What I Did To Improve My Health Naturally

In this article I’ll share with you my own approach to health, and all the things that I did to improve my health naturally. I’ll share what worked for me and the lessons that I’ve learned from this healing journey.

Sometimes I sit on the couch after a day’s work and I wonder to myself what kind of miracle is this? What kind of miracle is the fact that I got my health back after being sick for a few long years?

I’m 41 years old now but I feel better and more energetic than in my 20s. What have I done to improve my health? What I changed in my life that led me to get healthier, happier and stronger than ever before?

How it felt to be sick

I used to be sick all the time. With each passing year, I had less and less energy and this decline continued until I felt that I had no energy left. I used to go to the doctor very often or take pills to fight colds, headaches, muscle pain, fatigue, nausea and anything in between. This led to even more problems like weight gain, depression, anxiety, digestion issues, constant nausea, weekend immune system, poor sleep and others.

Each year, my dentist bill was getting higher and higher, but at the time I felt it was normal. Everyone around me had the same patterns when it came to going to the dentist, so I felt it was normal. I used to go to the dentist in every season and every time my dentist would find more cavities. There was no word about prevention, I wasn’t asking about prevention and I didn’t even know what prevention was. This kind of regular visits to the dentist started in my 3rd year in College, when I got my first tooth extracted. After a few years, I stopped counting my fillings or root canals, because they were simply too many.

At some point I started to spend less and less time outside, because I simply felt tired all the time. Days were shorter and meaningless, I didn’t had energy to spend on long walks and I never travelled. I liked to travel, I wanted to travel but had no energy left for it. The city used to make me very tired up to the point that we had to move to a smaller city. I was always looking to be in a quiet place, far away from everyone and everything. I needed my space, I needed to feel safe and separated from the world. I was depressed without even realizing it.

And while my energy levels were at the lowest, I was constantly gaining more weight. This led to binge eating, hormonal imbalances, anxiety, bad sleep or lack of sleep, and a general lack of accomplishment that led to a state of general depression.

Until one day when I realized that I’m truly deeply sick. That was the day that changed my life forever.

You see .. when you get sick, you’re left with only too alternatives:

• you go to the doctor, get pills or medical treatment, in the hope that you’ll get better.
• or you wake up from this bad dream and start realizing that the only important thing you have in this life is your health. Without your health you can’t follow your dreams, take care of your family, have children or take care of them.

Life is pretty shitty without your health so you better fight for it.

The road to health

I started to educate myself on all the factors that could make or break my health, and my plan was to improve each of these factors as much as I could. I started reading articles on the internet, reading books on various topics, listening to audio books or podcasts, and watching countless talks on Youtube. Some of the things I learned worked and some didn’t, but I was slowly starting to understand my own body and this alone gave me hope.

I compiled a list of resources that I considered to be the foundation for my healing journey. What followed was a process of trial and error, experimenting with different choices, theories, diets, protocols or alternative solutions. It was a long process of fear and denial, a process where I slowly understood what it means to be healthy and the best ways to maintain my health.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the most important things that I changed in my healing journey:

Mindset

In order to change my health, I had to change the mindset and the way I was looking at health. I had to become more open to new ways of doing things and new solutions to problems that the allopathic medical system could not solve.

For instance, changing my way of eating wasn’t easy because conventional wisdom was telling me to go another route, the very same route that made me sick in the first place. Few doctors know a thing or two healthy foods, deep sleep, training routines or environmental toxins, yet doctors were advising me against changing anything, even if this meant staying in the same “being sick” loop.

Stress

When I was sick I didn’t have a clue how to manage stress, and I certainly didn’t know that stress can be physical, chemical or emotional. I was shocked to find out that I was living in a state of chronic stress. I later understood that regardless of its source, our mind perceives stress the same way.

Simply put, both your boss and a tiger will have the same effect in your brain, leading to a state called “flight-or-fight”. That’s your sympathetic nervous system kicking in, telling your body to prepare for survival. And once you’re in survival mode, you can forget about repair, digestion, nourishment, relaxation, muscle growth, or sleep. All the chronic diseases in our modern society today (diabetes, obesity, cancers, heart disease, etc), all of them. are linked to chronic stress.

Food

I started eliminating the foods that were making me sick and adding in foods and ways of eating that made me feel good and more energetic. I had to figure out how food impacts my health and how I can gradually change my unhealthy eating habits with healthy options that will benefit me for the rest of my life. Now I don’t see food as a diet, rather as something that blends naturally in my life, with positive effects on my physical and mental health.

