6 Simple Things You Can Do THIS WEEK to Get More Alkaline & Full of Vitality

What Can I Do This Week to Be More Alkaline?

Getting to the health of your dreams is all about habits, disciplines and decisions.

It doesn’t happen overnight…

It’s something that comes from a mixture of a few BIG habit-based changes…

A lot of little habit-based changes…

PLUS a bunch of decisions you make either in-the-moment each day (should I have a green juice or a soda)…

Alongside big-picture decisions about who you are and what you do (i.e. I am a healthy person who doesn’t eat crap any more).

But the bottom line is, this doesn’t all happen overnight.

So Let’s Start a New Habit…What ONE THING Can You Do This Week?

A lot of my training and guides are about inspiring and empowering you to make changes and form new habits.

And what better time to start that than, well, right now?

They say:

…what’s the best time to plant a tree…?

20-years ago…

The second best time…?

TODAY!

And the same goes for new healthy habits.

So Let’s Start Today: Here Are Six Simple Healthy, Alkaline Habits You Can Start Right Now!

This is an in-depth guide (but really, are any of my guides ever lightweight?) but it is not intended that you try all of this at once!

I want you to pick the ONE change or habit that you think will be the easiest to do and make the biggest difference to your life NOW…

And then next week, or next month pick another!

Of course you could do them all at once, that’s cool too – but don’t let yourself get overwhelmed!

Remember my mantra: don’t try to be perfect from day one…take baby steps…day-by-day, week-by-week you’ll make huge strides forward until this is effortless, enjoyable and FUN.

So here goes, here are the SIX things you could do THIS WEEK to change your health and life forever!

SEE ALSO: Get Over 150+ Delicious, Easy Alkaline Recipes Here

1. The Single Most Proven and EASY Thing You Can Do to Dramatically Change Your Health & Vitality:

I know this will sound simple…

But…

Drink more water…

Yeah…heard that before, 8 glasses a day…yada yada…

BUT…FIRSTLY, are you doing it? Are you actually doing it? Every day?

SECONDLY…8 glasses is not enough!

To be properly hydrated you have to be aiming for more than this, and the rough guide is 3-4 litres per day.

I know this sounds a lot, but it isn’t really when you’re hydrating little and often. It soon all adds up!

And I also know that you might be thinking, that is too much for me, I’m only little! So for you to work out your number, the official calculator is:

1 litre of water per 40lbs (18k or 2.85stone) of body weight

For example, 12st = 4.2 litres per day

This, I have found, accurately works out to between 3-4 litres for most people each day.

And if you stick to this, every day, I promise you there will be a massive increase in your health, energy, mental clarity and vitality.

Being hydrated can change everything. Just the simple act of drinking enough water, on a daily basis, can have a profound effect on your life.

It certainly will help you to lose weight, as the water clears acid toxins from your system and boosts your metabolism. Our body’s cry for thirst is also often mistaken for hunger, leading to overeating.

Hydration is Critical for Every Function & Cell in the Body

“Dehydration of as little as 2% loss of body weight results in impaired physiological and performance responses.

New research indicates that fluid consumption in general and water consumption in particular can have an effect on the risk of urinary stone disease; cancers of the breast, colon, and urinary tract; childhood and adolescent obesity; mitral valve prolapse; salivary gland function; and overall health in the elderly.

Water: An Essential But Overlooked Nutrient
Kleiner, SM; Journal of the American Dietetic Association; Volume 99, Issue 2, February 1999, Pages 200–206; [source]

Breast, colon and urinary tract cancer…urinary stone disease, obesity, gland functioning…

This is just from one paper.

Here are more:

• Increased Hydration Protects Against Heart Attack:A six-year study published in the May 1, 2002 American Journal of Epidemiology found that those who drink more than 5 glasses of water a day were 41% less likely to die from a heart attack during the study period than those who drank less than two glasses.

