In a perfect world, we all would be eating the most nutritious diet, exercising often, keeping our stress levels low, and getting plenty of sleep. But the reality is that we don’t live in such a world. We indulge more often than we should. We exercise when we feel up for it (which, for many of us, means hardly ever). We strive to do, see, and have it all, which makes it near impossible to keep stress at bay. And sleep. . . that usually lands itself at the bottom of our priority list . . . if it even makes it on there at all.

For anyone who’s human, leading a so-called perfect lifestyle is not likely. This means you must find additional ways to protect your health. I have three suggestions for optimizing your health:

1. Practice mindful eating
2. Consider incorporating dietary supplements
3. Properly fuel your workouts

Here are the details about each suggestion:

Practice Mindful Eating

Finding a balance between nourishing and indulging is at the core of healthy eating. To adequately nourish and sufficiently indulge, a practice referred to as mindful eating, is the art of a balanced approach to eating. These two actions serve as the basis for healthy eating habits. Below is a summary of how this approach optimizes your health.

When you practice mindful eating:

• You’ll eat plenty of the healthy stuff which means your body will have more nutrients to support optimal body function.

• You’ll be eating the foods your taste buds love, including the sweets, treats, and other salty snacks. Allowing yourself to indulge is what keeps you from binging or overdoing it in your weakest moments.

• You won’t have to avoid all social gatherings that involve food in fear that you’ll eat something not allowed in your diet. Social interactions are one of the most important factors in predicting physical health and wellbeing. The more social we are, the greater our sense of wellbeing.

• You’ll be more mindful of how your food experiences make you feel. This will ensure that your interactions with food are positive, and it will leave you feeling happy.

In essence, adopting a balanced approach to eating does more than just promote physical health, it works to support all aspects of your health, and thus, promotes your overall wellbeing.

Incorporate Dietary Supplements

The best approach when it comes to diet is food first, supplements second. Whole foods are going to be more balanced as far as nutrients go; therefore, they should make up the majority of your diet. That being said, getting everything you need from whole foods is not always realistic. As such, supplements offer a convenient fallback option for times when your diet is less than ideal.

Here are a few supplements to consider when looking to optimize your health:

Omega-3s

You’ve likely heard of omega-3s. They are fats you get from foods like fish and walnuts. Fat is one of the nutrients the body needs to survive. Your body can make most types of fats it needs from the raw materials provided by your diet; however, that is not the case for omega-3 fatty acids. Omega-3s are considered essential fats because they can’t be made by the body, so you must get them through your diet.

There are three main omega-3 fatty acids:

• Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) – These omega-3s are mainly found in fish.
• Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) – This is the most common omega-3 fatty acid in Western diets and is found in nuts, seeds, leafy vegetables, and vegetable oils. Generally, the body uses ALA as an energy source.

Omega-3s are used for many functions within the body. They act as a structural component of cell membranes and can help produce other important signaling molecules. Omega-3s have been shown to alter the expression of a number of genes, including those involved with fat metabolism. Omega-3s are hormone building blocks that regulate blood clotting and are involved with the contracting and relaxing of arteries. Omega-3s also provide energy for the body.

Probiotics

The human gut is a lot like the ocean—dark, mysterious, and full of unknown creatures. But what has become increasingly clear in recent years is that maintaining a healthy gut (specifically, a healthy gut microbiome) is a key aspect of optimizing your health.

Here’s the scoop: Your gut contains approximately 100 trillion bacterial cells. There are hundreds of different species of bacteria with the types and amounts varying from one person to the next. These bacteria, along with other microorganisms, make up your microbiome. Friendly bacteria benefit you in two ways:

1. They contribute to your defense system, helping your body ward off harmful invaders.
2. They help maintain the normal functions of your gut.

Though there is still a lot we need to learn, researchers now have a better understanding of the impact different gut bacteria profiles have on health. From the research, one thing is clear: the wrong mix of bacteria can quickly put your health at risk.

