It is impossible to focus on your health with the visual noise that clutter causes.

According to a study by the Princeton Neuroscience Institute, clutter actually overloads the visual cortex of our brains and interferes with its ability to process information. Clearing the clutter allows you to think and work more clearly and efficiently.

This allows you to spend less time on tasks and frees up more times for activities like exercising, preparing healthy meals or spending time with loved ones.

When we focus too much on weight loss, we tend to overemphasize exercise and dieting without paying any attention to the reasons we struggle to lose weight to begin with.

This means we don’t focus on the daily habits that prevent us from having time, energy and motivation to sustain a healthy lifestyle.

After working with hundreds of individuals over the years, I’ve seen first-hand that those who live a simple, more organized life have more long-term success in reaching and maintaining their health and fitness goals.

1. Clutter Causes Stress
Too much clutter can cause stress which can cause the body to increase hunger and cravings throughout the day. When we feel more stressed we tend to overeat and sometimes even feel more depressed which can cause a reduction in your activity level.

2. Prevents the Ability to Commit To Goals
The visual noise of clutter can impact your ability to create plans and goals you can commit to such as losing weight. Our ability to make time for exercise and healthy eating is diminished by the visual noise of clutter and disorganization.

3. Clutter Sucks Up Time
Too much clutter prevents you from having time to exercise or prepare healthy meals. You will have more time, energy and motivation to exercise and prepare healthy meals when your time isn’t being wasted looking for things you need!

1. Wash your face, remove your makeup
2. Brush and floss
3. Do 5-15 minutes of stretches or yoga
4. Wear your retainer
5. Read a book that releases you from life stress
6. Write down what you’re grateful for
7. Do a breathing exercise or listen to a sleep meditation or yoga nidra

Don’t want to go for a daily walk? No problem, no one ever said that was the cure-all for everyone. You can step outside, though. For longer than it takes to get the mail, please. Sit out on your porch for five minutes and breathe. Notice your surroundings. Don’t have a porch? Balcony, front steps, back deck… It doesn’t matter as long as you get outside every day. And, if you feel feisty, stay out there for longer. Sip your coffee or tea. Contemplate life. A few minutes outside being quiet will do you wonders.

My all-time favorite full-body exercise? Plank. Start at 10 seconds or whatever is your current edge. Up it 1 second each day. When you hit a time that goes beyond your edge, back off one second, then stay at that time until you’re ready to go back up.

Tips: Feel free to do planks on forearms or hands, knees down or up. Remember you’re trying to look like a plank of wood. Planks of wood do not bend in the middle or stick their bums in the air. Pull in your core, tighten your glutes, and push the ground away. You’re on your way!

This is easier than it sounds! You don’t have to do an hour of yoga to reap its rewards. As little as five minutes each morning or evening will create change in your mind or body. YouTube and Instagram are filled with yogis with all levels and all lengths of practices waiting for you. My faves are Mary Ochsner and Yoga with Kassandra.

I’m trying to be delicate in talking about constipation. Magnesium is the only supplement for which I would recommend this method. If you are constipated begin taking magnesium at the recommended dosage on the bottle or canister. If there’s no movement double your dose the next day. Still no movement? Increase again. Trust me you’ll know when to stop increasing and go back to the level before, because things will start moving a little too fast. Take the dosage back a notch and enjoy the results. Again, do not try this with any other supplement. This is a strategy only recommended for magnesium.