by Jen Sinkler

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”

- Maya Angelou

How to Thrive:FITNESS . . . . . . . 4FOOD . . . . . . . . . 7FASHION . . . . . . . 11THE GOOD LIFE . . . . . 14GENERAL HEALTH . . . . 19

This is a guide to thriving. Think of it as an introductory tour of the best ways to move beyond that sinking suspicious that you’re merely surviving — that unnerving sense that you’re just rotely shuffling from your morning latte to your afternoon latte (or perhaps careening between them at breakneck speed), from your been-doing-it-sporadically since-you-were-21 fitness routine to your nightly TV marathon, from that dry, patchy skin on your left cheek that you’ve always assumed is just “normal for you” to the constant low-back pain you quietly endure — and to start really living. It is about going beyond survival, and into “thrival,” if you will.

Do not mistake this document for a survival guide and take it out into the woods with you, however. There are zero instructions for how to start a fire with a piece of tree bark and a stick of chewing gum. Or for how to distinguish poisonous berries from a tasty snack. In short, this will be useless there. You will die.

Where it is divinely useful, however, is in helping you to live a strong, healthy, sane, sexy, creative, super-goddamn-fulfilling life as your highest self. This assumes your basic needs are already being met (and I sincerely hope they are). I believe that truly thriving requires carefully tending to five main categories: Fitness, Food, Fashion, The Good Life and General Health.

To introduce you to the Thrive philosophy, I’ve listed my top three strategies for how to thrive in each of them. There were many ideas I didn’t have room for (curse you, constraints of time and space), but I’ll continue to cover all of these beats in real time out in the big, bad digital universe:

Website: www.jensinkler.com

Facebook: www.facebook.com/thrive.as.the.fittest

Twitter: www.twitter.com/jensinkler

Instagram: www.instagram.com/jensinkler

Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/jensinkler

When you pay attention to what works for you in each of them, you will notice a difference in how you feel, move, look, live, and love. In short, you will start to live a more fulfilling life.

I sincerely hope that some of these ideas spark expansion in your own life. If they do, I’d love to hear about it.

Expansively yours,

Jen Sinkler

To request permission for reproduction, please email jen@jensinkler.com.

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How to Thrive:

FITNESSThe Thrive fitness philosophy is all

about experimentation, individuality, creativity, rest, fun and saying goodbye forever to pursuits you hate.

1. Treat your fitness regimen as a grand experiment.

There are a lot of “shoulds” bandied about when it comes to fitness — minutes of cardio per week, the perfect set and rep scheme for strength or muscle gains, the exact number of seconds to rest between them, and the perfect joint angles to strive for — but the truth is, there aren’t that many that are graven in stone. What works best for you, in terms of volume, frequency, density, intensity and goals is going to

be individual, in part based on what you will do. You can get great results — great by your definition, that is — a number of different ways.

Don’t gloss over the fun factor, either. I believe enjoyment to be the single biggest factor in long-term efficacy, simply because there aren’t very many people who will stick with something they hate for very long. The point isn’t to force yourself into someone else’s routine, but to find the one that works for you, and gets you to your goals. I make it a point to learn new movement skills all the time to keep my mind engaged and body challenged. The other point to remember is that almost any activity is a gateway for yet more activity.

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2. Move in all directions.

The principle “Use it or lose it” applies to the body perfectly, and once you’ve lost it, it’s a terrible thing to reach for it and discover it gone. Perhaps the most annoying way to notice it’s missing? You do something totally mundane — say, bend over to pick up a bag of groceries — and POP! You’re laid up for weeks and you make up a story about how you injured yourself snowboarding in Banff.

It’s something I see often, and that I used to be guilty of myself: I used to do a whole lot of just a handful of limited movements, and I ended up with chronic knee and back pain. It wasn’t until I started experimenting with more variations, getting stronger in more ranges of motion, and doing exercises that felt great that I healed my symptoms and made more significant progress.

You hear a lot about “perfect exercise form,” and don’t get me wrong, I use a number of trusty cues to coach movements. That said, you also hear a lot about how certain whole categories of movements are bad. In particular, many lifters fear moving the spine in anything other than the sagittal plane (which involves moving forward and backward) lest you develop or exacerbate back pain.