Training

When I started my journey, I didn’t know anything about muscle mass, body composition or weight training. But I was eager to learn and this kept me going. I quickly understood that it would be best to focus on gaining muscle mass while losing as much fat as I could.

I started training with simple weights and I developed a simple training routine focused on improving my body composition. I also started to walk more and that made me feel so much more alive. With time, I was able to walk more and more, since I also had the food to support my efforts and my recovery. The foods I was eating were also giving me the energy I needed in my training routine.

Sleep

I educated myself about the importance of sleep and how to easily achieve deep sleep. I quickly understood that sleep is a very important component of our lives, a time of recovery and repair. My focus was on improving the quality of my sleep and it turned out to be a game changer. After a while, I started to sleep better because my mind and body were more in sync with my natural rhythm.

Environmental Toxins

When I started my healing journey I didn’t have a clue what environmental toxins were. Fortunately, after doing a lot of research and documentation, I soon understood how plastics, pollution, chemicals, personal care products, additives and preservatives, even EMF radiation, or other types of “toxins”, can have a negative impact on our health.

So I started a process of slowly eliminating these negative factors, a process that not only improved my health but also created a more environmentally friendly space for me to live in. I became a minimalist without sacrificing anything really. I simply started making simple natural choices related to anything and everything, and this proved to be one of the best decisions I ever made.

Where I started from

In order to understand how my health improved and what worked for me, you first need to understand where I started from.

Here’s how my health looked when I was sick:

• I was tired all the time, which made me sleepy all the time. I didn’t have energy for anything anymore and all even basic tasks (like going shopping) seem too hard to do.
• My eyesight was deteriorating year by year, and working on the computer became a pain. I had worked as a games developer which required staying long hours at the computer.
• I had cracked skin on my hands, all the way from early autumn to late spring.
• My hair was starting to fall down little by little.
• I was starting to get depressed, I didn’t believe in myself anymore.
• Not only was I depressed, I was in a constant state of stress and anxiety. I was seeing problems rather than solutions.
• I had mood swings and would constantly pick a fight with my wife.
• I also had panic attacks due to my poor health problems and due to depression.
• I was picking a fight with anyone, regardless of how small or big was the problem.
• I started to develop cavities, lots of them. That was a huge problem in my 20s but I later realized that I did not have a cavity until the age of 22.
• I was out of shape – I was fat, no muscle mass, no stamina, didn’t have energy to walk or run.
• I had back and neck pain in several places and working on the computer became too hard.
• I was constantly having headaches which I was managing with pills. Sometimes I would wake up with a headache and would last all day long and I wouldn’t go out without those pills.
• I didn’t know how to cook and I was eating fast food or junk food whenever I had the chance. I loved pizza, hamburgers, kebabs, sweet treats, milk chocolate, candy, lots of ice cream, bread and pastry, etc.
• I was not appreciating life at all, in fact I was wasting my time by not doing anything with my life.
• I was staying inside all the time, spending too much time watching tv or working on the computer.
• I wasn’t waking up refreshed and was sleeping at least 10 hours.
• I got to a point where I was constantly feeling nauseated, couldn’t eat anymore, It was a struggle to even think about food.
• I was a sugar burner, which simply means I was using only carbohydrates for energy.
• Because I was eating unhealthy foods, I had high triglycerides, high blood pressure, was gaining weight every single month, had low energy, low testosterone levels, etc.
• I had some sort of infection in my body which led to excessive production of thick mucus. This rather thick mucus was very hard to swallow, leading to a fear of not being able to breathe.
• Also related to breathing, I couldn’t breathe through my nose normally and was diagnosed for a nose operation.

What I changed

Not that you know where I started from, here’s a breakdown of the most important changes that I made and how they impacted my health. Note this isn’t designed to be a step by step guide for your health journey, it’s just a list of the things that worked for me in my situation. You shouldn’t use this as a guide for you (I felt the need to add a disclaimer here).

While I tried adding here as much information as possible, I couldn’t possibly include everything in one single post. I may have forgotten some things or maybe I haven’t explained them in detail.

