Wellness can be a bit of a vague term—it can mean different things to different people in different contexts. And why wellness rather than, say health?
Essentially, health is (one of the many!) byproducts of wellness. By focusing on cultivating wellness, we’re putting our attention on the process rather than the outcome, and it’s during the process that the magic really happens.
Looking after ourselves doesn’t need to be complicated, it's about implementing key changes, and building them up consistently for us to experience the benefits.
Over our 15 years of experience in working with clients and supporting our audience on their wellness journeys, we've found 10 key holistic pillars of wellness that when implemented, make a huge change to our lives.
These simple, but powerful, diet, lifestyle and nutrition principles are always available for us to ground into. We don’t have to adopt them with all at once (and in all honesty we recommend trying out one at a time!). They work synergistically - by focussing on just one, the other aspects naturally improve.
And so, without further ado, here they are:
BePure Ten Pillars of Wellness
Can you believe that every bite we take influences complex systems like our gene expression and our gut microbiome? We hold a lot of power in the foods we choose to nourish ourselves with but it can often be confusing figuring out what we SHOULD be eating.
- Not sure what to eat? Take the BePure Macronutrient Profile quiz.
- Craving foods you wish you didn't? Learn what your cravings could mean.
- Need some help nurturing mindfulness around eating?
At BePure we like to adopt the 80/20 rule—eating whole foods is to support us living a life of wellness, not a life based around what we eat. If you find yourself craving salty
Need some recipe inspiration?
- This is what we're cooking in the BePure kitchen.
- Get on the banana bread bandwagon with our Gluten-Free Banana Bread.
- For many of our parents, ensuring your kids are getting wholesome meals while at school can be a challenge. Here are some ideas to get you started, as well as our favourite lunchbox go-to, Easy Egg Wraps!
2. Essential Nutrients
Experiencing any level of nutrient deficiency can impact our wellness and quality of life dramatically.
Micro nutrients relate to the essential vitamins, minerals, fatty acids and nutrients within our food - they’re like the nuts and bolts of how our bodies work. If micronutrients are the nuts and bolts, macronutrients are like the bigger building supplies. They’re the timber frame, the roof and the exterior walls of your structure. You’ve probably heard of them; Protein, Fats and Carbohydrates. Some foods are incredibly rich in the nutrients our bodies thrive on, while others rob us of energy and health.
For our mind, body and emotions to function optimally, micronutrients play a hugely important role. For instance the recent highlight of the importance of vitamin C, zinc and vitamin D to support immunity, or B vitamins for energy, magnesium for sleep and muscle recovery... the list is very long!
If you're looking for an easy place to start when addressing your nutrient deficiency challenges, the BePure Everyday Wellness Pack is a simple and hugely effective place to start. It includes BePure One, your baseline essential nutrients, BePure Two, a powerful probiotic for great gut health and BePure Three, high strength fish oil.
8. Gut Health
“All disease begins in the gut.” Hippocrates once said, and he was certainly onto something. Not only is our gut at the core of our bodies, it’s at the core of good health. Wondering what an unhealthy gut looks like?
- Digestive issues like bloating, gas or diarrhoea
- Sugar cravings
- Bad breath
- Moodiness, Anxiety and Depression
- Food allergies or sensitivities
We undergo a myriad of restorative and regenerative processes while we sleep. In very simple terms, the better quality the sleep, the better the restoration! But, easier said than done. If sleep is alluding you, this is how you can set yourself up for a good night of sleep.
Establish a nourishing pre-sleep routine.
Try our beautiful BePure Deep Sleep, a blend of herbs and nutrients formulated to help support in calming and relaxing of our bodies.
Take our dreamy 30 minute yin yoga to support sleep.
Have you ever tried 'legs up the wall?'
If your mind starts running wild right as you are drifting off, we recommend giving bedtime journaling for better sleep a go.
4. Social Connection & Community
Humans are tribal by nature— social connectivity and a sense of belonging is a basic human need for survival. The quality of our relationships is another key factor in determining of overall experience of wellness.
If you have a body, you have physical health. And if you have a brain, you have mental health… So, that’s all of us! And our mental health is just as important as our physical health. In fact, the two aren’t even really that separate, they’re intrinsically connected.
Here are some of the ways you can begin to nurture your mental health and wellbeing:
- Breathing has been shown to help support positive mental health, learn this deep belly breathing technique to calm your mind.
- Journaling is a fantastic way to help clear some mental space - but it can be intimidating to get started. Daisy Moore, takes us through a beautiful, guided journalling session.
- Everyone has mental health. Here are two stories from the BePure team: Tish's Story, 'Exploring My Way to Wellness', and Anna's story, Creating Mental Wellness
6. Movement & Exercise
Thinking beyond and exercise how movement affects what you look like—that’s just the very tip of the iceberg. Underneath the surface of the water is all the ways movement supports you on a cellular level from improved sleep to mental wellbeing, even gut health.
Often times we think of exercise as spending hours on cardio at the gym but we prefer to treat any form of movement as a celebration. Find what you like to do, here are some ideas to get you started:
- Bree's Tips For Beginning Running
- Exercising Right for You with Neil Wagstaff
- At-Home, Restorative Stretches with Phyiotherapist, Suzi Nevell
7. Nurturing Environment
What's good for the earth is usually good for us too. Understanding the chemicals that we are exposed to on a daily basis is important – once we know where they are hiding (think toothpaste, skincare and cleaning supplies...) we can begin reducing our exposure to these nasty toxins.
Our experience of health goes well beyond just our bodies, it's also about how we interact with the world around us. Eating seasonal foods is good both at reducing the preservatives in our food and our carbon footprint!
9. Hydration
Water transports nutrients throughout the body, aids in digestion, regulates temperature, facilitates all pathways of detoxification, protects our joints, supports healthy bowel movements, improves mental concentration and relieves fatigue.
10. Managing Stress
Life is 10% what happens, and 90% how we respond to it. Stress is one of the biggest contributing factors to poor health.
So there you have it—an overview of BePure’s ten pillars of wellness: a holistic approach to living this one life in a space of good health through simple but effective daily diet, lifestyle and nutrition measures.