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10 Health Protocols to Help You Look Better Naked

Health protocols help you look better. They also help you to improve your health, lengthen your lifespan, feel better, and experience a higher daily quality of life.

I’ve compiled a concise list of health protocols – applicable to both men and women – that will assist you in this new leg of your journey toward improved self-care.

  • A protocol is any positive habitual action that makes your life better.
  • Each protocol suggested here is like a personal experiment you can do to see if the results are worthwhile.

I’ve also included videos to help inspire you to get started.

Feel More Confident, Even Without Clothes

Life provides you with ample opportunities to experiment with health protocols.

What becomes challenging for many of us is that we get so busy with the minutia of day-to-day existence – and overwhelmed with healthy-living information – that we rarely get around to changing our lifestyle habits in any significant or lasting way.

The solution is to begin with the end in mind.

Decide who you want to be, how you want to feel, and what you want your body to look like.

Work backward from your goal.

Experiment with tiny self-care protocols – keeping the ones that have the most positive impact and offer the least disruption to your daily life.

protocols motivating example
Hugo Rietveld, Age 56, is an inspiring example of what can be accomplished when strategic health protocols are implemented.

Though aging is a natural part of life for everyone, you can still age intelligently and become even stronger and more vital than you are right now.

In fact, protocols can help your health and physique improve so significantly that you will begin to feel more confident, even when you are not wearing clothes.

Simple Protocols that Have Maximum Impact on Physical Appearance and Overall Health

Implementing these health protocols will increase physical energy as your body composition improves until – finally – you will begin to notice a difference when you look in the mirror. Others will notice, too.

1. Engage the Principles of Manifestation

  • Core Concept: use visualization more often.
  • Action Step: sit down for 5 minutes and picture in your mind a healthier version of yourself. Imagine not only what that will look like, but what it will feel like.

The question is not whether you will continue to age. You will, hopefully. The question is: will you age successfully?

You can give yourself the tools you need to position yourself to feel better as you get older, enhancing the quality and length of your own life.

2. Among the Best Protocols: Eat Fewer Grains

  • Core Concept: make your body work less hard on low-priority tasks so that it can channel more of its energy into healing and restoration; decrease dietary irritants. Use pre-soaking to make fun foods less inflammatory.
  • Action Step: instead of toast or cold cereal for breakfast, try unsweetened cultured coconut milk yogurt (dairy-free) topped with sprouted seeds and cinnamon.

For some people, eating too many grains can devastate one’s youthful appearance.

mature woman doing butterfly stretch

I do eat grains once in a while – especially when I’ve been exercising frequently and at high intensity. But, I choose those grains carefully.

Eating grains in a healthy way often means having the right grains and pre-soaking overnight, rinsing in the morning, and adding new, freshwater before cooking.

This pre-soaking process can reduce toxic proteins in the form of enzyme-blockers and lectins, deactivate phytic acid (which blocks the absorption of minerals including copper, magnesium, and zinc), neutralize tannins (which are gut irritants), initiate the breakdown of cellulose (which otherwise is not digestible), and overall decrease the likelihood of an autoimmune response. This is why, on rare occasions, I have white rice instead of brown.

I use a high-pressure cooker (Instantpot) to prepare my white rice, which also helps remove lectins.

Autoimmune disease impacts one out of five people in the US and is no joke. It’s wise for people over the age of 50 to decrease their daily intake of dietary irritants that can – over time – begin to create autoimmune flare-ups.

Make certain that your carb-meals also have healthy fats and protein included. This will help to make the carbohydrates more energy-sustaining and slow down the sugar-conversion process inside the body.

Blood-sugar spikes cause that “crash-and-burn feeling” and should be avoided (check with your doctor before making any significant dietary changes).

An exception to this is for athletes. In that case, a carby snack might help shuttle nutrients into thirsty muscles – but only directly after a particularly intense workout.

Reducing your intake of flour and poorly prepared grains is among the ultimate health protocols that can produce big, positive results and help you to look better naked.

3. Walk Yourself to Improved Wellness

  • Core Concept: walking reorganizes the body.
  • Action Step: go for a long walk, then return home, and ask yourself whether it was a beneficial use of your time.
mature athlete outdoors exercises
My new coursebook is designed for the sole purpose of helping you get healthier quickly. It’s a step-by-step guide for returning to fantastic shape, presented in a strategic sequence. You’ll learn exactly how to eat after the age of 50. Your clothes will fit you better. You’ll feel trim and athletic. Even your skin will improve. Click-through for details.

