5 Steps for Achieving the Level of Health You’ve Always Dreamed Of

Are you longing to improve your health but are uncertain of how or where to begin? Are you sure you’ll have to graze on bean sprouts and grapefruit for weeks and spend hours every day at the gym to achieve the level of health you desire?

• Know where you want to go. What is your vision of health? I’m not asking what you think you need to do to be healthy. Instead, I’m asking what you would be doing if you had all the time, money, energy and resources you needed and wanted. What would you be focused on? What would you be doing? That is your vision of health, your true north. I have a dear friend who died recently at age 100. Phyllis used to say, “You can’t just go to the bus station and buy a ticket. You have to tell them where you want to go.” Without knowing where you want to go, all of my (or any doctor’s) medical guidance would be just a cluttered list of things to do. Without a true north, the well-intended suggestions don’t generate momentum, and they don’t move you toward the vision of health you have created.

• What is current reality? Like the analogy of a bus trip, you need to know where you are right now to make good choices about where you choose to go. If I’m in Fairbanks, Alaska but tell myself I’m in Albuquerque, and I’m trying to get to Philadelphia, I’m probably not going to make it. You don’t need to focus on every detail in your life, just the information that is important to your vision of health. If you want to weigh 150 pounds, for example, record what you weighright now.

  Not a week ago, not a month ago, not even this morning when you stood naked on the scale before breakfast. What do you weight right now? The disparity between where you are and where you want to be creates a stretch, what Robert Fritz, author of The Path of Least Resistance, calls structural tension. This stretch, like a stretched rubber band, is potential energy to move you from where you are now to your vision of health. Just focusing on vision, vision, vision will not generate the stretch. Simultaneously holding a picture of your vision and current reality generates structural tension.

• Make daily choices that lead you toward your vision of health. Think of these daily choices as ongoing deposits in your health bank account. So far I have never discovered a “health lottery” that allows someone to suddenly transform his or her health overnight (with the exception of miraculous healings, which I have witnessed). Most of us develop health by making daily deposits, ongoing choices that accrue health over time. These secondary, daily choices are the stepping stones that move you from your current position to your vision of health.

• Individualize your health care choices. One-size-all garments rarely fit anyone well, and the same is true of one-size-fits-all health programs. To maximize the benefit of your efforts, make choices that are tailored for your body and your particular lifestyle. Make changes that are sustainable, that become part of your way of life. I work collaboratively with people to assist them in making the most effective choices to create their vision of health.

  We work together over time because the journey of creating health requires ongoing adjustments. A ship navigating a vast ocean rarely is directly on course. The ship requires ongoing adjustments to reach its destination. The same is true for you in arriving at your desired level of health. I journey with you to assist you in evaluating, adjusting and upgrading your choices over time.

• Health is a way of life. Sun Bear, an Anishnabe/Chippewa elder, was a great teacher and mentor for me. One of the most important things I learned from him is that “medicine,” in his people’s tradition, does not refer to pills or even cups of tea. Medicine is a way of life. Medicine is the way you wake up in the morning and greet the day. Medicine is the way you interact with your family and neighbors. Medicine is the reverence you hold for the food you eat, the air you breathe, and the water you drink. Medicine is a way of living in right relationship with yourself, your community, with planet Earth, and with Creator. Adopting this attitude toward your physical body, the part of the Earth you are most directly responsible for, helps make your health choices sustainable.

Are you ready to create the level of health you have always dreamed of? Contact Dr. Boice for a free Strategy Session to assess your best next steps. Click here to apply for a session.

Dr. Judith Boice, ND, LAc, FABNO (Naturopathic Doctor, Licensed Acupuncturist, and Fellow of the American Board of Naturopathic Oncology) is deeply trained in both western and Chinese medicines, so she sees people with two eyes, from two perspectives. These two medical disciplines are seamlessly integrated in her practice.

Dr. Boice’s practice differs even from other naturopathic physicians’ in her focus on creating health rather than simply eliminating disease. Her concierge practice combines cutting-edge, scientific medical research with the ancient roots of healing practices that address emotional, mental, spiritual as well as physical health. Her work bridges the worlds of science and soul.

A woman of many accolades, Dr. Boice is an award-winning author and international teacher. She has a passion for working with cancer, women’s health, pain and chronic illness. Traveling all over the U.S., she has conducted over 1000 trainings and public lectures on women’s health, menopause and osteoporosis. She is the author of several magazine articles and 10 books, including The Green Medicine Chest: Healthy Treasures for the Whole Family which was honored with a Silver Medal in the Nautilus Book Awards and a Bronze Medal in the Living Now Book Awards. Dr. Boice worked for three-and- a-half years as a naturopathic oncology provider at Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Southwestern Regional Medical Center.