A 30-Day Guide to Good Habits by Dr Simone Laubscher, PhD

There are 7 Pillars of Wellness, and we know that it takes 3-4 weeks to establish significant changes in habits that will impact your health and wellness. I am often asked what habits I live by to stay well, allowing me to thrive and live my best life. Therefore, I decided to put this free guide together help support you shift into mind-body balance.

Habits are the hinges of your destiny, and when you learn to reset your habits, you transform your life. Habits are the small decisions you make and actions you perform every day to create a subconscious ritual that can move you closer or further away from your goal. According to researchers at Duke University, habits account for about 40 per cent of our behaviours on an average day.

Now, you can implement new habits into your life to support your very own wellness journey so that you can have long-lasting results. Embrace this journey so you can have your own ‘Ah-Ha’ moment to reconnect with yourself, loved ones and nature to prioritise what is important to you, so you’re implementing a lifestyle to nourish your mind, body, and soul.

It has often been said that your life today is essentially the sum of all your habits combined to this point in time. What you do day in, and day out (often subconsciously) creates the person you are, the things you think about, believe in, meditate on and embrace, which form your personality that you convey to the world.

1. Reminder: Set an alarm on your phone or write a post-it note so that you remember to action your new habit (always keep it front of mind). Be kind to yourself, for it takes 3-4 weeks to make or break a habit.
2. Routine:Create a new pattern of good habits, implement them first, and then phase out the old unhealthy habits to support this natural shift.
3. Reward:Get to know your ‘why’ and tap into the benefits you’ll enjoy by embracing this new habit and feeling this into your nervous system. You must feel the reward, not just think it, to embrace neuroscience techniques and train your mind and body into this new habit loop. Knowing your ‘why’ will also make it so much easier when you lose motivation, so you can encourage yourself to keep going!

The body does a great job at healing itself of almost anything when the fuel (diet) and function are supported. Kind of like a car, you need to service the engine and use good clean energy to get optimum performance. The body follows where the mind goes, and if we resist something, it often persists, for our attention is on the negative instead of the positive.

So, start from a place of nurture and nourishment instead of a harsh detox and cutting everything out, so you embrace this as a lifestyle change, not some crash diet.

I have broken this guide into four weeks, so you embrace good habits to support all of the Seven Pillars of Wellness. You will notice we are moving clockwise around the Wellness Pillar diagram so that all pillars are supported.

1. Drink 2L of filtered water each day. Make this up each morning in a glass jug, so you’re accountable to reach this water goal. Adding the juice of 1 lemon or lime will also improve digestion, appetite regulation, detox, and metabolic function. A great way to fast track your hydration is to add 1/4 teaspoon of Celtic Sea salt to your 2L jug of water each day or take in a glass of water.

2. Embrace intermittent fasting by having 500ml of water with lemon first thing in the morning and push your breakfast back to a brunch or have an early lunch. As a guide, fasting from 8 pm to 12 noon the following day will give you a 16-hour fast window, giving your body a powerful window to detox and heal at a cellular level. If you get too hungry, snack on 1-2 handfuls of organic, unsalted and unroasted nuts before lunch. For more information see my blog on Intermittent Fasting.

3. Add in a green juice each morning after your water and lemon. I keep this simple by blitzing 350ml of water, two celery sticks, two romaine lettuce leaves, a handful of spinach, half a lemon, and a thumb of ginger (add a green apple if desired). I’d also recommend adding two teaspoons WelleCo’s The Super Elixir™ daily greens.

4. Try a pesca vegan lifestyle – fish plus lots of vegetables/plant-based diet, and swap your dairy for plant milk alternatives. Aim to have three different types of green vegetables a day. Embrace mindful eating and chew your food around 20 times each mouthful. This will help reduce food cravings and overeating, support digestion, and allow your body to shift into a place of nourishment and healing. Opt for organic farmers markets where possible - good for you and good for the plan For more information see my blog on Inflammation.

5. Calm Your Nervous System!Get your feet on the earth to ground yourself in healing negative ions. If it’s too cold for you to do this, choose an Epsom Salt bath or foot bath for they are high in magnesium, very grounding, helping to calm your nervous system and support sleep. Have an Epsom salt bath or foot bath before bed and add calming essential oils such as lavender to further embrace your wind-down sleep ritual.