Anecdotally, at the gym where I coach, we’ve found that the movements that turn out to be “back fixers” are often the very ones people fear. They shouldn’t, though: Nearly one-third of all American adults report having ongoing neck or back pain, up to 80 percent of people will experience low back pain at some point in their lives, and the most common nonsurgical medical interventions, like cortisone shots, have proved shockingly ineffective at pain relief. New studies even show that these nonsurgical interventions do nothing to reduce the likelihood of future back surgery. You know what does help? Exercise.

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While simply walking more has been shown to ease back pain, exercises that involve atypical ranges of motion are an even better bet — for example, the Jefferson lift (a deadlift that’s performed straddling the barbell) and Russian hockey deadlift (in which you pick a weight up from one side of your body and place it down on the other) have become go-to’s at the gym where I work.

In general, back pain or not, embrace more creative, expansive ways of moving: crawling, climbing, lateral movement, and moving in spirals and arches, because these types of movements preserve the body’s abilities to move in greater ranges of motion. Primal Move and MovNat classes offer plenty of unconventional movement patterns that improve both power and mobility.

3. Build in restorative movement.

Exercise is stress on the body — especially if you do a lot of high-intensity activities, such as complexes, circuits, metabolic resistance training, etc. — so regardless of how much you love your sweat-drenched barn-burners, you would benefit from exploring the opposite side of the continuum.

Lower-impact movements, like those found in yin yoga and mat Pilates, for example, promote balance, flexibility, improved blood circulation, and better muscle elasticity — and when your muscles are more balanced and resilient, your athletic performance improves and your risk for injury decreases. Most yoga traditions also help promote inner calm and focus (traditionally, this is to get the body ready for meditation) and practicing yoga can improve an athlete’s ability to concentrate and compete.

But if you’re tempted to think of restorative movement as a mere vehicle for getting better at tennis, think again. Practices like Yoga Nidra, which is basically a deep sleep/meditation, offer an overstuffed duffle bag’s worth of benefits in all aspects of life — calming the autonomic nervous system, reducing symptoms of anxiety and depression, and promoting feelings of contentment and well-being.

In whatever form you can find it, seek restoration.

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How to Thrive:

FOODMy food philosophy is all about setting your own rules, being flexible,

learning to listen to your hunger pangs, home cooking and the supreme magic of the crockpot.

1. You don't have to follow someone else’s rules.

Everywhere you turn, there is someone telling you how to eat: Meat will kill you! Meat will save you! Raw milk cures diabetes! Dairy is the most dangerous thing Mother Nature ever made! If you eat only avocados, you will live to be 120!

While most experts agree on certain general rules when it comes to food (that you should probably eat less sugar, for example, and that you could probably stand to eat more vegetables), only one person in the whole world is qualified to design the healthiest eating plan for you: you. Because we’re all different on a genetic level, we all react differently to different foods. Some people can tolerate more carbs than others. Some people have a calorie tolerance hair-trigger and one handful of popcorn more than they need puts fat on their body. Some people can’t digest wheat, or other grains or legumes, in any form. Other folks do fine with the occasional slice of fermented sourdough bread or a serving of mashed garlic navy beans, and still others wheat it up with no woes.

How do you suss out what works best for you? Pay attention to how you feel and the way you look when following various diets. For example, try a low-carb diet for a short period of time and track how

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you feel physically and emotionally. Do you feel lethargic or energized? Sated or always hungry? Anxious or calm? Moody or emotionally stable? How does your skin react? Your hair? Do your eyes look shiny or dull?

Then repeat the experiment with a high-carb diet — or any other variation you’re wondering about: Make all your meat grass-fed, eliminate dairy, eliminate gluten, cut out sugar, try intermittent fasting (if your life

is low stress and your relationship with food solid), try eating mostly raw, try eating mostly cooked, eat only Slim Jims and Diet Dr. Pepper (okay, wait, don’t do that one), cut out caffeine and/or alcohol. Experiment. See how you feel. Listen to your body, and will speak volumes.

