Happy New Year! We at Shamco Management hope you all have a happy, healthy and prosperous new year. To help with staying healthy in 2018, we’ve shared an article from a wellness magazine below. 

It is another new year, and there is no time like the present to put into action a happy and healthy lifestyle plan.

Here are some easy lifestyle tips that you can start today, no matter where you are on the wellness spectrum.

• Recognize there is no such thing as a “quick fix” when it comes to diet. Fads, pills, fat shakes, herbal stimulants-they don’t work over the long haul, and are often a waste of time and money.
• Eat whole delicious fresh foods. Organic is always best.
  • Read labels. Steer clear of preservatives, artificial sweeteners, dyes, chemicals, and chemical flavors.
  • Experiment with fresh seasonal kitchen herbs as seasoning for your food.
  • Avoid trans fats such as industrial vegetable oils; spoiled fats; factory farmed meat, poultry, and fish; and processed meat products.
  • Enjoy healthy fats: butter, avocado, coconut, and flax seed, grape seed, algae, walnut, peanut, and sesame seed oils.
  • Eat according to the seasons. Buy fresh produce in the colors of the season. Add lots of dark leafy greens and brightly colored vegetables to your diet. The more healthy vegetables you eat, the more you will enjoy and even crave the taste of freshly prepared vegetables in your diet.
  • If you have specific food intolerances, avoid those particular foods. You and you alone control what you eat. Don’t concern yourself if you are called “one of those”. Let negative comments roll right off your back.
• Exercise regularly, about three to five times per week. Aim for twenty-five to sixty minutes at a time according to your fitness goals and health needs. Include weight-bearing activities.
  • Find ways to enjoy exercise. It’s only boring if you think it is! There is something out there for everyone. Sitting is the new smoking. I you have a desk job, get up and move around for five minutes every two hours. Take a twenty to thirty minute walk after dinner.
• Include a consistent meditation program in your life. There are many ways to meditate: music, no music, mantra, no mantra, and more. Find awareness in your breath as you let yourself drift into relaxation for at least twenty minutes per day. If you can’t sit comfortably, then lay down. There is no one right way, only the best way that works for you.
• Make sleep a priority. Create a sleeping space that is your vision of heaven on Earth. Naps are a wonderful thing.
• Make time for emotional and sexual intimacy.
• Keep learning. If you have mental, emotional, physical or social issues that are presenting obstacles in your life, be open to exploring and changing course.
• Surround yourself with an emotionally healthy, like-minded community that is active and inspiring.
• Indulge your senses in music, reading, and the arts. Many of us become so involved in making a living that we forget about making a life.
• Acupuncture, massage, and stretching are a ll part of an ongoing healthy lifestyle. Make regular sessions a priority.
• Watch your thoughts. Reframe thoughts and words that are negative or judgmental. Stay on the “sunny side” of life.
• Always look ahead, yet stay informed by your past.
• Give easily to others. Share your fortunes, big or small.
• Remember, life is a cycle. Everything changes.
• Begin each day with these six words: “Thank you, thank you, thank you.”

Check out the original article by Sheri Laine, LAc, Diplomate of Acupuncture. Learn more about Sheri Laine and her practice on her website.