7 Health Hacks with Patrick Thompson

Being healthy and feeling good is super important to me, it hasn’t always been this way (I’ll admit this yogi had her fair share of late nights and parties back in the day) but the older I get the more I value things like a good night’s sleep, organic food, moving my body daily and spiritual rituals that fill up my cup.

I’m always on the lookout for new knowledge and info on how to hack my health so that I can keep performing to the best of my ability.

Hosting yoga retreats around the world I travel a lot, and after arriving back home after a recent stint in Sri Lanka I was just feeling a bit off (nice combo of jet lag, change in diet, that post-holiday blues hehe) so I decided to sit down with a good friend of mine Patrick Thompson a Naturopath with an incredible wealth of knowledge on all things diet, nutrition & life and asked him to share with me some of his favorite ways to keep his health not just ok but flourishing.

The following are seven of his absolute fave ways to ensure his clients feel energized, vital, and able to tackle whatever life throws at them.

I’m ready to try all of the below, are you ready to dive in with me?!

1- Water The Elixir Of Life

We are predominately fluid beings. Without water we cease to exist. Water hydrates your body, profoundly influencing your vitality and energy levels. Water is a carrier of nutrients, a temperature regulator, and a body detoxifier. It is a medium for vital fluids such as blood, saliva and digestive fluids. Drink a minimum of 6-8 glasses of water daily, you can also get extra water from sources such as herbal teas, raw fruit and vegetables and vegetable broths which all count towards your water intake.

2 - Love Your Liver Love Your Gut For a Naturopath, a healthy digestive system, which includes the liver, is majorly important to good health. Your liver is the major organ involved in detoxing your body. Green tea, turmeric, milk thistle seeds, broccoli sprouts and rosemary help support this process. Also include prebiotic such as leeks, persimmons, pomegranate seeds, unripe bananas, chickpeas, oats and barley, and probiotic foods such yoghurt, sauerkraut, kim-chi and kefir, to help you absorb all the vitamins and mineral from your food.

3 - Kick Start Your Day

When you wake up in the morning, start your day with a hit of lemon juice and warm water, stretch, have a shower, go outside and watch the sun rise, think of something positive, then move. Go for a morning walk, cycle, run or yoga class to get those feel good chemicals in your body ticking over.

4 - Chew Your Food & Mindful Eating

Be aware of what you’re eating, its taste and texture. Eating is as much about pleasure and enjoyment, the company of friends and loved ones, as it is about health. Eating for enjoyment and health are not separate from each other, they are inexorably linked. Eating our food more slowly in a relaxed state allows us to not only savor our food but assists the digestive process and because we have time to chew our food it’s also good for our microbiome.

5 - Find a positive tribe

Hanging around positive people helps you to think more positively about yourself and your world. Smiling and laughing are good for the health of your lungs, muscles, heart, and immune system. It also increases serotonin and endorphins levels in the brain, and decrease stress hormones levels, such as cortisol, in the body.

6 - Make Sleep A Priority

Improving the quality rather than the length of our sleep is an important factor in optimizing mental and physical health. What this means is 5 hours of good quality sleep is far better for you than 10 hours of poor quality broken sleep. It is waking refreshed and invigorated which is important. Achieve this by building healthy sleeping habits.

7 - Move

Find a form of movement you enjoy, something you will be inclined to do regularly; something uncomplicated like walking, or going for a swim, a jog, cycling, dancing or doing a yoga class. More vigorous exercise has its place also, it induces your body to sweat which opens your pores and cleanses a big organ involved in detoxification, your skin. Exercise sets you up for the day, it gets your blood flowing and gives you a mental lift.