• Dehydration leads to lower brain functioning: “Lower hydration status was related to slowed psychomotor processing speed and poorer attention/memory performance” according to research published in the International Journal of Physchophysiology [source]

• Dehydration affects brain function and structure in adolescents: “prolonged states of reduced water intake may adversely impact executive functions such as planning and visuo-spatial processing” [source]

• Increased Water = Lowered Colon Cancer Risk: this study from the Journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention showed that increased water consumption was “associated with a decreased colon cancer risk among men” [source]. Note the same study also found a relationship between high meat consumption and an increased risk of colon cancer too. Just sayin’

• High Fluid Intake (3+ litres per day) leads to significantly lower risk of Chronic Kidney Disease: this was a great study by the researchers at the Centre for Kidney Research & University of Sydney in Australia. They showed that “Participants who had the highest quintile of fluid intake (3.2 L/day) had a significantly lower risk of CKD” after assessing more than 40 nutrients in the participant’s diet. [source]

• Bladder Cancer Risk Reduced in Men: in this study the researchers compared the outcome over a period of 10 years with 47,909 participants and found that those in the HIGH water fluid intake per day (over 2.5 litres per day) and found that “Total daily fluid intake was inversely associated with the risk of bladder cancer” in comparison to the LOW water intake (under 1.2 litres). [source]

I’m going to stop there because I could go on for a lot longer – there are thousands of research papers like this!

You Just HAVE to Take Hydration SERIOUSLY…and Get a Plan!

It’s no good to just say…”OK, Ross…I’m going to drink more water”…

Because you won’t, you’ll forget. You’ll mean to and you’ll have the right intentions, but you’ll forget.

We all do, don’t beat yourself up.

I remember when I was first getting my hydration habit set in stone, SO often I would get to 10pm and night and then remember I hadn’t hardly drank water all day.

And you can’t just skull 4 litres in 10 minutes.

It doesn’t work like that.

You have to spread it out throughout the day…

—The Hydration Cheat Sheet

Proper hydration could be the one simple change you need to make to take your energy and vitality to a whole new level.

Use the ‘Hydration Cheat Sheet’ below to get yourself properly hydrated on auto-pilot and experience the wonderful, nourishing benefits that this brings!

• Step One: click on the image below to open up in a new window
• Step Two: you may need to click the image again to enlarge it!
• Step Three: right-click and select ‘Save As’ to download to your computer and print!

SEE ALSO: CLICK HERE for the Full Guide: How to Make Alkaline Water at Home!

[Note: click the image to expand to a printable full size]

Remember, in terms of how much water you need each day, the official calculator is:

1 litre of water per 40lbs (18k or 2.85stone) of body weight

For example, 12st = 4.2 litres per day

This, I have found, accurately works out to between 3-4 litres for most people each day.

And if you stick to this, every day, I promise you there will be a massive increase in your health, energy, mental clarity and vitality.

The #2 Healthy Change to Make This Week: Filtration

OK, so getting properly hydrated? That’s a big one.

It’s the biggest.

But #2 is closely related. If you want to do something to increase your alkalinity, health and energy this very week, then I strongly recommend you look into filtration.

This really is a whole topic and a whole guide in and of itself…

AND YOU CAN GET THAT GUIDE BY CLICKING HERE!

But the short story is (read the above guide, it will open your eyes): you just HAVE to filter your water

You just gotta…

Our tap and bottled water is frankly shocking.

Yes, even bottled water…

In fact, in most cases, bottled water is worse than tap water.

Here are just a few of the facts about our so-called clean water (you get the full skinny in the guide here):

In 2013 the Environmental Working Group (EWG) published their study on their analysis of nearly 20 million drinking water tests conducted by water suppliers nationwide between 2004 and 2009 revealed hundreds of pollutants in U.S. tap water.

They detected 316 contaminants in water supplied to the public, including 204 chemicals, 97 agricultural pollutants, 86 contaminants linked to pollution and treatment plants and 42 pollutants that leached from pipes and storage tanks.

