The 4 Things We Need to be Healthy

Plants need sunlight, water, food and love to survive.

Have you seen the meme that says to give yourself sunlight and water because you are basically a houseplant with more complicated emotions?

It’s essentially true.

It is very simple to be healthy. We only need four basic ingredients and our body will do the rest, but getting to these four can be quite a challenge because the concept of “getting healthy” can be quite overwhelming. There is also a ton of conflicting advice, diet trends, wellness supplements and tools out there that it can be impossible to navigate what the right thing to do is, especially if you’re trying to get rid of specific symptoms. Not only can choosing the wrong thing make us feel worse, but we get so busy that we skip meals, we forget to drink water, we are inside working all day long and we don’t give ourselves nearly enough love, nor do we always know how to accept it when it comes our way. Staying healthy isn’t always easy and finding balance isn’t always simple.

So let’s simplify it. You need four things:

Food.

Water.

Sunlight.

Love.

It’s a short list, but a powerful one.

Food.

Food means proper nutrients, often during the day, in the correct quantities- so no skipping meals no matter what the internet trends say. Stability is the foundation of health and your body needs nutrients in order to keep your brain healthy, your hormones flowing, your cells nourished and your energy consistent. Negotiation on this only happens when you are working with an experienced practitioner who can guide you based on your specific circumstances.

Water.

Water means 2 liters a day, sipped and not chugged all at once. Every single cell has water, your brain is made of 70% water and who wants wrinkles? Not me, and not you, so drink up. Label your water bottle for two hour incraments so you can reach your goal easily during the day. Over hydrating is just as detrimental as under hydrating so aim for your 2 liters, or half your weight in ounces of water to be exact.

Sunlight.

Your cells need vitamin D to function properly. In fact, if your vitamin D is low, we can’t get an accurate reading on what your Thyroid is doing, and your Thyroid is uber important when it comes to regulating your hormones, your weight, your body temperature, anxiety and so forth. It’s a small gland but a very important one, and not knowing what it’s up to is a risk you don’t want to take. Vitamin D is synthesized in the skin via cholesterol so if you aren’t able to get some sun rays or if you spend a lot of time inside, you might want to supplement to keep your D levels up. You want them around 40-60 for a functional range reference. If you wear sunscreen or makeup with SPF in it, you want to think about supplementing too.

Sunlight is also an important factor in regulating your mood. Not only does it feel incredible on your skin, but vitamin D deficiencies are linked to depression and seasonal depression disorders. Nature gives us everything we need for health for a reason, and the sun is one of those things we can’t live without no matter how you look at it.

Love.

Affection is a human necessity. From birth to death, human connection and human touch is critical for feeling loved, acknowledged, worthy and validated. Love from those you care about is incredibly healing and soothing to the soul, but so is self-love, which requires you honoring and taking care of yourself. Your cells are conscious and they can hear you, so your thoughts, the energy you carry, your emotions and your feelings about things matter when it comes to your overall health, and these are all affected by love- and by your definition of love. Emotions are only ever based in one of two things, fear or love. Fear is contractive while love is expansive, and it doesnt take much thought to understand the implications of this when it comes to feeling your best, or to your cellular response and ultimately your cellular replication when it comes to the energy you carry with you. Choose love.

That’s it. Four things. Simple and very doable.

Olivia the cactus lives over at @tierrasolstudio where her owners make sure her four needs get met. They put her by the window, keep her soil happy, give her the perfect amount of water every month and she gets plenty of love on Instagram from her fans.

Just look at how happy Olivia looks.

Be like Olivia. 🙂

xo