Support and nutrition for a healthy body and great mood

Support and nutrition for a healthy body and great mood

If you’ve been struggling to maintain a regular exercise routine, you can take a different approach: focus on your plate. Small but sustainable improvements in your eating habits. More vegetables, healthy fats, and fewer ultra-processed foods can collectively lead to significant changes in your body’s aging process over time. These basics include whole foods, plenty of plant foods, healthy fats, and high-quality protein. Support and nutrition for a healthy body and great mood.

Plenty of fruits and vegetables: Use plant foods as a foundation.
Healthy fats: Olive oil (Mediterranean) and unsaturated fats tend to feature prominently.
Fish and seafood: Regular consumption of oily fish is common in all of these dietary patterns.
Whole grains: Minimally processed grains instead of refined varieties.
Limited consumption of ultra-processed foods: Less emphasis on packaged, highly processed foods.

Pleasant walks in a green park with a lake and birds
Pleasant walks in a green park with a lake and birds. Photo by Elena Petrova and Mikhail Borisov

For people who find it difficult to maintain regular physical activity, focusing on food choices may be the most accessible and effective way to start.

Support and nutrition for a healthy immune system

For bacteria, live fermentation: homemade yogurt, kefir, and fermented foods.

For the brain, good fats, minerals, and stable blood sugar.

For the liver, bitters and greens.

For the gastrointestinal tract, fiber, warming foods, and a calm eating rhythm.

For muscles, protein, amino acids, and strength training.

For bones, minerals, adequate protein, and proper exercise.

For the thyroid, iodine, selenium, tyrosine, and the prevention of chronic exhaustion.

For the adrenal glands: stress reduction, magnesium, sleep, and a healthy daily rhythm.

For the heart: potassium, magnesium, omega-3, and calm, even breathing.

For the blood vessels: adequate water, antioxidants, and, again, movement.

For the skin: healthy fats, vitamin C, protein, and deep hydration.

For the gallbladder: healthy fats in reasonable quantities and regular meals.

For the nervous system: magnesium, B vitamins, peace and quiet, and rest.

For the mitochondria: protein, coenzyme nutrients, (once again) movement, and oxygen (breathing exercises with breath holding).

For the immune system: healthy sleep, minerals, stress regulation, and, most importantly, the absence of constant inflammation.

Most of us think about improving our diets in fairly predictable ways: prepping meals ahead of time, eating more protein, and eating fewer processed snacks.

The connection between nature and nutrition. Support and nutrition for a healthy body and great mood.

Spending time in nature helps develop healthier eating habits.

Indirect exposure: contemplating nature, such as looking at trees outside the window.
Incidental exposure: the presence of nature around you, such as houseplants.
Purposeful exposure to nature: actively spending time in nature, such as visiting a park.

People who interacted more frequently with nature, particularly through intentional and incidental contact, tended to have better-quality diets and were more likely to follow sustainable eating patterns. This was reflected in their consumption of more fruits, vegetables, and nutrient-rich foods.

A summer cafe in a park with beautiful flowers
A summer cafe in a park with beautiful flowers. Photo by Elena Petrova and Mikhail Borisov

Nature might influence what you crave
For one, spending time in nature appeared to support a calmer, more regulated mental state. When people felt less stressed and more clear-headed, they were more likely to make intentional food choices rather than defaulting to convenience.

Nature helps restore cognitive bandwidth. And when your brain isn’t overloaded, it’s easier to make decisions that align with your long-term health goals.

Using nature to your advantage. Support and nutrition for a healthy body and great mood.

Here are a few ways to put this into practice:

Stack nature with existing habits. Take a short walk before dinner or drink your morning coffee outside. These small moments may help set the tone for more intentional choices later.
Bring nature into your space. While it’s not a complete substitute, adding plants to your home or workspace can still support that sense of connection.
Make it a routine, not a one-off. The strongest associations in the study came from consistent interaction, not occasional exposure.
Use nature as a reset. If you’re feeling stressed or stuck in reactive habits, even 10–15 minutes outside can help you come back to a more grounded state.

Spending time in nature won’t magically transform your diet. But it might create the conditions that make healthier choices feel easier, more intuitive, and more aligned with how you actually want to feel.

Internal observation skill. Support and nutrition for a healthy body and great mood.

An important skill to develop for health is to engage your inner observer. This means observing everyone without judgment, without dividing into “good/bad” or “right/wrong.” The inner observer’s job is to analyze how each subpersonality’s response algorithms are appropriate to the context of the situation. The inner observer, in these algorithms, notices the superiority of those who ensure life’s preservation at any cost.

To be healthy and happy, you need to treat your body as an honest and sincere assistant, experience and give space to your emotions, and, in addition to this, develop a non-judgmental inner observer.

Even with proper nutrition, regular sleep, and moderate exercise, familiar sensations are increasingly appearing: loss of energy, headaches, blurred vision, leg cramps, unstable blood pressure, and nervous irritability. The cause is often not the heat itself, but a deficiency in electrolytes—minerals that regulate our basic functions.

Electrolytes aren’t a sport, a diet, or a trendy powder. They’re the foundation of how the body functions. In hot weather, everyone needs them—regardless of age, activity level, and goals. If you feel like plain water isn’t restoring your energy, it might be time to supplement with something that truly helps.

The key ones are sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium. Electrolytes: regulate water-salt and acid-base balance;
support heart and muscle function; participate in the transmission of nerve impulses; influence mental clarity, stress resistance, and recovery speed.
And most importantly, without them, water is not absorbed. It simply passes through the body without saturating the cells. The result is a state of “I’m drinking, but it’s still heavy.”

Relax on the seashore in a bungalow with beautiful flowers
Relax on the seashore in a bungalow with beautiful flowers. Photo by Elena Petrova and Mikhail Borisov

How to maintain balance?
Through food
To replenish key mineral deficiencies, choose the following foods. Potassium: zucchini, avocado, jacket potatoes, greens, watermelon, coconut water. Magnesium: pumpkin seeds, almonds, buckwheat, spinach. Calcium: sesame seeds, leafy greens, almond milk. Sodium: in reasonable amounts with high-quality sea or Himalayan salt. Through nutraceuticals.
How our emotions, thoughts, and social context influence what we eat, and how food, in turn, affects our mental health and well-being.