By Dr. Mercola
I had such an overwhelming response to the recent video I did on what I eat for breakfast that I decided to expand on the rest of my day. I have actually included the breakfast video above, so if you haven’t yet seen it you can just watch the third video above.
I’d like to share my daily routine with all of you in the hopes you may be able to glean a healthy habit or two, or incorporate some of my lifestyle and fitness tips into your daily life as well.
In My Office
My day begins in my home office, where I spend about several hours checking and answering emails. I then go to exercise in my home gym — a daily workout is one of my essential health habits that keeps me feeling invigorated all day and gives me more than enough energy to do anything that I need to.
Before I arrive at my work office, I like to get my email Inbox down to zero. This is an important organizational and time-saving strategy for me. As soon as a message hits my Inbox, I respond to it right away, archive it to be checked on later or delete it.
At work I spend much of my day answering emails, making important phone calls, doing interviews and filming videos such as these.
My Daily Supplements
The other component of my morning routine is to take my daily supplements. Each morning, I typically take:
Whole Food Multivitamin Plus Minerals I take 2-6 of these which has vitamin D, I typically only take this during the winter, as I tend to get plenty of sun exposure in the summer.
Krill Oil: I take 2-4, but usually 2, of these each day to get my supply of high-quality, animal-based omega-3 fats.
Purple Defense: A potent antioxidant.* I also take this when I fly. I use 8 when flying domestically and nine when flying international
Complete Probiotics: For good bacteria.*
Turmeric: A powerful spice that has emerged as one of nature’s most powerful herbs.
Ubiquinol: A reduced form of coenzyme Q10, which is absorbed by your body very effectively.*
A Tour of Our LEED-Certified Office Building
I’m very proud of our office building as it incorporates numerous state-of-the-art components that make it very green. It actually qualifies for LEED green building status.
LEED — Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design — is a third party certification program and nationally accepted benchmark stating that a building project is environmentally responsible and a healthy place to live and work.
Along with a very efficient heating and air conditioning system, the building has green furnishings, full-spectrum fluorescent lighting, and shades that assist in heating and cooling and run according to astronomical time.
If you visit our LEED-certified clinic, you will step into a building that enhances your health and wellbeing.
Lunchtime at Work
For optimal health it truly is necessary for either you, someone in your family or someone you hire to spend time in the kitchen preparing fresh, unprocessed, preferably organic and locally grown meals.
Lunchtime can be a particularly challenging time for people to eat healthy; many end up taking up time, gas and money to leave work and grab a bite to eat. Most importantly, many people end up resorting to fast food or other junk foods because they don’t always have the time to prepare a fresh meal.
So I made the decision to hire a chef, for myself personally and also for all of the employees at my Natural Health Center, and it has worked out really well. Our wonderful chef prepares nutritious and healthy meals, which frees up more of my time, and also helps keep our staff well nourished!
A Workout at the Office Gym
I typically work out every day while I’m at home. I do this because I travel quite a bit, and there are times when I travel that my schedule does not allow for exercise. So to make up for those periods I exercise daily when I’m not on the road.
Exercising is one of the most important activities you can do for your health. However, just as your diet, variety is the key. It’s important to vary your exercise routine in order to get the absolute best results.
Your muscles simply get used to the same activity and they require a level of muscle confusion if they are to continue to improve and grow stronger. So my exercise routine contains a variety of activities to cover all the bases, including aerobic, interval, strength training, flexibility and core.
For the cardio days of my workout, I typically do an intense 45-minute session on the elliptical machine, changing my direction forward and backward and drinking plenty of water so I don’t get dehydrated. I also do about 10-15 minutes of flexibility training daily.
On my strength-training days, I like to do a lot of body weight exercises, along with exercises to challenge my balance and work my core muscles. You can view my routine in the second video above.
You’ll notice that most of my exercises use really simple equipment, such as resistance bands, free weights, a weight bench and an exercise ball — so you can likely find a way to try some of these out in your own home.
Once a week I also work with my personal trainer, who gives me more new ideas to continue the muscle confusion and take my routine to an even higher level.
We are going to be launching a new exercise site soon that will go into far more detail on simple and effective exercises you can use to enhance your health.
This gives you a quick glimpse into my typical day. I hope you will feel compelled to incorporate some of these healthy habits into your own day as you continue on your journey to optimal health.