Lifestyle & Health

What Does “Being Healthy” Really Mean?

Health isn’t just about ticking off boxes like eating your veggies, hitting the gym, or going to bed on time (though hey, those help!). It’s about living with awareness — body, mind, and spirit — and making small, conscious choices that help you feel alive, not just survive.

Explore the sections below to discover what it really takes to live your healthiest, happiest life:

• 🌿 General Lifestyle Tips for Healthy Living
• 💪 Things That Boost Your Body and Mind
• 🧘‍♀️ Spiritual & Emotional Wellbeing
• ⚠️ Things That Might Be Doing You More Harm Than Good
• 🔬 Science & Medical Insights

Living well isn’t about perfection — it’s about balance. Small, mindful actions every day can make a big difference for your body, mind, and spirit. Here’s how to nurture every part of yourself:

💪 Body: Keep your body happy with regular movement — stretch, walk, dance, exercise! Eat real food, cut down on refined sugars, and fill your plate with colorful vegetables. Simple changes add up to big results.

🧠 Mind: Feed your mind with curiosity. Learn something new each day, stay organized, and make time to rest. Sleep on time, let go of the need to control everything, and give your brain the peace it deserves.

💖 Emotions: Practice gratitude — it’s a mood booster! Don’t take everything personally, and learn to let go of what doesn’t serve you. Protect your emotional space by avoiding too much negativity; your brain needs breathing room too.

🌞 Spirit: Recharge your inner self. Spend a few quiet moments each day in meditation or reflection. Live with compassion — it strengthens your energy and connects you to something greater.

🤝 Social Life: Be kind and empathetic in your daily interactions. Show compassion, especially when dealing with difficult people or unexpected situations. How you connect with others shapes your overall wellbeing.

- A note should be made that the human body is a complex system and there is not 'one truth' for this. You should look what fits your personality and body the best.

- Body resistance needs to be build over time; it often doesn't improve instantly as we want.

- Healing takes time; people in this modern age with fast technology want instant solutions but they often need to take a step down and just relax, enjoy and wait.

- Different foods have different purposes. Don't just eat hordes of one thing just because you think it's somehow beneficial. For example onions, garlic, ginger are a natural penicillin according to the Hinduistic Ayurveda teachings, and should not be consumed very much for just the taste. They are only to be taken in moderation.

Sleep - Getting sufficient sleep of at least 7/8 hours per day is about the most important thing for your health.

Water - Drink plenty of fluids, preferably water, else the body cannot regulate and filter bad materials and bacteria from your body.

Walking in nature - this is good for relaxing and becoming more quiet from within.

Prayer/ Meditation - gives healing, happiness, a sense of purpose inspite of the difficulties in life.

Carbohydrates - limit the intake of carbo hydrate rich foods per day, like bread, noodles, pasta, cakes, soft drinks, and so on. The body needs carbohydrates to function, however most people get far more than needed resulting in yeast infection, vague complaints, depressions, sleeplessness, allergic reactions, autoimmune diseases and so on.

Vegetables - tomatoes, olives, carrots, cucumber are all 'light' food and can be consumed well. However watch out with nightshades, too many tomatoes may cause allergies.

Berries - goji berries are beneficial for health and one's resistance.

Herbs/ Spices - there are different herbs and spices that have various health benefits. It's good to investigate them with local herbalists or online.

Fruits - apple, kiwi, orange.

Nuts - almond, walnuts, etc.

Seeds - chia seed, flax seed, etc.

Vitamins - Vitamine, A, B, C, D, E. Be careful, some vitamins are harmful in larger doses and can have serious implications, for example B6 & B12. Vitamins, just as all other things, should be balanced and done with care.

Minerals - calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, copper.

Essential Oils - coconut oil, olive oil. Can detox a lot of heavy materials gradually, like titanium dioxide, aluminium and so on. Olive oil is also beneficial to the skin. It is also possible to ingest a spoon per day to prevent bacteria and keep the body in balance, especially if your diet is not too healthy on average.

Coconut oil should be cold pressed, else the vitamins are lost when the oil is quickly heated. This is done to save transport costs. The oil should be biological. A clean white oil, which can usually be inspected from the bottom of the pot, may show it is refined. Also an odorless oil may not be the best choice.