You can try different ways of eating in any order that works for you, of course, but one time-tested way to really evaluate what is working for you and what isn’t is to follow an elimination diet. In short, it works like this: Stop eating the most common food allergens — gluten, casein, eggs, corn and soy — for a few weeks. Once you’ve cleared your system, add one trigger food back in at a time and see

how you feel. You’ll know right away if you add something back in and it’s causing you trouble.

But remember, too, that what works for you now may not be what works for you forever. The body is in a constant state of flux — the perfect diet today may be exactly the opposite of what you need tomorrow. Be willing to release nutritional dogma when it no longer serves you.

2. Cook at home as much as possible.

Grabbing takeout just once a week can increase your risk of packing on the pounds, according to a study published in The Journal of the American Dietetic Association. But weight gain isn’t the only good reason to don an apron and start braising, sautéing, blending, and whisking. Home-cooked meals are often waaaay healthier than their restaurant-prepared cousins.

No matter how responsible the restaurant, or how local and organic the ingredients they use, or how much rosemary and garlic they heap on their baked-not-fried fries, you never know exactly what you’re getting when you eat out. When you don’t make the meal yourself, you can’t

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know everything that goes into it — and a lot unwanted stuff can hide in even the “healthiest” eat-out meals.

Take fat, for example. Not all fat is bad, of course; we don’t get nearly enough of certain fats — healthy omega-3s, for example, which hide out in pastured meats, small coldwater fish (think anchovies and sardines), chia seeds, and walnuts — but the fats that hide out in restaurant fare are almost always the ones rich in omega-6s that we don’t want to consume in excess — sunflower and safflower oil, processed vegetable oils, and fat from corn-fed animals, for example.

Two other strikes against the restaurant meal: portion size (often substantially bigger than what you might eat at home) and ratio of unhealthy foods to healthy ones. Say you go out for a grass-fed burger (healthy choice!), but it’s swimming in an oversized bun (empty carbs = sabotage of fat-loss efforts) and completely obscured by a side of fries (fried in some nasty oil) the size Texas. The healthiest part of the meal (the burger) is the smallest thing on the giant-sized plate (probably larger than any plate you own) — and because we’re wired from an early age to simply eat what’s in front of us, the chances are high you will eat everything on that massive plate. (The corollary: choosing smaller plates when you eat at home will prompt you to naturally eat less.)

If you’re intimidated by home-cooking, or short on time, or just want to have the best, most flavorful, most nutritious meals, or all of the above, (re)discover your crockpot. It’s as easy as choosing ingredients, cutting them up, tossing them in, and a few hours later, done. Plus, it makes your house smell like the inside of the best restaurant you’ve ever visited.

Another option is hash. Not the puff, puff, give variety, but the kind where you throw a bunch of fresh, high-quality ingredients into the same pan and then take credit for the flavorful result. For seven — SEVEN — simple hash recipes, check out “The Ultimate Hash Recipe.”

3. Eat only when you’re hungry, always.

Whether you’re a frequent feeder, eating four or more times a day, or you’re more in the neighborhood of two (or even one) meal a day, let

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hunger be your guide. Important for making sure you’re not eating out of habit, boredom, or stress, and it reacquaints you with actual physical hunger. With frequent feeding, if you’re eating too much per meal, you’re likely not going to be hungry for your next. (All bets are off when hunger hormones leptin ghrelin are wonky, but that’s another topic entirely.)

If it’s been a while since you paid attention to when and how much you’re eating, ask yourself some questions the next time you get the urge to forage for food: “What do I really want?” “Am I feeling distressed right now?” “Am I bored?” “Am I experiencing a hunger pang, or is eating at 3:00 pm just the habit I’ve fallen into?” And so on.

Remember, too, that you can play the small-plate mind game. The smaller the plate, the smaller the serving. Your brain doesn’t see it as small, however. It just sees a full plate of food and, trained as it is to eat what it sees, it dives into it with the same zeal it would a huge platter of restaurant food.

And no matter what you’re eating, eat it as slowly as you’re able to in order to give the satiation-indicator light a chance to blink on. There tends to be about 20 minutes of lag time between when you’ve eaten enough to feel full and actually experiencing that feeling of fullness.

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FASHION: How to Thrive

Fashion isn’t frivolous. It’s all about loving how you look — and feeling inspired to move more and live better.