Your gut bacteria profile depends on the number, type, and activity levels of the bacteria in your gut. There are several things that disrupt your gut bacteria profile, which include: diet, antibiotic use, illness, lifestyle, age, genetics, stress, and many others. To promote your gut health, minimize exposure to any potential disruptors and maintain a healthy mix of gut bacteria.

One way to promote a healthy microbiome is to take probiotics. Probiotics are helpful strains of bacteria that, when consumed, can help replace and/or balance the good bacteria in your gut. Researchers are still trying to figure out which strains are best for certain health issues, but the general consensus is that taking a probiotic can help optimize overall health.

Adaptogens

In today’s world, everyone experiences some amount of stress. Fortunately, there are ways to protect yourself from the harmful effects of high stress, which involve managing your inputs, or what you put into your body. These inputs include things like your diet, sleep, the people you surround yourself with, physical activity, knowledge, and supplements. To keep stress levels low, leading a healthy lifestyle is the best option. But because stress is a real part of life and can be difficult to manage at times, it’s best to have a backup plan.

This is where adaptogens come into play. Because maintaining stability (or balance) is essential for survival, your body was built with an enormous capacity to keep itself in working order. Adaptogens work by helping your body self-regulate its internal state of balance. Adaptogens help your body do what it’s already programmed to do: protect itself from harm and maintain balance.

Adaptogens are plant substances (often herbs) that work in a variety of ways to help the body adapt to stress. Some adaptogens activate the internal defense system, which in turn, increases the production of different protective molecules that work to bring stress levels back within the normal range. Some adaptogens work by enhancing cell functions and others help maintain normal hormone balance.

Popular adaptogenic herbs include ashwagandha, rhodiola, eleuthero, cordyceps, reishi, chaga, pine bark extract, and hu zhang. Each of these can be consumed in a variety of forms, such as supplement capsules, teas, or tinctures.

Ongoing research is needed to verify the effectiveness of adaptogens and their ability to optimize body function. Before incorporating adaptogens into your daily routine, contact a healthcare professional to ensure there are no possible interactions with other medications you might be taking and to verify the adaptogens are safe for you to consume.

Multivitamins

If you are eating a well-balanced diet, you should be getting what you need, since vitamins and minerals are found in a wide variety of foods. But since you likely don’t always get what you need from your diet, taking some type of multivitamin might be a good idea. Just don’t let your multivitamin become an excuse for poor eating habits.

Properly Fuel Your Workouts

Food is what gives your body the energy it needs to carry out its everyday functions. One of those functions is moving. For anyone who participates in regular exercise, you know that going into a workout with no food (i.e., energy) in the tank can leave you feeling tired and ready to give up just as soon as you start.

The key to training hard and getting the greatest benefit from your efforts at the gym is going into your workouts properly fueled. This means paying close attention to what you eat, when you eat, and how much you eat around exercise.

Being properly fueled allows you to stress the body enough that it sees a need to adapt; for example, building stronger muscles to lift heavier weights. Being able to exercise at higher intensities or for longer periods of time improves your fitness level, and health goes hand-in-hand with fitness.

Though definitely a more complex subject, the ideas surrounding nutrition for exercise performance are fairly simple and easily implemented as long as you’ve mastered the basics. Once you have a good handle on the foundational skills (eating for health), you can move onto the more advanced skills (eating for performance). Mastering the more advanced skills will help you improve your level of fitness and, as a result, optimize your health.

Refer to the Nutrition for Exercise Performance section of my book Eat: A guide to better eating habits, a healthier relationship with food, and a greater sense of wellbeing for guidelines on how much to eat, when to eat, and what to eat to train hard, perform well, and recover fully from exercise.

Note: If you are still working on mastering the basics, I recommend skipping the Nutrition for Exercise Performance section and revisiting it when healthful eating has become part of your daily practice.