Olive oil should be biological, extra vierge olives from the first pressing. Also it's a personal preference, but pulp in the oil, like a small residu of the pressed nuts, skin etc. are very beneficial bacteria. Pay attention the colour is good as well.

Probiotics - are good to build up positive bacteria in the body, which is needed for some functions.

Proteine/ Creatine - you don't only need it for muscles but also for other things like hair growth, etc.

Silicon - naturally comes from our groundwater and is a basis for processing vitamins and minerals in our body.

Apple Cider Vinegar - the taste can be very sharp, so you can mix this in natural fruit juice for example. It is very beneficial to the respiratory system and also to the skin.

Cayenne pepper

Cannabis Oil/ CBD Oil - can be good when you have certain infections.

Cinnamon - antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, antimicrobial.

Iodine - if you have a shortage of that, you will be more tired and more sensitive to heat, cold, etc.

Meat - lamb, chicken, beef & duck, unless you are vegan of course. It is good not to take every day in the week meat.

Onions - have antibacterial properties. But don't use them too much, else they may work against you.

Garlic - have antibacterial properties. But don't use them too much, else they may work against you.

Ginger - have antibacterial properties. But don't use them too much, else they may work against you.

Silverwater - has good results on infections.

Triphala - a well-recognized and highly efficacious polyherbal Ayurvedic medicine consisting of fruits of the plant species Emblica officinalis (Amalaki), Terminalia bellerica (Bibhitaki), and Terminalia chebula (Haritaki), is a cornerstone of gastrointestinal and rejuvenative treatment.

Turmeric with black pepper - Antibacterial properties.

Soy - this is a plant that naturally filters out heavy materials from the ground. Do not eat much, else it will be negative for you. Japanese people use it in moderation.

Stevia - it is a good sugar replacement if you consume much sugar, though do use in moderation. On itself it's not beneficial to use.

Thankfulness - have a positive & grateful attitude, even if there is little to be grateful about.

Mindset - act from being interested and wanting to take care of yourself & interact or help others.

Giving attitude - be involved in other people's lives, even if you have to make some extra effort.

Focus - what you focus on increases. Do not focus on fear, also not subconsciously.

Belief - what you believe in happens.

Willing to change - People only change if they really want to. If not, they will always find a reason not to do something.

Empathic - be interested in the other, be compassionate in their suffering, listen well. Feel what people go through in a certain period, We do that way too little in society.

Listening - real, active listening is important. Oftentimes we may hear people but do not actively remember their words.

Show interest - show some interest in the people around you. Ask questions, compliment on something specific, they don't have it for nothing. Ask open questions, not just the simple ones.

Letting go - you can't do or change everything. Don't put the goals for yourself too high, else it will wear you down.

Some items are harmful in smaller or larger quantities in the human body.

Deodorants - aluminium, is dangerous to the brain because larger quantities cannot that easily be broken off.

Suntans - titanium dioxide. ALthough scientists say this only remains on the skin and is not absorbed through the skin pores, it remains doubtful.

Tap water - the water quality depends on the country, but in the Netherlands drinking water can contain - plastic, pfas, chemicals, etc.

Cooking pans/ frying pans - can contain pfas, that can give off when cooking for a longer time.

Processed foods/ Fast foods - hamburgers, fries, etc. are things you can eat once in a while, but you should really avoid them on a daily base.

Refined sugars, aspartame - Avoid these.

Medications - sometimes the doctors just prescribe medication very quickly and frequently. Some medications have harmful effects on the human body while it can be solved naturally, but often doctors say there is no demonstrable relationship between the herb and the human body, which is easy to say.

Pork - do not eat pork meat, first, pigs clear about anything from the soil and second, the DNA stucture is similar to humans; and may on long term cause auto immune diseases if you eat it frequently.

Shellfish - do not eat animals like shrimps as they are ocean/ sea cleaners, filter metal and other toxicants from the bottom of the sea.

Eels, etc. - same as shellfish.

Horse - I wouldn't recommend.

Any hunter birds - Owl, hawk, falcon, don't eat them since they eat animals that may contain diseases for humans.

Ravens, crows, etc. - don't eat, but who eats them anyways?

Please note that many doctors, food specialists, dietists, science people, psychologistcs do not recognise many alternative foods by saying there is no evidence for any traces of health. Just because they studied and deduct everything rationally, it doesn't mean science & the medical world know everything.

However, eventhough their approces may sometimes be good, but can also be theoretical as in,