1. Wear colors you love, cuts that make you feel hot hot hot, and fabrics that move and breathe.

I used to dress down for working out, wearing schleppy clothes to the gym, until I noticed that I didn’t look forward to wearing them and thus I didn’t look forward to the activities I did in them. When I finally invested in workout clothes I liked, my attitude toward working out did a 180.

Fashion isn’t ridiculous or trivial, the province of debutantes and Kardashians, but a very real factor in influencing how we think, behave, and see the world. When you dress the part, you are more apt to feel and do the part. Put on those brightly colored (or basic black, whatever floats your boat) duds and you will feel like someone who exercises.

Anyone who doubts this truism needs only to think about a similar situation at work. Say you ride your bike to work and forget a change of clothes, so you spend the whole day writing reports and sending emails in your bike shorts and you feel like a total dip — unqualified and sheepish, an imposter. Now picture the opposite: You have a sharp new outfit that fits perfectly, accentuates the positive, and says, “I’m a competent professional.” You spend the day at work filled with confidence and pride, feeling better about the work you’re doing and, in all likelihood, doing it better, too.

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If you’re working out regularly, you owe it to yourself to invest in a workout wardrobe that you look forward to wearing. If you truly don’t care what you wear, more power to you — but if you do, and you’ve been squelching that part of yourself, know that you don’t have to.

2. Don’t discount accessories, if you are so inclined.

It didn’t occur to me until years into my routine that I can spice up my workout wardrobe the same way I spice up my everyday wardrobe. Rather than wearing the same combinations day in and day out, I can add a different headband, bracelet, and so on for a different look.

Accessories have several major pluses. They’re a cheap way to breathe new life into still-functional outfits that you’re not super enthused about anymore. Good quality workout clothes can cost a fair bit. While I’d argue that they’re worth the money (see my previous point), they’re not worth an ugly pile of credit card debt. So start a savings account for new running pants and make your old ones 27 percent sexier with a six-dollar headband (great return on investment!) in the meantime.

Accessories also give you something new to stare it in those ubiquitous gym mirrors, and a little visual variety can boost your workout enthusiasm for the day. Think of a funky rubber or string bracelet as grass-fed whey protein powder for your eyes.

In the vast universe of accessorizing, it’s really every woman and man for her/himself — decide what you like and go for it. The only rule is not to let style get in the way of your workout. No bracelets on kettlebell days, for instance. (For the record, some of my favorites include headbands from Violet Love, Prana, Junk Brand; DadMoCo bracelets, other rubber or string bracelets, and stud earrings from any old place.)

3. Get a great gym bag.

Live Well 360 and Lululemon make the sturdiest, highest quality options, in my opinion, and Live Well 360 has the bonus of being a small company that really, really cares about quality interactions.

I used to cart my gear around in an overstuffed tote bag, and the psychic relief that occurred when I finally upgraded to a stylish bag that fit both my workout gear and my work supplies was immense. But your bag doesn’t have to be new and swanky to be effective and awesome.

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It just has to be one that is easy to root around in and gives you quick access to all your accessories (obviously).

A friend of mine carts her stuff to the gym in an ancient L.L.Bean tote bag with frayed handles. At first, the wide-open top solved the “easy to root around in” problem, but the wide-open space at the bottom of the bag drove her insane. Everything mixed with everything — the lack of compartments creating a foul-smelling soup of dirty clothes, gym shoes, and free-sample, all-natural, patchouli-esque deodorants (don’t ask). But short on money, as is her custom, she experimented until she solved the problem with those small, reusable bags they put small purchases (like accessories, ahem) in at Lululemon. You know the ones — about six inches long, three inches wide, and 12 inches high with over-the-shoulder handles, all made out of a sturdy, water resistant material? She turned them into compartments — one for shower stuff (soap, shampoo, conditioner), one for sauna stuff (swimsuit, extra hairbands), one for post-workout beautification (creams and balms and hairbrushes), and one for an extra change of clean clothes. She lined them up on the bottom of the LL Bean bag and, voila, the bag of her dreams was born at a price she could afford. Long story short: a great gym bag is the gym bag that works for you, whatever form it takes. You owe it to yourself to find that bag.