6. Boost your oral hygiene rituals, which will benefit your overall health, keeping inflammation and bacteria levels in check. Each night before bed, swish around one teaspoon of coconut oil, which will keep your teeth white and reduce inflammation and support gum health. You can also use a tongue scraper or the back of your toothbrush to help remove fungal load build-up.  

7. Get into bed 1 hour earlierto read and wind down so that you can get off the HEV Blue. Light that omits from your devices and trains your brain to support deep restorative sleep. Create a wind-down routine and opt for a book and journaling instead to calm your nervous system and support healthy sleep. Try the WelleCo Sleep Welle Calming Tea to support deep restorative sleep.

1. Start your day right with mindfulnessby checking in with yourself each morning before you start doing emails or rushing around the house before work. Take five deep breaths and sit in gratitude for five things you are grateful for. Don’t just think about them; feel them in your heart and hold for 1-2 minutes. I always carve out 20 minutes to connect with my inner world before connecting with my outer world.

2. Imagine bliss and manifest a life you love.Add to yesterday's mindfulness and tap into the feeling of what your life would look and feel like if all your needs were met - hold this feeling of bliss for 3 minutes daily seeing your dream life in your mind’s eye and practicing what it WILL feel like WHEN your dreams come true.

3. Recognise your triggers, learn to breathe deeply, and count to 20 if you feel upset or desire to comfort eat. All of us can get a little frustrated at times, and that is normal, but if you spend hours of your day in stress mode (fight or flight), this will reduce your immune system and overall health. See my blog on how to Learn to Manage Your Triggers!

4. Mood Food.Your mood is greatly affected by food, so choose to eat low/moderate GI foods. Nuts, seeds, fish, vegetables, low GI fruits (like apples, pears, peaches & berries), hummus, guacamole and raw veggie crudités. Try WelleCo’s Nourishing Protein as a snack to satisfy sugar cravings.

5. Make a date with yourselfand choose something you love to do, but perhaps you had forgotten about, or you have always wanted to do, never had the time. It doesn’t have to be a significant investment; dancing, painting, pottery, surfing etc. Tap into your inner child and listen for something fun that resonates with you, such as visiting a park and riding the swings, buying a hula hoop or skipping rope. Do you find it hard to live with joy and find it hard to connect with your inner child? This book Solve for Happy by Mo Gawdat will really bless you.

6. Pause for perspective.If anything stressful comes up, stay in today and ask yourself, "what is the worst thing that could happen?” Most times, if we count to 20, breathe, and take a step back, we realize that this issue, as always, will work out if we choose to stay in today and not stress over yesterday or tomorrow. If you find yourself playing old tapes, try this 4 step Ho’oponopono Hawaiian Healing Prayer for Peace, Forgiveness, Health, Wealth & Happiness. Say to yourself: I’m sorry, I love you, forgive me and thank you.A wonderful book by Dr Joe Dispenza ‘Breaking the habit of being yourself’ will really help you break old habit loops that no longer serve you.

7. Detox your wardrobe and give back!Oh my, this is so powerful. It is so great to shake off the old and embrace the new. Things you haven’t worn for two years need to go to charity so that you can bless those in need and free yourself up to embrace an exciting new season. Choose a charity that resonates with you and consider making regular donations to embrace a lifestyle with a vision bigger than you. Two charities that you can trust, and I have supported for over ten years are Vision Rescue and A21. I also love this cookbook written by my dear friend Beena and all proceeds go to support their orphanages in Goa, India.

1. Choose a form of movementand exercise you enjoy making it easier to form a long-term habit. Walking is easy because it is free, and you can walk 30 minutes from your home and walk back, to nail 60 minutes. Counting your steps to walk 10,000 steps per day is also great and motivating.

2. Create your spa at home.Run a bath, light some candles, add essential oils and Epsom salts, cut cucumbers for your eyes and gift yourself to have a lovely relaxing soak. You can also take this to the next level and create a home ozone bath by putting your Therasage Ozone Bubbler into your bath to greatly increase oxygenation, detox, and healing (get a 10% discount with the code REJUV). Having this at night due to the rise in your temperature will also aid a good night’s sleep.

