Guest Blog: Creating new healthy habits to live your best life

GUEST BLOGGER: Eve Emerson

As Jill’s parents, the diagnosis of Stage IV lung cancer to our beautiful, vibrant and healthy young daughter was nothing less than a gut punch, devastating, and heartbreaking news – there are no words to adequately describe the feeling.  As time progressed, we all learned a lot about this disease in non-smoking females and we learned a lot more about our daughter.  She is a fighter, a warrior, a survivor – no matter what life has thrown her way she is determined, she is resourceful, and she is compassionate.

Fast forward to today (6 months later) and a lot has changed in the right direction for our daughter.  Her new plant-based diet and holistic lifestyle along with a targeted pill has shown a great reduction in this disease in her body.  She is determined and has worked hard to heal her body and for us, we are very grateful and hopeful.

Recently, Jill asked me to share the new healthy habits we’ve made in our daily lives as I continue to learn from her and read the #luvyourlungs blog on what she has learned during her journey to healing.

Food Changes: 

• First, what the heck is Konjac? Never heard the word in my life.  Turns out it is an Asian root plant used to make “noodles” and very high in fiber.  I have used it now in various shapes (fettucine, rice, noodles) in stir fry dishes and as a replacement for spaghetti and rice.
• Vegetables are my friend! I’ve always eaten my veggies, but I have increased the amount in our daily lives in cooking – it’s easy to throw in a few extra vegetables in almost any recipe.  Also, I keep pre-cut and ready to eat veggies for snacks.
• Coconut Aminos – very skeptical about this. But you know what?  A great tasting and healthy option to Lite Soy Sauce.  Who knew?  I have been using this for over a month and no longer buy soy sauce.
• Millet – my husband fondly refers to millet as “parakeet food.” He refuses to try Millet in anything, but I’ve made some wonderful tasting granola from Jill’s Blog recipes.  It is a tasty substitute for otherwise high fat, high calorie granola for my yogurt.
• Yogurt – still working on acquiring a taste for coconut yogurt but I do switch between regular yogurt and coconut from time to time.

Household Changes:

• Candles have been removed from my house. Now I use a diffuser with essential oils instead of the fragrance filled and toxic fumed candles.
• I replaced several cleaning products with healthy, environmentally happy items to clean glass, countertops, floors, bathrooms (yuck) and other areas of the house. Seventh Generation is one of my favorite brands right now but also exploring new items.
• Plastic containers are not a safe way to microwave food and we all have been informed of this several years ago. I mostly used them for storage but now I am working on replacing my plastic with glass food storage.  I can store and microwave and not worry about the toxins in plastic.  This task is still a work in progress but well on the way.
• Laundry (one of my favorite past-times - not really!!!) is another place where I made a switch. Dryer balls?  Yep……wool balls with essential lavender oil on them in the dryer works just like fabric sheets.  And reusable too!!!    Also switched to Seventh Generation laundry detergent – the pods are okay (sometimes they don’t dissolve in cold wash), but the liquid is great.
• Beauty products were another area I was interested in making a change. We put moisturizer on our face and makeup, too right? These products are absorbed into the skin!!!  Jill showed me an app (Healthy Living) for my phone to help find the purest products.  I’ve switched my moisturizer and makeup to something healthier for my body and it works just as well if not better in some cases (might cost a little more, but you know the phrase – “I’m worth it”).

Bottom line is that every day we make choices. 

We make choices about what we are doing today.  We make choices about who we spend our time with for friendship and socialization.  We make choices about what goes in and on our bodies.

Little changes might not seem like big changes – but they are cumulative.

I would encourage anyone reading Jill’s blogs and researching on your own to make a change, even if it is a small one.  It’s a start to a healthier lifestyle and taking care of yourself.

**Interested in being our next guest blogger? Email me and let's chat.