Or, if you’re on the move, bring back the fannypack. Look for a sweet number online (Jammypack.com, if you want to bring the party with you) or in any thrift store. You may be reading this and thinking yeah right, but can I just tell you how convenient it is to be on a leisure walk and be able to pop into someplace and grab a kombucha? Or to be on a hike with the dogs and have poop bags handy? And to always have access to my lip gloss? They’re coming back, mark my words.

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How to Thrive:

THE GOOD LIFEHealth is more than just exercise and eating right. It’s about finding

happiness and a sense of fulfillment, which come from being adaptable, reflective, meditative, and curious.

1. Be adaptable.

The only thing constant is change, so the sooner you’re willing to stop grasping and clinging to circumstances, people, outcomes, the more content you will be.

And before you say it, yes, I know: Easier said than done. Fear of change is normal, and attachments —  to spouses, pets, our backyard garden —  can and do add richness to our lives. It’s when we become too attached and too rigid that we run into trouble. So it’s about finding a middle ground —  being able to appreciate (and have appropriate connections to) the meaningful things in our lives and being able to go with flow when challenges crop up.

How do you cultivate a more adaptable outlook? Start small. We tend to make the most sustainable life changes when we take baby steps. (Go small or go home!) You can start moving more toward an attitude of openness, flexibility, and letting go by trying these three small things:

Breathe. What’s the one thing you can count on as long as you’re alive? Your breath. You could lose your sight, or your hearing, or any number of other abilities, but so long as you’re living, you’re breathing. It’s always there with you. This is a great gift because it means you can use it as a point of focus — something to pay attention to and count on when everything around you is changing. Set aside just three minutes a day (or per week, if a daily is too big a commitment right now) to just inhale to a count of five and then exhale to a count of five. Just pay attention to your breath going in and your breath going out. Notice your lungs working, the way the air feels crossing your nose, the sounds your breath makes. Most of all, notice that your breath is always right there with you. The world spins out of control around you — indignities happen, tragedies

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turn the corner and smack you in the face, your babysitter cancels — goddammit, you just wanted to see Prometheus on opening night. Is that too much to ask?! — but you still have the steady hum of your inhale and exhale. When all else is changing, hold on to that.

Listen. You’ll feel less attached and fixated on what’s going on in your life when you stop what you’re doing (yes, that even means putting down your phone) and really listen to the problems and concerns of others. Hear people out. What is causing them pain? What is real in their lives? What attachments are they grieving (a sick pet, a long-distance love, a struggle with infertility)? What challenge are they having trouble overcoming? Empathy and a sense of shared struggle breed openness, compassion, and a more expansive (read: flexible) outlook on life. Find 10 minutes a day to listen and empathize with another person. First and foremost, you will help the other person. The side benefit is the change you will notice in yourself.

Be spontaneous. Do something spur of the moment. Use a spontaneous activity to dive headfirst into the here and now. Nothing breaks up your usual routine and daily fixations like doing something unexpected. Has it been so long since you’ve done something you don’t normally do that you don’t even know where to start? Try this: Next time you catch yourself doing something on autopilot (“We just ate dinner so now I will do the dishes because that is what I always do”) think of an dramatically different activity. Handstands in the backyard? Stealing off with your teenage son’s skateboard and going for a spin around the block? Driving to the cheap theater and watching a classic film noir? Whatever you do, just make it not the dishes. Not right that minute, every time, anyway.

We get in the habit of thinking “Well, because I always do this, I always have to do this.” But that’s just not true. Part of the joy of being an adult is that we can decide to do anything we want (within reason, of course). So exercise your right as an adult! Do something new! The more flexible you get with your time, the more flexible you will get with your thinking.

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2. Learn to meditate.

I know everyone says it, but that’s because it’s worth saying: Meditation will change your life. Meditating, even for just a few minutes a day, has been shown to reduce anxiety, improve concentration, bolster creative thinking, decrease impulsive behaviors (the more harmful ones than backyard handstands, that is), boost energy levels, speed the healing process, reduce emotional distress and even slow down visible signs of aging. (If I listed all the proven benefits of meditation here, this Guide would read like the Oxford English Dictionary.)

