by Introduction
If you think early retirement is all about money, asset allocation, or living location, you’re mistaken. While saving money is important, it means nothing if you don’t have good health. In this post, we’ll explore the importance of investing in your health on the road to early retirement and beyond.
The Importance of Good Health in Early Retirement
Good health is essential for a happy and fulfilling retirement. It allows you to enjoy the activities and experiences that you have planned for during your retirement years. Without good health, you may find yourself limited in what you can do and unable to fully enjoy your retirement. It’s important to start thinking about your health now and make it a priority in your early retirement planning.
Why Invest in Your Health Now?
Some aspects of our health are beyond our control, such as genetic predispositions to certain conditions or being born with them. We can, however, control the most common aspects of our health and prevent diseases, including those caused by man, that the “average” person suffers from, such as diabetes, heart disease, depression, and, yes, cancer.
But why invest in your health now?
It’s simple: your body and mind are like stock market investments. The better you treat them now and the more you invest in them, the more you’ll get in the long run. And, as someone who is planning for early retirement, investing in your health now means you’ll have more time to enjoy it in the future.
Invest Now, Enjoy More Later
And, as members of the FI community, I’m sure you appreciate the fact that investing in your health now will result in you spending less money in the future on healthcare expenses and more on activities that actually make you happy.
When people learn that we’ll be retiring early, they immediately ask how we’ll pay for medical expenses. This is after they get over the shock that we’d consider retirement before the age of 65. Our answer is simple: we intend to be healthy and only purchase high-deductible health insurance for major emergencies.
So, join us in investing in our most valuable asset, ourselves, and let’s make this year a toxin-free year!
6 Key Areas to Concentrate On for Optimal Health
What we’re about to share with you took us years to implement into our lives after conducting extensive online research and making gradual behavioral changes, so don’t feel obligated to make changes in your life all at once. Concentrate on one aspect at a time. I know it helps us stay focused until a new behavior becomes habitual.
1. Don’t skimp on your nutrition
It’s essential for a healthy and fulfilling life not to skimp on your nutrition. Eating should be enjoyable and satisfying, but it’s also important to make sure that what we’re consuming is good for our bodies. Five years ago, we made a change in our diet after watching a documentary called “Forks Over Knives” on Netflix. This film presents the health consequences of consuming animal products in a logical and convincing way, and it inspired us to embark on a six-week vegan challenge.
What small changes can you make in your diet to improve your overall health?
The challenge wasn’t about committing to a vegan lifestyle forever, but rather, it was about detoxing our bodies and seeing what foods we wanted to bring back into our diet after the cravings subsided. After the challenge, we both agreed to add eggs, fish, and occasional cheese nights (such as homemade pizza once a month) back into our diet. Additionally, when we travel to the Dominican Republic, we enjoy the local chicken, which is raised naturally and without hormones. The flavor is noticeably different and it’s a healthier option.
We encourage you to watch this film and decide whether you want to try the challenge for yourself. We found that it made a significant impact on our health and well-being, and we continue to enjoy it. Our nutritional habits aid in the prevention of the majority of common conditions associated with a higher percentage of animal products consumption. We find it easy to eat this way because we allow ourselves to be flexible. Plus, our chef, José, makes a vegan lasagna that is to die for!
What are some of the biggest challenges you face when it comes to eating healthy?
Another important aspect of good nutrition is the quality of the groceries we purchase. While it may be cheaper to buy processed food or eat ramen noodles every day, in the long run, it will cost us in terms of poor health, a lower quality of life, and higher healthcare costs. As a result, we strive to purchase only raw produce and minimally processed grains and legumes. We prefer to pay more for organic items with fewer pesticides than to pay less and accumulate more toxins and pesticides in our bodies over time. You can consult the “Dirty Dozen List” to learn more about the worst offenders.
We’re also focusing on organics because many non-organic products contain GMOs. The goal is to focus on quality rather than quantity. If you can’t afford certain organic items right now, you’re better off buying non-organic fresh produce than any type of processed food.
How do you make sure that the food you’re consuming is of high-quality and good for your body?
Since we started eating this way, we’ve been passing biometric screenings (blood pressure, glucose, and cholesterol) with flying colors. The doctors are usually astounded by our figures. Our secret formula is to consume very little sugar and carbonated drinks, very little dairy, less than 5% animal products, lots of fruits and vegetables, and very little processed food. Consume foods grown on farms rather than in laboratories.
2. Exercise for fun
Well, this is a no brainer. We all know that exercising is good for us. We incorporate a variety of activities, including yoga, weight training, dancing, and team sports into our routine. As long as you are having fun, do whatever gets you moving and energized. The nice thing is that exercise can be free as well, as you can do most things at home or outside. Plus, YouTube has lessons for just about everything nowadays. We have an inexpensive gym membership at work as well, and that $15 a month is so worth the long-term benefits we get from exercising. The gym is especially useful in the winter, when it’s too cold to do much outside.
Not a fan of official exercise?
Here are 40 ways to exercise without realizing it.
3. Say hello to toxin-free products
This is a game-changer for your health and well-being. Recently, we discovered the harsh reality of how poorly most industries treat us after watching the documentary “The Human Experiment.” The film reveals the wide range of toxins found in everyday personal care products such as shampoo, deodorant, detergents, and more. We were shocked, then outraged, and finally decided to take action by voting with our dollars.