It means that millions of people are drinking water that does not meet drinking water standards and hundreds of these chemicals are completely unregulated.

These unregulated chemicals scare me. They are in our water supplies, affecting our health and yet they are unregulated…

This means nobody has to make sure they are kept to safe levels.

Included are:

• Bromochloroacetic acid: a tap water disinfection by-product, was found in the water supplied to 40 million consumers. It induces gene mutations and is associated with damage to DNA.
• Perchlorate:a rocket fuel ingredient, was found in water provided to 26 million people. It is toxic to the thyroid gland.
• MTBE (methyl tert-butyl ether): a gasoline additive and groundwater pollutant scheduled to be phased out nationwide, was found in water supplied to 12 million people. It is associated with liver and kidney damage, and nervous system effects.
• Di-n-butylphthalate: a chemical from a group of industrial plasticizers called phthalates, was found in water used by 5 million people. Phthalates have been linked to birth defects and reproductive toxicity.

In fact, according to the EWG, despite the potential health risks, there is no legal limit on these chemicals — no matter how high the concentrations — in drinking water.

And that’s not to mention the fact that…

Tap water also contains fluoride (in many areas), chlorine, chloramines, pesticides, bacteria, heavy metals and more…

You just gotta filter…

CHECK OUT my guide and find out: exactly what you’re facing with your tap water, how to fix it and how to make it alkaline!

3. A LOT of Healthy Oils Every Single Day Without Fail! (I promise it won’t make you fat!)

OK, so hot on the heels of those two scary ones, here’s a quick fix that can have a huge impact.

You’ve got to get more oils into your daily life!

And so if this is something you can do this week to get your health and vitality rocking…DO IT!

Healthy fats are essential for your body to function properly, and when we are deficient in fats all hell breaks loose.

For years we have been told that fat and cholesterol are the bad guys, but nothing could be further from the truth.

It is practically the opposite.

The incredible Framingham Heart Study found that, after following 15,000 participants over three generations:

“There is a direct association between falling cholesterol levels over the first 14 years and mortality over the following 18 years.”

In other words, as cholesterol fell death rates went up.

This is backed up by the Honolulu Heart Study on over 8,000 individuals. The results were published in the highly acclaimed Lancet journal and stated:

““Long-term persistence of low cholesterol concentration actually increases the risk of death. Thus, the earlier the patients start to have lower cholesterol concentrations, the greater the risk of death.”

And the Japanese study on 47,000 participants, and who published their results in the Oxford Jounal, the Journal of Epidimology:

“The highest death rate observed was among those with lowest cholesterol (under 160mg/dl); lowest death rate observed was with those whose cholesterol was between 200-259mg/dl”

Basically, the result of these studies shows that those with the lowest cholesterol had the highest death rate, and those with cholesterol levels that would today be called “dangerous” had the lowest death rate.

Interesting…

Methinks there is a bit of lobbying from the multi-billion-dollar ‘low fat’ industry keeping these facts from becoming public knowledge.

So…

The point I am making is this: you need to forget everything you have been told about cholesterol and fat.

You have to be consuming omega 3 (particluarly DHA and EPA) from fish, flax, nuts and seeds and coconut oil (a medium-chain tryglyceride saturated fat) on a daily basis.

At least 2 tablespoons of omega-3 oils and at least 1 tablespoon of coconut oil per day.

You will not believe the difference this will make to your health.

Now, it’s not always easy to do this through the foods you eat so supplementation is important.

Here are some food hints and then I’ll recommend some important supplements.

• Always put a teaspoon per serve into your smoothies – you won’t notice it’s in there but it’s a great source of this MCT fat. PLUS it will mean your smoothie will keep you going for much longer!

• Cook with coconut oil – it is very stable when exposed to heat (unlike practically every other oil out there that becomes toxic after being heated)

• Add your omega 3 oils to your foods AFTER cooking!