When we hear the word “meditation,” we tend to think of something intimidating and esoteric. We imagine that only specially trained monks with well-oiled hip flexors can do it. And while the act of meditation is

fairly straightforward — just sit for a while and exist without doing anything else —  the thought of doing it can be frightening (“Who am I if I’m not tackling something on my to-do-list?!”).

If this is you, you’re not alone. But you’re also not a lost cause. As with learning to be flexible, you can learn to meditate by starting small. And you can stay small. You don’t have to progress to longer and more formal ways of

meditating. Any amount or form of meditation is helpful. (Though by all means, do more if you find it helpful, and I think you will.)

First, let’s debunk a myth about meditation: You don’t have to do anything formal, or wear any special clothes, or sit in any special position, or light incense, to meditate. The act of quiet reflection can be as quick and as simple as sitting in bed for three minutes right when you wake up or closing your eyes and sitting quietly for a minute before dinner or bed. You can even carve out a quiet minute at your work desk before that four-hour meeting. Don’t get tricked into thinking you have to have the perfect setting or time frame for quiet reflection. You don’t.

The second myth about meditation that we need to shoot out of the sky right here and now? That the practice requires you to clear your mind — that all your thoughts will just evaporate (poof!) and what remains in

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your brain is a waveless, crystal blue lake of contented nothingness.

Not so. This scenario does not happen because it cannot happen. Thoughts crop up no matter what; it’s just the nature of the mind. So the scene inside your mind might look something like this when you sit down to meditate: Ah, this is calming. It feels good to sit. I’m going to just sit here for a minute, doing nothing but being me, and listen to my breath. I’m inhaling now and…holy shit! I forgot to give my boss that file she needed today! I’m going to get fired! Wait… I just had a thought about work. I’m going to label that “thinking” and get back to just being me and breathing and, oh, yeah! I need to add toilet paper to the Amazon Prime list. Wait, just had another thought. This one about my shopping list. I’m going to label that “thinking” and return to my breath, which, honestly, is a little wheezy. Am I getting sick? Oops, I’m thinking again…. And so forth.

This is normal. Your job is simply to notice when you’re thinking, label it “thinking” and try your best not to get caught up in the emotions and actions that so often follow thoughts. For example, if you don’t email your boss that file or “just quick add TP to the list” in the moment but instead dismiss the thought and return to your quiet reflection, you’ve won at meditating.

If you really get anxious about forgetting what crops up while you meditate, or about not being able to think your thought through to completion, say to yourself: “Oh, this thought about my mother-in-law just came up and I really want to think it so I will come back to it in three minutes when I’m done meditating.” If you tell yourself you’ll come back to a thought later, it lets you relax in the moment and get on with the business of just sitting there. (A classic Buddhist phrase: “Don’t just do something, sit there!”)

3. Always be learnin’.

The ripple effect of lifelong learning on health, happiness, optimism, and sense of control over your life cannot be overstated. When you stop learning new things, you quit being fully alive.

The benefits of learning something new have been widely researched and reported. In short, what studies have shown is that the acquisition of previously-unknown-to-you knowledge helps build new neural pathways in the brain — synaptic connections that did not exist before. This is a remarkable feat (1) because conventional scientific wisdom looooong held that neuroplasticity of this sort only happened in the brains of developing children and (2) because the development of fresh new cells

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and synapses helps keep your brain acting young — something that you really, really want to happen because brains with that youthful glow are more resistant to age-related degeneration (forgetfulness, slower cognitive processing, diseases like Alzheimer’s).

Here’s something else: Very new research suggests that learning new skills, especially ones that really challenge us, can slow down the perception of time passing quickly. When we take on a project that requires great cognitive demand (as most novel-to-you things do), say researchers, we perceive time passing more slowly. Just think of how your 55-minute junior-high chemistry class felt like six hours. (Though it’s unfair to only give a negative example — think of being a kid and reading giant picture books on dinosaurs and excitedly learning all their names and features; think of getting your first drum set and practicing your rhythm for

hours). But as adults, we spend far less time exploring the world around us than we did as kids; the cognitive demands in our daily lives just aren’t as great. So if you want time to stand still the way it did as a kid, act like a kid and immerse yourself in a new learning adventure.