Here’s what I changed to improve my health:

General Health

• I made healthy eating a top priority of my life. I refused to expose myself to unhealthy choices, I didn’t hang out unhealthy choices.
• I learned how to control my impulse hunger: at first through will and later it came naturally, because I wasn’t craving unhealthy foods anymore.
• After experimenting with several ways of eating, I focused on eating a whole foods low carb vegetarian diet. This proved to be something that worked for me, in my situation.
• My focus was on gut health and healing my gut and my immune system through food, exercise, meditation, sleep and avoiding environmental toxins.
• I said NO to pills of any kind and I taught myself how to use natural remedies instead. Also, learning the real cause of problems instead of treating a symptom has helped me gain control of my health problems.
• I educated myself about the human body, latest research and trends, health in general, medical terms, etc. I have come to understood what the the pros and cons of medical care
• I focused on intermittent fasting as a way to improve my health and immune function, but also to improve my body composition.

Mindset

• I had to change my mindset in order to be able to absorb new information.
• I had to understand that perception is what drives stress and ultimately disease. So in order to stay away from disease, I had to learn how to change my perception of the environment.
• I became more open to alternative ways of doing things. Let me give you an example: it took me several months to mentally accept that it’s safe to use the Neti pot technique for washing my nose and paranasal sinuses
• I learned how to be open to all possibilities.There are people out there that have been through extraordinary experiences and they’re now sharing their knowledge through talks, books, audiobooks or podcasts.

Stress

• Stress was a big unknown for me and I never made the connection between stress and disease. Once I learned about physical, chemical and emotional stress, everything made sense all of a sudden.
• I understand how my emotions drive gene expressions, and how stress can make or break one’s health.
• I moved to a place close to nature. For me this was a small city in the south of Norway – this is how Kristiansand became my home.
• I quit my job and I dedicated to improving my health and my family’s health.
• I tried staying away from all kinds of fear inducing media news, especially at night. Negative emotions lead to stress triggering the autonomic flight-or-fight response, which in turn generates chemicals that create negative states and so on.
• I tried ways to reduce stress through walking meditations or by meditation in the morning/evening.
• Learning new skills or doing things differently proved to be a way to fight stress.
• Learning how to breathe correctly (deep breathing) helped me with managing stress.
• Exercising proved to help adjusting my body by increasing muscle mass while burning extra fat tissue. This led to less to no pain in areas like upper or lower back, shoulders, or neck.

Food

• I made it a priority to avoid all processed sugars, refined oils and all processed foods, as well as additives or preservatives.
• I read all the labels on all the foods, researching all the ingredients used in food preparation and how they can impact my health. If an ingredient sounded “chemical”, I wouldn’t buy that product or find replacements.
• I stopped ordering takeout food or limited eating at a restaurant, unless I knew how they cooked the food and only if they used “approved” ingredients. When at a restaurant, I would ask how the food was cooked and only ordered foods that met my guidelines.
• I kept a visual journal of my eating habits, taking pictures with absolutely everything that I ate.
• I avoided all pasteurized foods, including pasteurized and homogenized dairy and dairy products, or other kinds of pasteurized products. Opting for unpasteurized products means getting more gut health promoting bacteria and enzymes instead of foods that are devoured of nutrients and hard to digest.
• I completely avoided all kinds of sugars and foods with added sugar.
• I started buying lots of plants instead of processed foods. I was aiming to include more and more raw plants in my diet, eventually turning to a plant-rich whole foods diet.
• I learned how to cook food correctly and aimed to include more plants in my cooking as well. I incorporated more real food and plant based foods in my way of eating.
• I started to eat more raw food or food that was cooked less. I would opt-out for a salad or raw plants and selection of cheeses, instead of foods cooked for hours.This approach also helped me spend less time in the kitchen since it would literally take me 10-15 minutes to prepare a healthy meal. Plus eating raw foods meant I was eating more healthy nutrients, including enzymes, phytonutrients, vitamins and minerals.
• I experimented with various ways of eating: low-carb, keto, whole30, vegetarian, vegan.
• Later on I started to eat vegetarian and essentially what is a plant-based diet, without any kind of meat products.
• I incorporated smoothies into my diet, and did it for 1 year straight (one big meal a day was a raw smoothie based on different veggies, spices and superfoods, while being low in carbs.
• In the beginning I used low-calorie sugar replacements like erythritol, stevia, xylitol, but later decided against this because I simply didn’t like them.
• When I needed a sweetener, I would use coconut sugar (natural, unrefined and organic). I found it to be far superior to anything else, really.
• I learned how to bake healthy cakes and muffins based on healthy flours like almond flour or coconut flour.
• I never counted calories but had a certain idea of the macros I was eating. I discovered the true importance of micronutrients – vitamins, minerals, enzymes, fiber and phytonutrients as opposed to only taking into consideration macro-nutrients (carbohydrates, proteins and fats).
• I brought more and more organic plants, whenever I could afford (see my guide to buying plants).
• I concentrated on teaching my body how to burn fat for energy, instead of carbs.
• I experimented with intermittent fasting. At the beginning it was pretty hard but I am proud to say that now I can easily skip a meal, breakfast or even lunch or dinner. I am not eating regular meals, I’m simply eating when I’m hungry.