4. Among the Best Protocols: Eat More Vegetables

  • Core Concept: vegetables are even better for you than fruit.
  • Action Steps: experiment with consuming more veggies, especially kale; try making your green smoothies in an entirely different way.

One of the critical steps most people must take to lose belly fat and improve health is to consume more servings of vegetables each week. Kale is among the most effective vegetables for this purpose.

I invite you to try different ways of including more kale into your recipes until you’re consuming it an average of three times a week or possibly more.

Kale is a nutritious, fiber-filled, leafy green vegetable that ranked highest in antioxidants in a Human Nutrition Research Center study.

VegParadise.com reports that medical researchers believe the whole family of cruciferous vegetables helps to prevent cancer. The cruciferous family includes kale.

Studies have shown that eating foods in this vegetable family also speeds the liver’s ability to process ingested toxins, providing the body with antioxidants – such as lutein, zeaxanthin, beta-carotene, and vitamin C – that can significantly reduce the risk of age-related macular degeneration and lymphoma.

Kale is listed at WebMD as one of five foods that can boost your health, asking viewers, “what if you could make a conscious effort to add five healthy foods to your plate and improve your longevity?”

The key, according to researchers, is to outsmart your body, which as you age is busy half-forming (or damaging) your cells, rather than creating healthy new cells resistant to cancer, rapid aging, and other ills:  “cells are damaged by free radicals [which can lead] to bad cell behavior such as cancer.”

If you think you don’t like kale, I encourage you to experiment with preparing it in different ways until you find a way to enjoy it because kale can contribute to your vitality. I assure you, there are ways to eat kale that actually taste fantastic.

  • do you like kale or hate it?
  • when was the last time you had kale?
  • do you eat kale at least three times each week?

Sauté Kale with Free Range Ground Turkey

After you wash and dry your kale leaves, toss them into your food processor and give it a couple of spins. Then add those kale pieces into your sauté pan with some nearly cooked organic free-range dark ground turkey meat.

Add Italian spices, white pepper, sea salt, and more chopped vegetables – such as yellow bell pepper, carrots, zucchini, and mushrooms – and a bit of marinara sauce and finish cooking.

Before you start, you might want to add a half teaspoon of avocado oil to your sauté pan to add a bit of healthy fat and flavor to the meat (so it doesn’t stick to the pan). This is all done on low-to-medium heat (ground turkey and vegetables cook quickly, so it’s important not to overcook).

improved appearance health protocols
Hugo Rietveld employs clean-eating habits and smart fitness principles to thrive at age 56.

Make Homemade Kale Chips

I know – kale chips don’t sound like a snack you would enjoy. But here’s the thing: you probably would enjoy it. Even kids can eat this snack:

  • clean the dark, green leafy vegetable – kale – and then bake it in the oven on a pizza stone or cookie sheet.
  • at some point during the baking process, spray the kale with Bragg’s Liquid Aminos (a healthier version of soy sauce).
  • after the kale has been baked in the oven, it breaks into small pieces about the size of potato chips and can be stored in baggies or containers and enjoyed as a healthier, energizing snack.

Add Kale to Your Smoothies

One of the easiest ways to eat kale more is by including it as an ingredient in your blended smoothies.

A freshly prepared green smoothie can infuse your body with nutrients. All you need is a high-quality blender and a sense of adventure.

It’s hugely satisfying to know that you’re the creator of your own health boosting smoothie. The right ingredients will help your green smoothie taste great while giving your body strength and infusing your day with energy.

The Smartest Smoothies Have the Best Ingredients

It’s tempting to toss as many sugary fruits as possible into your blender, but leafy greens are a key to improved nutrition and often the quickest way toward improved health.

2 principles of green smoothies that are important to understand:

  1. each of us is on a different path in our nutritional journey
  2. each of us needs different superfoods at different times and in different amounts.

You might have to make a few so-so smoothies in the beginning while you get the hang of it. Still, the advantage to experimenting with your recipe is that you really learn – it teaches you to think about smoothies in terms of protein, fat, and complex carbohydrates because you want to find ingredients you like for each of those three nutritional categories (“macros”).