Learning new skills also gives you a sense of control over your life and your future. The more knowledge you have, the more empowered you feel, and that is a beautiful thing.

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How to Thrive:

GENERAL HEALTHGoing to the doctor for your annual physical isn’t the full story when

it comes to staying healthy. You can make superstar health choices everyday by cleaning up your cleaning products, finding new and better ways to chill out, and getting some much-needed sleep.

Use clean products whenever possible.

Endocrine-disrupting chemicals —  nasty little toxins that get absorbed by the body and disrupt normal functioning of the endocrine glands (including the pituitary, thyroid, adrenal, thymus, pancreas, ovaries and testes) — are hiding out everywhere. And when I say everywhere, I mean everywhere: hair products, makeup, skin products, cleaning/household products, laundry detergent, flame retardants (which are added to clothes, linens, and even electronic products like phones, tablets, computers, and extension cords), and all manner of plastics.

Let’s take an in-depth look at one of these little charmers: Bisphenol A (BPA). It is an industrial chemical used to make clear, hard plastics (like water bottles) and you’ve likely heard of it, at least in passing. It is ubiquitous in many commercial goods and (ack!) kitchen products, and the research on its negative health effects — it damages the brain, has been shown to change behavior in young children (holy crap), corrodes the reproductive organs, and totally effs up hormonal regulation — is so voluminous that even lumbering regulatory agencies like the FDA advice caution around BPA exposure. (Emerging research even shows that it also rots the enamel off your teeth.)

Help protect yourself from this gunk by:

• Never, ever microwaving or otherwise heating food in plastic. Heat causes the chemical to leach out into food.

• If you want to err on the side of caution, avoid plastic in the kitchen altogether: Instead of freezing berries in plastic bags, freeze them in mason jars (available everywhere, including big-

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box stores). Replace all your plastic spatulas and cooking spoons with stainless steel. Change out plastic Tupperware for glass-bottom containers.

• Quit drinking water out of plastic. This includes refillable water bottles and also bottled water. This goes for your kids, too: Toss the plastic baby bottles and sippy cups and replace with glass or stainless steel containers. While we’re on the subject of kids and the stuff they put in their mouths, keep them from chewing your iPhone or iPad (and if you chew on them yourself, for heavens sake, quit — for a variety of painfully obvious reasons). Most electronics contain nasty flame retardants and bendable plastic, all of which are beyond bad for health.

• Don’t eat stuff out of cans. Most cans — think tomato sauce, soup and beans — are lined with BPA. Need tomato sauce? Buy regular old tomatoes and puree in the food processer. Want soup? Make your own!

This advice just touches the surface. Many more chemicals abound. For more on the dangerous chemicals lurking in most commercial health and beauty care products, see my blog post, “The Clean Makeup Makeover,” here. The Environmental Workout Group also has a thorough database where you can plug the products you own (or ones you’re thinking of buying) into the search and see how toxic or nontoxic they are.

Also, consider a little detox now and then. With so much nasty stuff swirling around us, our bodies can use an occasional cleansing boost. Think sauna, skin brushing, intermittent fasting — all help send toxins packing.

2. Manage your distress levels.

Unresolved stress does really disastrous stuff to your body: It raises catabolic hormone levels; it contributes to almost every disease known to modern man; it destroys your adrenal system; and it makes you look old waaaaay before your time.

Meditation helps. So does setting boundaries and proactively managing your time. One wise friend pointed out that if her response

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to a request for her time is not an absolute YES, then it’s a no. Consider carefully before doling out your energy to people and projects that don’t light you up. Everyone benefits when you commit with a whole heart, especially you.

Clutter is another common (and relatively easy to solve) stress source. When you clean up your physical space, your internal space tends to follow suit. You feel lighter, less burdened, filled with a greater sense of possibility. One way to help keep clutter at bay is to choose quality when you shop. Quality items (like a good gym bag, ahem) might cost more upfront, but they’re more durable, last longer, and keep stacks of unnecessary junk out of your beautiful house.