Among our favorite modifications are:
- EcoNuts berries: EcoNuts berries can be used as a natural laundry detergent. The EcoNuts are dried berries that naturally contain high concentrations of saponin, a type of soap. Due to their high concentration, they are excellent for cleaning laundry while remaining gentle on your clothes and skin.
- EO shampoo/soap: These products have a pleasant aroma and are gentle on the skin.
- EO deodorant: This deodorant is made of essential oil blends and does not contain any synthetic fragrances. BEWARE of well-known brands such as Secret and Right Guard, as they are among the worst offenders. José was hesitant to switch from his toxic Right Guard after trying other organic ones unsuccessfully, but he’s since converted.
- Badger sunscreen: Badger sunscreen is thicker and creamier than toxic brands, but it works just as well and without harm. I was shocked to learn that the Aveeno sunblock I was previously using, which contains typical big brand ingredients like oxybenzone, disrupts your hormones and reproductive system. What!? They also make baby sunscreen with the same ingredients.
- Beauty products: I started reading “No More Dirty Looks,” a really informative book on the subject. It’s frightening what the chemical industry can get away with putting in our mascaras, nail polish, and other beauty products in the United States. Say goodbye to eye-wateringly expensive, toxic nail salons! It’s just not worth it.
Are you feeling overwhelmed? First, get a massage, which is an excellent way to remove toxins from your body. Then, as with switching to better nutrition, choose one product type and switch to a natural brand. Then continue the process with other products.
We gradually switched to safer products over the last six months, so the transition was painless for us. While it is frustrating that purchasing personal care products in today’s world is so difficult, we can help change the quality of the supply by shifting our demand to healthy products. Rather than ignoring the data, let us vote with our dollars!
4. Maintain a healthy pH level in your body.
Cancer is the world’s second leading cause of death. While Big Pharma is focused on “curing” the disease, we are looking for ways to prevent it. There are alternatives to chemo and radiation. Go find some answers!
Shouldn’t the world focus more on prevention?
We’ve been learning a lot about pH levels in our bodies and the difference between alkalinity and acidity.
Dr. David Williams believes that keeping a slightly alkaline pH is essential for disease prevention. “The human body is an indivisible, integrated organism, not a collection of various unrelated parts. In this vein, there are various mechanisms in your body that work together to maintain a proper pH balance throughout your body.”
Cancer thrives in an acidic environment. According to Dr. Williams, the best way to maintain a slightly alkaline pH in your body is to eat a diet high in alkaline-forming foods and low in acid-forming foods.
Your body can alert you to your acidity levels. Do you feel fatigued? Are you easily out of breath? You can test it yourself at home with a pH strip. We do this on a regular basis to keep our bodies in an alkaline state.
One new habit we’ve developed to balance our pH level is to drink a glass of water with lemon on an empty stomach every morning. While most citrus fruits are acidic, lemon is not, making it a refreshing way to begin the day and detox your body. Simply squeeze half a lemon into an eight-ounce glass of water and enjoy.
p.s. The charts above are courtesy of pHreshproducts.com. We have not used their products, so do your research before purchasing them.
5. Flow into meditation and explore your spirituality
Whether you are religious or spiritual, you must spend time ensuring that your mind is well cared for. To balance ourselves, we enjoy meditating during our yoga classes as well as making time for personal reflection alone.
You may be exposed to a great deal of stress in your life; the question is whether you are dealing with it or sweeping it under the rug, where it grows. We like to confront things that bother us and figure out how to deal with them in a proactive manner.
If you’re not sure where to begin, try meditating for five to ten minutes each day. You can do it from anywhere: on the train, in your office…
Do not be afraid to be alone with your thoughts. Facing yourself will be the most terrifying and empowering thing you can do.
6. Allow your soul to soar
It’s hard to pick your soul out of a line-up, as no one knows what it looks like. You might know deep down how it feels when it’s soaring and when it’s falling. You may have a deep understanding of how it feels to be soaring and falling. I don’t believe there is a one-size-fits-all approach to happiness and soul satisfaction. The truth is within you; all you have to do is be brave enough to recognize what the right formula is for you.
At the age of 19, I went through a soul-searching exercise and came up with My Top 5 Things that make me truly happy. Do you know what those are for you? If not, go ahead and explore that uncharted territory first. Then, feed your soul the nutrients it requires to be healthy and happy.
Final thoughts
Make one small change to improve your health. As you can see, our focus areas aren’t exactly earth-shattering. That is the point. A long and healthy life does not have to be a difficult formula to master
Early retirement is a dream for many people, but it’s important to remember that your health should be a top priority. By focusing on your physical and mental well-being, you can fully enjoy your retirement and make the most out of the extra free time. We hope that the tips and strategies we’ve shared in this post have been helpful and that you’ll be able to put them into practice. Remember, it’s never too late to start taking care of yourself and your health.
Cheers to a healthy and toxin-free year and life to come!
Excellent article. What good is all the Financial Success and early retirement without good health. Great call to develop awareness of the products with use daily. Thanks for the great research.
Glad to hear you found this helpful, Bladimir! Cheers to health and FI, a powerful combination. 🙂