3. Embrace laughter, which will oxygenate your body and bring healing at a cellular level. Good friends, funny movies, whatever it takes for a good belly laugh. See this article from Stanford University with seven ways laughter can improve your health

4. Look up self-care techniques such as hand and foot reflexologyand choose a few pressure points that make you feel calm and regenerated. Even tracing your meridians can have a powerful balancing effect - see the video I recorded for a practical way to calm your Triple Warmer Meridian on my blog.

5. Book a massage for yourself, for you have done amazingly well this month. Add this to your schedule. My dear friend and business partner Elle Macpherson gave me this great advice years ago and told me that everything in her diary carries the same weight, so she doesn't cancel self-care appointments just because she is pressed for time.

6. Jump online and find a Pilates, dance, or yoga classand make it fun. Variety is essential, and you can try so many exciting forms of exercise all from the comfort of your home. Don’t forget that if you have pain in your body, you may have excessive inflammation, so try the pesca vegan diet as mentioned.

7. Teach your body to sweat and breathe properly. I love FIR saunas to sweat and boost your immune system, mood, and metabolism. Thirty minutes in the sauna is like a 30-minute jog. I’m also a big fan of cold showers/ice plunge pools and breathing exercises to support all of your 11 systems. For the FIR sauna, I like Therasage, and I also recommend Box Breathing, where you breathe in for 4 seconds, hold for 4 seconds, breathe out for 4 seconds and hold for 4 seconds. Repeat five times.

1. Add Vegan Mondays to your life, so you embrace a lifestyle of a mini detox each week. As an example, I choose a green juice for breakfast, mixed Greek superfood salad (but I swap out the feta for 1/2 avocado) for lunch, and for dinner enjoy a yummy warm stir fry or curry topped with coconut yoghurt, sauerkraut and pumpkin seeds.
   
   Suppose you know you get ‘hangry’ or have an issue with comfort eating. In that case, you can balance your blood sugar levels and boost your vegan protein intake with WelleCo Nourishing Proteinas an excellent afternoon snack, or you can add it to make a smoothie for breakfast.
   
   Vegan Mondays keep my life in check, for I love a few fun foods and vino on weekends, and since there is no such thing as a free lunch, I have fun on weekends but choose a day each week to cleanse.

2. Swap your hygiene & household products for organic. It doesn’t have to happen overnight but choose the organic versions moving forward once one item is finished. Swap your toothpaste hygiene products and household cleaning products to benefit you and the environment.

3. Consider a seasonal cleanse. I do this 2-3 times a year when the seasons change. It is vital to cleanse to reset and heal the mind and body. This could be as simple as going vegan or if you would like something more structured, opt for our Rejuv Seasonal Cleanse with a complete wellness plan that supports your detox pathways and supports the body for a thorough and safe detox.

4. Filter your water!Invest in a water filter and opt for a bench-top filter or a little portable filter. It will save you a fortune and be excellent for your health. Eating more organic fruits and veggies can also be prone to more parasites, so fill up your sink with filtered water and a cup of cloudy apple cider vinegar, soak for 5 mins, and then rinse.

5. Make sure you’re eating enough good fatsso that you feel mentally and physically strong. For lunch and dinner, either add 1/2 avocado, one handful of olives, 1 tbsp of hummus or guacamole, or one handful of unsalted nuts.

6. Please turn off all WiFi at night, where possible, to give your nervous system a break. Turn off your bed lamps at the wall too. If you live in an apartment, don’t forget to get grounded and get your bare feet on the earth; soil, grass, sand, it doesn’t matter. If that is not possible, you can use grounding sheets for your bed and grounding mats like the ones from Groundology.

7. Support your immune system as your body’s number one defense from viruses to cancer. Do all the above to support your seven wellness pillars, keep stress levels in check, and choose plant-based whole food vitamins, for they are bioavailable so your body can use those ingredients to heal itself and stay strong.

You now have a road map to put all of your 7 Pillars of Wellness into balance, and if you are not sure where to start with your pillars, why not complete our free Wellness Quiz, which gives you a Wellness Profile and tells you your top 3 Pillars of Wellness to begin working on.

Your wellness journey is personal, can be scary, and change isn’t always easy, but as I say to my clients, "I encourage you not to lose hope, get your head in the game, balance your pillars and shift into optimum health and wellbeing.”