First, you start with a liquid base. Here are some possible options:

  • green tea
  • almond milk (buy it or make it yourself, a good cholesterol-free alternative to milk and one of the few alkalizing nuts)
  • hemp milk
  • rice milk
  • freshly squeezed lime juice

Next, you need to add some healthy fat. Here are examples of fat choices:

  • chia seeds
  • flax oil or flax meal
  • coconut butter
  • raw pecans
  • sprouted pumpkin seeds
  • avocado
  • MCT oil

Then, you want to add some extra protein. Here are some options:

  •  whey protein powder (for athletes)
  •  plant protein powder (made from fermented rice, sprouted grains, and peas)

And now, the fun part: fruits and vegetables. Here are just some examples:

  • organic cucumber and celery
  • organic blueberries – (frozen is fine)
  • mango – this fruit contains age-reversing properties and also adds texture; it’s available in bags of frozen chunks, so you don’t have to worry about it spoiling; only add a very little bit
  • spinach and other leafy greens – parsley, cilantro, kale, chard. Organic spinach can be bought in frozen bags relatively cheaply and isn’t noticeable in the final taste (so it’s a good choice for people who struggle to enjoy their vegetables).

Include Superfoods in Your Smoothie Recipe

Next, you want to add extra flavors or superfoods. This is the “polish” to your smoothie (a superfood is a food that is so nutritious and beneficial for the human body that it stands out from most other foods). Some favorite flavors of mine include:

  • cayenne
  • ginger
  • turmeric
  • hemp
  • bee pollen
  • freshly squeezed lemon or lime
  • fresh mint leaves
  • blue-green algae
  • shilajit
  • goji
  • brazil nut
  • chia seed
  • raw sprouted pumpkin seed
  • mesquite
  • camu
  • medicinal mushrooms
  • maca
  • …and, of course, my favorite superfood:  chocolate (raw cacao)

Most superfoods are unusually high in antioxidants, and many also have nutrients that are not as easily found in other plant foods, such as Fulvic Acid (shilajit), B-12 (maca), selenium (Brazil nuts), and free amino acids and enzymes (bee pollen).

Dane Findley employs specific health protocols to improve his health as he ages.

Some superfoods are so potent that it’s a good idea to cycle them. One of my favorite cycles is “8-weeks on, 4-weeks off.”

For example, maca is a superfood that some believe can kickstart a sluggish endocrine system. I like maca, but I don’t want my body to become dependent on it, so I usually have it daily for about 8 weeks, and then I take a month off (a little bit of maca root powder in a smoothie also enhances the flavor).

Only you can know for sure what foods your body responds to positively.

Each superfood has a different impact on each body. Listen closely to how your body feels after trying a superfood for the first time, and ask your medical doctor and nutritionist for guidance.

For example, there have been periods when my body likes bee pollen, but there have been other periods when it hasn’t responded well to it – so I try to pay close attention and listen to what my body says.

You don’t need to buy every superfood available on the planet – just begin with a few and see if your body responds positively.

Finally, the last ingredient is good, old-fashioned ice to ensure a chilled beverage and smooth texture.

Whatever ingredients you choose, keep it nutrient-rich with as many dark leafy greens as you can handle (though in the beginning, that might be a very small amount), and add that extra plant protein powder to rejuvenate your body during workout days.

In the beginning, you’ll want to emphasize fruits. Later, as you become more skilled in your smoothie-making, your taste buds will evolve, and then you’ll want to try adding more vegetables than fruits (in other words, you’ll be ready for a less sweet smoothie).

My smoothies these days are primarily vegetables and almost no fruit – usually just a bit of fresh lime juice or cucumber.

Remember, improved health is a journey (not an on/off switch), and the best way to learn about green smoothies is by actually experimenting. Yes, you will make a few mistakes along the way, but that’s part of the adventure. Increasing your daily intake of vegetables can be among the most important health protocols.

5. Rate Your Passion

  • Core Concept: a prevention mindset makes all the difference.
  • Action Steps: decide how important your health is to you on a scale of 1-to-10. Next, decide how important a role good health would play in what you’d like to achieve over the next 10 years.
silhouette of woman feeling healthy and free

6. Check Your Own Eyes for Clues

  • Core Concept: there are fast ways to determine which foods your body likes best.
  • Action Steps: be more curious about your body’s subtle responses – ascertain your energy levels after you eat; upon waking in the morning, evaluate your tongue and your eyes. Are they clean, bright, and crisp-looking – or dull, yeasty, or puffy?