• Drizzle omega oils over everything: salads, veggies, curries, pasta dishes…it is barely taste-able, but will easily get you to your daily requirements.

Quality Oil Supplements

It is important to supplement as a safety net, and here are some I recommend:

Udo’s Choice Ultimate Oil Blend: I’ve been recommending Udo’s since 2004 and still LOVE it and use it daily. It is a fantastic combination of omega 3, 6 and 9 in the ratios that are perfected for human health.

Coconutty Organic Coconut Oil: I love coconut oil, not only because you can cook with it safely, but because it also makes foods, smoothies, dips, dressings and more taste DELICIOUS!

Plus, the MCT fats from coconut oil are fantastic for our health as I’ve mentioned, and this tastes SO GOOD you can just take it by the spoonful as a supplement.

Bulletproof Upgraded MCT Oil: and if you want to upgrade from plain coconut oil to something even stronger – this Upgraded MCT Oil from Bulletproof is fantastic. It is 6x stronger than coconut oil and lasts seemingly forever!

This may be the 2nd most easily implemented piece of advice (behind the extra hydration) that I can possibly give you – and it has a huge, and instant impact.

People who do increase their fat intake to the levels I am suggesting report more energy, smoother skin, better digestion, weight loss, muscle gain and heaps more.

Do it THIS WEEK!

4. Go ULTRA Green!

Try, within 24 hours to eat 5-7 serves of GREEN FOODS and see how you feel, see how you look. The results will astound you.

This ONE simple change will change your life forever.

How Many Serves of Greens Did You Get This Week?

Have a think for a few minutes, how many greens are you currently getting? How many serves did you have yesterday? Or the day before?

For most people it will be only one or two serves.

But this is GOOD news – it means you’re going to be feeling AWESOME when you implement my tips!

How to Get Alkaline and Go Green

Going green is so important because it gets a huge amount of chlorophyll into your body. I recommend reading my Health Benefits of Liquid Chlorophyll article in full, but to give you a short version:

Chlorophyll has the power to regenerate our bodies at the molecular and cellular level and is known to help cleanse the body, fight infection, help heal wounds, and promote the health of the circulatory, digestive, immune, and detoxification systems.

Chlorophyll consumption increases the number of red blood cells and, therefore, increase oxygen utilization by the body.

Chlorophyll also reduces the binding of carcinogens to DNA in the liver and other organs. It also breaks down calcium oxalate stones for elimination, which are created by the body for the purpose of neutralizing and disposing of excess acid.

So getting a big injection of chlorophyll into your diet is hugely important!

You have to get greens in and while this may seem daunting – here are a few suggestions to make it a LOT easier and less intimidating:

• Have a salad with every meal: carry on eating what you’d normally have eaten, but just add a side salad (no unhealthy dressings though!). This TOTALLY takes the pressure off but the cumulative effect of having several salads a day will have a big impact.

• Disguise green foods: you can shave broccoli heads with a knife over foods or into pasta sauce giving you heaps of broccoli, but you can’t see, taste or smell it. OR wilt spinach down with a little butter, salt and pepper – this gives you a HUGE amount of spinach in just a couple of mouthfuls. OR make pasta sauce by blending tomatoes with steamed pumpkin, broccoli, spinach, watercress etc. When it’s all blended down it still tastes very rich and tomato-ey, but you’ve got a heap of green foods in there too!

• Get into Sprouts: sounds weird but it’s SO worth it – sprouts are sprouted seeds of plants such as broccoli which, when harvested at the sprout stage, contain all (or more) of the nutritional content of the fully grown plant – this means you can easily eat one handful and get a HUGE hit of nutrients. I’ve blogged heaps about sprouts (and have a guide coming) so click here to read all about sprouts.

Making sure you up your green food consumption from 0-1 times per day to 5-7 times per day is easy and it will blow your mind the difference it makes. Your body will thank you, I can absolutely assure you.

