Hello everybody! Hope ya’ll are hanging in there and staying safe during this quarantine. I’m not going to lie, at the beginning of all this, I was really stressed out. I could feel my anxiety creeping up. What is going to happen? When is this going to end? Like anyone I proceeded to take advantage of the situation, justifying my poor eating behaviours on the “pandemic.”
But shouldn’t this be the time to actually improve your diet and overall health? To boost your immune system so if God forbid you come in contact with Covid-19 you can walk away unscathed? I had too many spoonfuls of peanut butter while watching Tiger King to forget about the wonderful world of holistic nutrition. In just 2 short weeks of pandemic eating I noticed I felt a little slowed and lacking energy, my skin broke out, I felt bloated, and my cravings for sugar were almost uncontrollable!
After speaking at the Health From Home Online Summit put on by The Recovery Spa, I reignited my passion for holistic health and nutrition and decided to create a challenge specifically to help boost your immune system during this time, and inspire a community to do it with me.
Reducing the inflammatory response in your body is the # 1 thing you can do to robustly improve your immune system! There are so many studies linking inflammation and a decrease in immune response, so I figured this will be the focus of my challenge. I also chose 21 days because A) we ALL have the time right now. This virus ain’t going nowhere, and in fact some experts believe it might (key word might) not even peak til June. JUNE. and B) studies show that 21 days is the least amount of days it takes to form a habit, with more success maintaining a habit at the 66 day mark.
But I figure we can ALL commit to 21 days right? I mean, especially if this could make or break your health. As a front line worker, I am at risk almost everyday at the hospital of contracting the virus so I need to make sure I have the right offense team (a thriving immune system) as well as a great defense team (PPE and allll the handwashing/sanitizer). And even though I have the knowledge and tools, I also want a great community to connect with, as well as a place to share my journey with (who doesn’t love seeing me do Live apple cider vinegar shots?)
Here’s how the challenge works!
First, join my Facebook Business Page The Holistic Blonde. On the page, you will see my THB Holistic Health Challenge group that you can join.
The rules for the challenge are as follows:
Take an Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) shot every single morning. Start with 1 tsp and work up to 1 T of ACV, and make sure to dilute it with water. You must also take 1 probiotic and or eat fermented veggies everyday as well.
Drink 3 L of water per day!
Eat a diet consisting of primarily Whole Foods. I say primarily because my best friend who is Vegan asked about tofu as it makes up a lot of her diet, and I agreed that would be fine, although it is technically processed. I am also allowing protein powder (mine only has one ingredient anyways) because it can be a health food and great for adding into smoothies. But stay away from sugar and processed/packaged food items!
Exercise 30 minutes per day. At home workouts or even a walk outside is fine! Just get moving!
Commit to 15 minutes per day (more time encouraged) to a self-development activity such as reading, writing/journalling, meditating, listening to a podcast etc.
Not only do we want to focus on fuelling the body with whole foods and healing the gut, but we also want to focus on reducing stress as this can impact our immune response negatively. During the 21 days, you get 1 point everyday for each. At the end of the challenge, a perfect score will be 105 points! If you don’t complete one of the rules, or cave and eat some sugar (I know Easter is coming) one day, then you just don’t get 1 point that day for Whole Foods.
This challenge works as an honour system, so keep track and post your final score at the end of the challenge! Remember, everyone's a winner and your immune system will thank you!
At the end of the challenge I will personally pick 2 winners, and you can choose either a 6 Week Holistic Reset program that I offer, or a Colon Hydrotherapy session if you are local to Kelowna. Dr. Chelsea Gronick, a Naturopath I have the pleasure of working with will also be gifting out 1 Vitamin Infusion to a lucky winner!
Now is the time for us to double down on things like cutting out sugar, switching to a whole foods diet, meditating, exercising, and getting better quality sleep so we can boost our immunity and fight off pathogens and infections if they come our way! If not for us, for our families and the elderly <3 Use the group to post your healthy recipes, snack ideas, meditation resources, books you’re reading, or even a live video of taking an apple cider vinegar shot! I will be active every day on the group to help motivate and inspire you guys, and hope for you all to do the same.
See you in the THB Holistic Health Challenge!
Kelly <3