stress. Something I have been guilty of sometimes is not being able to let go of stressful situations and manage my own stress levels. This has been something really hard for me to learn and develop, but personally I found John Greys books very useful. He details good ways men and women can enhance their mood and change their hormones through different activities to try and manage stress. 

(Learn more here)

5. Negative people or situations. Try and protect your energy as much as possible; this is something that took me years to learn as I used to regularly invite trouble and toxic situations into my life. Once I acknowledges this and admitted that I need to be 'the gatekeeper' of my life and my energy things have got better.

6. Have a project that you work on that does not involve socializing, phones or computers - gardening horse riding walking reading, sewing  etc that you can do independently of any company. This has helped me so much and is especially important if like me you are an introvert. Sometimes I just need to get away and get some perspective and this is the perfect way to do it. 

7. When you set a goal and achieve it - reward yourself! I always used to set goals that I couldn't reach and spent a lot of time feeling like a failure. Once I started setting attainable goals and rewarding myself when I met them, I found things so much easier on myself mentally. 

8. Find meaning in your life. I think it was Nietzsche that said the man that has a why can bear any how. I think this is so true. We have become so disconnected from our communities, god and families as we have become more globalized ... it is easy to loose the meaning of life. Without an anchor in our lives, a goal and a purpose things can seem pretty bleak especially in times of stress. This is something big that I have been dealing with the past couple of years personally.

9.  Avoid toxins that come from cleaning products, beauty products, nail varnish etc. This can make you run down and aggravate asthma and other conditions. I have tried to minimize the amount of toxins in my life from cleaning products, skincare, food and fabrics. 

10. Always put yourself first... this will help 


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