Healthy Habits: 52 Ways to Better Health

Healthy Habits: 52 Ways to Better Health

Are you looking to feel healthier, increase your energy levels or reach a more optimum body weight?

In the forthcoming book, Healthy Habits: 52 Ways to Better Health, Dr Cris Beer provides readers with an effective -one-habit-a-week' approach to help achieve long lasting health. These simple yet effective habits lead to good health, lots of energy, and optimum body weight. Dr Cris says that the simpler you keep things, the more likely you are to stick with any changes you make. Some of the habits she recommends include:
Eating by the 80/20 rule & reducing mindless eating
Breaking negative thought patterns
Learning how to boost your immunity & metabolism
Strengthening your core & keeping your brain healthy
Balancing your sex hormones & boosting your happy hormones
Understanding nutrition & why you need to laugh more

Packed with accessible, easy to implement week-by-week advice, Healthy Habits: 52 Ways to Better Health provides you with the framework to achieve the long lasting health that you and your body deserve!

As an expert in nutritional medicine, Dr Cris Beer specialises not just in the prevention and treatment of illnesses, but in the attaining of optimum health. By employing simple lifestyle and holistic medicine strategies, Dr Cris believes that restoration of health and vitality can be achieved by anyone. Dr Cris holds qualifications in medicine, biomedical science, integrative and nutritional medicine, health coaching, as well as personal fitness training. She was the health consultant for The Biggest Loser Retreat and is a sought after media commentator. She currently practises at The Medical Sanctuary on the Gold Coast as a registered medical doctor helping patients every day. For more information go to www.drcris.com.au

Healthy Habits: 52 Ways to Better Health
Rockpool Publishing
Author: Dr Cris Beer
ISBN: 9781925017540
RRP: $29.99

Interview with Dr Cris Beer

Question: Why did you decide to write Healthy Habits: 52 Ways to Better Health?

Dr Cris Beer: Healthy Habits, 52 Ways to Better Health is a culmination of the health knowledge I have gained over the last decade helping individuals regain physical and mental well-being. I decided to write this book because there is a lot of misconception and confusion currently on what it takes to get and be healthy so I wanted to demystify this and write down evidence-based and proven ways to regain good health that individuals could find in one place.

Question: Can you provide us with a couple of the -healthy habits' included in the book?

Dr Cris Beer: Habit number four is called 'Sleep Well' and covers how to get a good night sleep. A lot of us struggle with insomnia and battle with getting a full quality night sleep. This chapter covers the best ways to sleep well from practical 'sleep hygiene' strategies to deeper principles on regulating your sleep cycle and avoiding stimulants. It also covers natural remedies for insomnia. Chapter number forty covers how to 'Balance Your Sex Hormones' which includes male and female hormones. Many women (and men) struggle with their health simply because their hormones are not balanced. They struggle to loose weight, feel tired and grumpy, and have no sex drive. This chapter covers how to rebalance your sex hormones naturally to regain quality of life


Question: Why did you choose the one-habit-a-week' approach?

Dr Cris Beer: I find that when changing your lifestyle it can be easy to give up if we try to make too many changes at once. The one-habit-a-week approach I find is sustainable way to easily integrate a new positive habit into your current lifestyle so that a year down the track you look back and your health and life has been effortlessly transformed for the better.


Question: Can you explain the 80/20 rule and why you suggest way of eating?

Dr Cris Beer: The 80/20 rule premise is that balance and moderation is key. When following a healthy eating plan if we stick to keeping 80 percent of our diet as unprocessed and as fresh as possible whilst the other 20 percent being all the other stuff we love eating and can't give up is a more sustainable and less sacrificial way of healthy eating. After all, our body does not know the difference between good enough and perfect. If we aim for perfect with our eating we will often miss the target, but if ,however, we aim for 'good enough' with our eating we are bound to be able to reach this goal and therefore sustain healthy, balanced eating for the longer term.


Question: How often should we be exercising and what types of exercise do you suggest?

Dr Cris Beer: I choose to replace the word exercise with activity and so with this in mind I often say to patients to try to increase their daily activity levels by about 30 percent. This might be incidental in the form of walking to work or taking the stairs rather than the escalator, or in the form of planned physical activities such as gym work, jogging, cycling etc. If we aim for 10,000 steps per day, for example, on a pedometer, regardless of what type of activity we are doing then this equates to around 5km of walking per day and can help maintain health and weight. The types of activities that are beneficial are really any, but, there are added benefits for weight bearing activity for bone health, such as walking, jogging, or weight training. Yoga has benefits for mental health and keeping our body supple, and pilates and core exercises can help prevent injury and back pain. The key though is to vary your activities and to stay as active as you can, especially if you do a lot of sitting for work.


Interview by Brooke Hunter