Training

• I started training at home, doing simple workouts with small weights or often using my own bodyweight.
• I started to walk at least 5 km a day and I was using an app to track all my walks.
• I was focusing on improving my muscle mass, while burning as much fat as possible.
• I paid special attention to overtraining, especially in the beginning when I didn’t know what I was doing.
• I always took warm-ups very seriously, spending at least 15 minutes before each training session.
• I was recording all my training sessions in an excel sheet. This made it easily for me to track my progress.
• Recovering was very important and,while in the beginning I used classical protein shakes, I later discovered ways to recover using food. This kind of recovery worked great when I was doing long walks or long days outside.
• I realized how important the connection between recovery, sleep and food. Basically, deep sleep and real food can help with faster and safer recovery.

Sleep

• I documented myself on the importance of sleep and ways to improve the quality of my sleep.
• I changed the mattress that I was using to an organic wool futon mattress. Old mattresses are definitely a source of bacterias but, even worse for some people, they do not support your body correctly.
• I discovered how the quality of sleep can be dramatically improved if the body’s temperature can be kept constant. This meant that I had to change my old foam mattress to something like a wool mattress or a spring mattress. Wool works great because wool acts like a natural temperature regulator. Second best is a spring mattress where the air will circulate through the springs.
• I did a lot of things to improve my “sleep mood”. Dimming the light in the room, keeping screens and wifi away, meditation before bed, keeping the sleeping room cool, have a calm bedroom atmosphere, fresh air before bed, sleeping in natural materials (including bed linen, pillows and blanket), sleeping in a quiet and dark room, keeping my mind positive before bed, not eating much before sleep, etc
• When I travel I always make sure that all of these criteria are met, otherwise I wouldn’t travel to a place if I can’t get a good night’s sleep.
• Also, I’m not a morning person, so what works for me is having the afternoon sunshine at my window. Whenever I travel, I always make sure to get a room towards the sunset.

Environmental Toxins

• I kept personal care products to a minimum and used them only if it was absolutely necessary.
• Even now I’m very picky about what I use on my body, so I only use a very basic natural soap for everything.
• I removed all other personal care products including: shampoo, body lotion, traditional detergents, perfumes, shaving foam, etc.
• When it comes to clothes, I focused on buying only clothes from natural materials: linen, cotton, wool.
• I avoided all man-made materials like polyester,
• I changed my mattress to a natural mattress made from organic wool.
• I stopped using air fresheners for my house.
• I stopped using any kind of sprays for insects and the like, opting for natural solutions.
• I opened the window more often, making sure to have clean air all the time. living in Norway this was both a blessing (lots of clean air) but also a problem (air was cold).
• After washing clothes, I would leave them outside to dry instead of keeping them inside.
• I would never use shoes in the house, since we can bring so many chemicals on the shoes.
• I would make sure to clean the house regularly, making sure there is no dust or particles.
• I avoided all kinds of man-made chemicals around the house – this also extended to house objects that could be produced under uncertain situations.
• I would avoid all environmental toxins that I could possibly avoid – starting with plastics and aluminium in the kitchen.
• I changed all my cooking pots to either cast iron or stainless steel, avoiding things like Teflon, aluminum, fake ceramic coatings, anything with plastics, unmarked cookware, etc
• I replaced all the plastic in the kitchen and, when possible the rest of the house, with glass.

How my health improved

It took me 2 or maybe 3 years to get back in shape but I’m happy to report that I now have more energy than I had in my 20s. It was a long journey but I managed to get up here.This doesn’t mean that my journey of learning about health is ending, because it has just started. I am constantly learning new things and doing my own research, because this health journey doesn’t stop for me. Never.