7. Think Holistically

  • Core Concept: lasting success is achieved in incremental stages.
  • Action Step: begin to witness yourself more objectively throughout the day, noticing more clearly how and when you move, sit, breathe, eat – and, especially, witness your thoughts and feelings as they occur.

8. See Sugar as an Addiction

  • Core Concept: understand that sugar is a craving and that those cravings can lessen over time as you decrease sugar intake (don’t shame yourself, but do acknowledge that simple carbs are unnecessary for thriving health).
  • Action Step: replacing refined sugars and refined grains with fresh fruit (then, later down the road, you can start to decrease your fruit intake, too).

It is believed by many in the medical community that sugar feeds cancer cells. Dramatically reducing sugar intake can be among the most crucial health protocols.

9. Use Protocols to Develop Symmetry in Your Physique

  • Core Concept: for most people, the back side of their body is overstretched and weak, and the front side is overly developed and tight.
  • Action Steps: When exercising, start thinking about making your body evener. Strengthen your posterior chain (lats, rhomboids, rear deltoids) while improving mobility in your anterior chain – open up those shoulder and chest muscles.

The typical person in a first-world country spends more time driving, computing, texting, and sitting than they realize (if I asked you to estimate the amount of time you spend sedentary, you would dramatically underestimate the number of hours).

This eventually creates asymmetry in the body, which – over time – creates a bleak situation of accelerated aging.

I recommend pilates or yoga to become more symmetrical and physically fit.

If you go to the gym, de-emphasize “nightclub muscles” – those you see first when looking at yourself in a mirror – such as chest and arms – and emphasize instead those other muscles you don’t see as readily when facing the mirror.

Keeping your joints supple as you grow older is among the most important health protocols.

Dane Findley age 54 helps others achieve stellar wellness and a healthier physique.
Dane has a master’s in Depth Counseling and has spent decades as a professional fitness and Pilates trainer. Today, Dane is a Healthy Lifestyle Advocate who curates the popular Quality of Life Newsletter – a free weekly update for those who want to UP their joy levels.

10. Build Your Wellness Team

  • Core Concept: people either enhance your energy or drain it.
  • Action Steps: express gratitude to someone who enhances your energy; reflect on who in your life supports and encourages your increased desire for wellness.

Tips on Implementing New Protocols

Do you want to take your health to the next level?

What positive lifestyle habits – from the above list of health protocols – have you already implemented consistently into your lifestyle?

I hope you feel excited by the possibilities of what your own life can become.

My wish for you is that ten years from now, you wake up in the morning feeling even better than you do today.

Imagine yourself waking up in the morning ten years from now:

  • how will your body and mind feel at that moment?
  • will your future self be robust, joyful, and passionate?
  • does the 10-years-from-now version of you bound out of bed each morning with enthusiasm and abundant energy?

There is nothing wrong with wanting to look better naked. Most of us want to look as good on the outside as we feel on the inside. It makes us feel congruent, strong, and hopeful.

My weekly updates reveal methods to cut through the noise of the modern, complex landscape. The updates help you better manage your time, energy, and nutrition so that you live more purposefully and with outrageously good health.

You can then utilize your new awareness to create a life map – a map that will help you to navigate this next phase of your life so that your journey is passionate, joyful, and rich with meaning and purpose. This next phase of your life can be your most fascinating yet.

The above ten health protocols can leave you feeling great on the inside – while also helping you to look better naked.

Additional Sources about Health Protocols:

How Many Americans Have Autoimmune Disease? – https://www.aarda.org/autoimmune-information/questions-and-answers/

Protocols Impact Body Shape Changes Previously Associated with Aging – http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/003998.htm

The Observer Effect: Why It Matters to You that the Universe is a Gigantic Field of Energy – http://www.vision.net.au/~apaterson/science/physics_quantum.htm

You Can Find Your Own Protocols to Help Solve Life’s Problems – http://www.productiveflourishing.com/demystifying-the-creative-process/

Calculating Nutrient Intake – http://www.freedieting.com/tools/nutrient_calculator.htm

Make Your Own Almond Milk – http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Almond-Milk

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