A friend of mine is a DIY guru (She plumbs! She builds countertops! She can rewire a lamp!). These skills require tools. When she first started collecting tools, she bought the cheapest ones possible and she got what she paid for. Today, she’s upgraded many of them, but piles of half-functional drills and sanders still line her basement studio, creating clutter —  and a huge barrier any time she needs to find the right tool for the job. Also, the room is just kinda a psychic downer. If she’s feeling energized to do a home repair project, all she has to do is walk in that room and…phhhhht, she’s back on the sofa, looking up wedding hair on Instagram (which is healthy in its own right, don’t get me wrong, but not terrifically useful when your roof is about to slide off your house).

Buying quality straight out of the gate also saves you money (which in itself reduces stress). Another friend of mine’s mother-in-law still has the same vacuum cleaner she bought for 75 dollars in 1971, before the concept of “planned obsolescence” had tripped across anybody’s lips. Let her inspire you.

Once you’ve invested in a quality garden spade — which you’ll need because you’re unapologetically strong and cheap spades snap in half like that — go out and garden. Time spent in the mud dissolves stress. It’s also been shown to have a positive impact on obesity, dementia, schizophrenia and depression. Scientists think the all the credit goes to a microbe found in dirt, Mycobacterium vaccae. So go get filthy.

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3. Get enough sleep.

It’s not the sexiest advice, I know. Who wants to snooze when you could stay up late watching Orange is the New Black? Or checking out the new microbrewery down the street? Or hanging out with their main squeeze? (Speaking of romance, sex has its own health benefits, one of which, a brand new study has found, is that people who have more it make more money. Get busy to get rich!)

Sleep deprivation makes it hard to control glucose, however. It also increases your urge to eat sugary snacks, and wreaks havoc on metabolism. Chronic circadian cycle disruption has also been linked to increased risk of cancer and other diseases. And, like stress, lack of sleep is a quick way to look old before your time.

Start taking sleep seriously. Here are some ways to get more and better z’s:

Keep it dark. Light signals the brain that it’s time wake up. Get room darkening shades, keep nightlights and bright lamps out of the bedroom, and either turn electronic clocks/screens around or kick them out of the room entirely. Actually, that should be its own rule….

Eliminate electronics from the boudoir. The LED light given off by glowing screens gives the brain a “go” signal. Studies have found that increased exposure to screens (TVs, phones, iPads) decreases the production of melatonin, the fall-asleep hormone. Tonight, leave your phone on the dining room table instead of the nightstand. Twitter can wait.

Make some white noise. Get a white noise machine. Fall asleep faster and easier. The end.

Save up for a good mattress. What you sleep on makes a huge difference in quality

of sleep and quality of life. A good mattress is one of the quality items its worth saving up for. One thing to consider when you’re ready to buy: what materials and chemicals are hiding out in there. Mattresses are a secret hiding spot for a lot of toxins, so do your research so you can rest easy.

© 2013, Thrival Guide, Jen Sinkler

A professional writer, fitness expert and proponent of fun, Jen Sinkler has spent the past decade covering the best training methodologies the fitness industry has to offer at Experience Life magazine.

Now off on her own, she talks fitness, food, happy life and general health at her website, Thrive with Jen Sinkler. This year, she was named one of Shape magazine’s “Top 30 Motivators of 2013,” one of Huffington Post’s “20 of the Best Fitness Experts Worth Following on Twitter” list, and one of Greatist’s list of “15 Must-Read Trainers Rocking the Web in 2013.”

A rugby player for 13 years, many of those on the U.S. national 7s and 15s teams, Jen is a certified kettlebell instructor through the RKC and KBA, and an Olympic lifting coach through USA Weightlifting; she also holds coaching certifications through Primal Move, Progressive Calisthenics, TACFIT, CrossFit and L.I.F.T. (Ultimate Sandbag). She works with personal training clients to expand their capabilities at Movement Minneapolis, a fitness facility that uses biofeedback-based training techniques to help clients become stronger, leaner and more confident.

In her spare time, she meditates, cooks a mean breakfast and reads every book she can get her hands on, 10 minutes at a time before she falls asleep at night. She lives in Minneapolis with her squeeze, David, and their two dogs, Franklin and Zoey.