Here’s how my health improved in all this time:

• I have a steady energy all day long as opposed to the sugar burner time when I had ups and downs.
• My mood improved dramatically and I’m more optimistic than I used to be when I was tired all the time. I can say that I am more optimistic than I ever was and I don’t panic often, and when things get tough.
• I can travel and do it in a healthy way. While I travel I always make use of my new “healthy food skills” to eat healthy foods that keep me nourished and focused.
• I don’t have a craving for things like sweets or junk foods, and as a result of this I can easily make conscious decisions about my food choices.
• I have a steady stream of energy all day long. I am constantly fasting and can easily skip one or even two meals, if no healthy choices are available.
• I don’t make decisions based on whether or not I am hungry.
• I gained muscle mass and lost about 20 kg in total. I also lost a lot of fat.
• In all modesty, I’m looking better than ever with no effort at all (I even have a flat abdomen now).
• My brain is more active, no more foggy brain, I can think clearly all day long regardless of what impacts my day.
• I am very creative in whatever I do, my mind explodes with ideas all the time.
• I’m more optimistic now about my life than I was 5, 10 or 15 years ago.
• My hormones have improved dramatically and this can be seen in how my body and brain acts and reacts to external stimuli. I am confident that I am the one in control of my life and my faith, not food, not stress or panic.
• I don’t panic at all, as opposed to a few years ago when I was anxious and was always afraid that we would get sick and lose everything.
• I have better vision than ever and I can again work from my computer.
• I have great smooth skin, starting with my hands which were always cracked.
• My hair is not falling as it used to, in fact it’s better than years ago.
• I am not afraid of being sick anymore because I am in control of my health and my immune system.
• I wasn’t sick in the past few years and, even when I get a cold, it lasts for 2-3 days and I’m always super confident that my immune system can handle it.
• I always treat any kind of health issues naturally, unless things get serious at which point I may look for alternatives (never happened before).
• I believe that a healthy mind and body start with a healthy gut and a healthy immune system, and a healthy immune system is key to forever health.
• I have less fat than I ever had – you can see it in my hands, feet, abdomen, face, etc
• I had only one small cavity in the past 8 years, and I suspect this one was also old.

Health coaching to the rescue

The reality is that it took me a few solid years to get my health back. After all, you can’t expect to reverse years or even tens of years of damage with a few smoothies and a “healthy” meal, right? You have to have patience. You have to experiment and find out what works for you. You have to keep making those healthy choices every single day.

But you’re busy, I get it! I know that and this is where I come in. As a health coach, I can help you troubleshoot your health problems and I can help you find natural solutions that will work for you, based on your own challenges.

Health coaches are health educators; they help people find personalized solutions for reaching specific health goals. A health coach will educate, motivate and guide you towards lifestyle and behavior choices that support your optimal health.

A health coach doesn’t have all the answers but s/he can guide you towards making responsible decisions that work for you. You’ll learn how to listen to your body, how to listen to what your body needs and to give it those nutrients and the nourishments it needs in order to thrive.

Whatever your situation might be, we can work together to find ways of improving your health. I don’t believe in magic pills and formulas that work for everyone, I believe in custom tailored plans that need to be adjusted whenever “the new you” gets a health update.

As a health coach, I will always be there for you with guidance, but all the decisions will be yours. This time around you’ll have a plan and we’ll tweak that plan together, until you’ll reach your health goals. You’ll be able to make informed decisions about your health. After all, health coaching is about you, your needs and your health goals.

Takeaway

• Health is the most important thing we have in life. Without it we can’t take care of our family and our loved ones.
• If you want to enjoy life to the fullest, you need to make health a priority.
• In order to repair your health, you need to go to the root cause of disease.
• There is a distinction between the real cause of disease and managing the symptoms. Unfortunately, the allopathic medical system often “treats” anything with pills or operations, ignoring the real cause of disease.
• There is no universal treatment, pill, diet or a single approach that will work for everyone out of the box. Everyone is unique and so everyone needs a personalized solution that works for their particular health challenges.
• A health coach can work with you to help you find the solutions that can work for you
• Working with a health coach isn’t a substitute for medical care. Health coaches can work together with your medical doctor or other kinds of therapists.
• Last, but not least, try to have patience because healing always takes time. Your becoming unwell took many years so reversing the process will take time as well.

I hope that mow you understand that, in oder to improve your health, you’ll have to take it one step at the time and have patience. A health coach can guide and motivate you to achieve your health goals, not because s/he has hidden knowledge, but because you’ll likely need a powerful light to guide you in the beginning of your healing journey.

Hope this makes sense! Thanks for reading and see you on the next one.