SEE ALSO: Get Over 150+ Delicious, Easy Alkaline Recipes Here

5. Start a Gluten Free Trial

This could lead to bigger benefits for more people than you might imagine.

We tend to think of going gluten free as something that is consigned to people sadly diagnosed with Celiac Disease.

But let me ask you this: have you been tested to see if you have a gluten intolerance?

0.7% of the US population have Celiac Disease – but they are the people who have been to a doctor, the doctor has suspected this disease and then they’ve been tested.

How many more people are living with celiac related symptoms and conditions and have not been diagnosed…?

And did you know that Celiac Disease is only one of hundreds of conditions that are related to a gluten intolerance or sensitivity?

It has been proven over the past 2-3 decades that gluten is a hugely inflammatory food in our body. It causes a high amount of inflammation AND suppresses our immune system function.

It has now also been linked directly to inflammation in the brain and a root cause of cognitive and neurological conditions such as ALS, Alzheimer’s, ADHD and more.

And how many conditions are related to inflammation?

Cancers, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular conditions, autoimmune conditions…need I go on?

At the end of the day, we have to eat to fight inflammation – and gluten is one of the most inflammatory foods on earth.

Now, this is a guide about things you can do THIS WEEK…

So I am not just going to say “from today onwards go gluten free”…

But…

I can make a few suggestions you might find easy to implement. Try at least one of these this week:

• Ditch Grains: rye, spelt, wheat…these are all gluten-laden. And they can be easily substituted with quiona, brown rice, buckwheat, amaranth…it’s an easy switch and will do you a huge amount of good.

• Gluten Free Pasta (But Beware): this is also an easy switch but don’t fall for the trap of SO MANY gluten free foods (which end up being worse than the standard version). A lot of gluten free pastas have a list of ingredients as long as your arm. This isn’t good. Especially when you can get rice pasta and buckwheat pasta where the ingredients list is: Buckwheat, Water.

  That’s it. That’s all it needs. And this pasta tastes great and is totally gluten free.

• Sprouted Breads: these are fantastic. The sprouted seed that makes these breads contains little to no gluten and the breads are delicious! You can get these breads in almost every health food store or online at Alvarado St Bakery.

• Watch Out for Condiments!: these so often contain so many dodgy ingredients it’s not funny. From huge amounts of sugar, to vinegar, to MSG (in one of it’s secret names), to vinegars, to stabilizers, to preservatives…

  And it’s so easy to make your own!

  My Alkaline Diet Recipe Book Vol 2 has heaps, and here is a delicious, free, dressing to get you started.

6. Stop to Breathe

If you are able to give yourself five to ten minutes each day to practice deep, cleansing ‘power breathing’ then you will definitely reap the rewards. This is one of the best, most effective exercises you can do for free, every day and is hugely alkalizing.

The Tony Robbins breathing exercise is mentioned in the excellent book Unlimited Power and basically consists of breathing in the following ratio:

Breath in for 1 count;
Hold for 4 counts;
Breath out for 2 counts.

For example – if you were to breath in for four seconds, then you would hold your breath for sixteen seconds and then breath out for eight.

If you are able to do this ten times, three times a day (morning, evening and before bed) you will notice a huge difference to your alkalinity, energy, your clarity and your ability to ward off illnesses.

Pick Just ONE Today & Plan It Into Your Week Ahead!

It doesn’t matter whether you’re reading this on a Monday or Thursday, you can start your new healthy habit TODAY…

Don’t fall into the trap of thinking, oh I’ll start on Monday. Start NOW!

Even if it’s just a little change.

Remember:

“A year from now you will wish you had started today.” -Karen Lamb

Just do it.

Pick one of these changes and start right now.

I can’t wait to hear your successes and what it does for your health & your life!

Ross

Ask me a question, or let me know your plan below in the comments!