The Best Health & Wellness Advice We Got from Experts in 2023 

Setting goals for the year ahead? You may look to the experts for guidance on how to focus your thinking to create a better future for yourself and the planet. 

Over the past year, we interviewed a diverse group of thinkers from the worlds of food, environmentalism, wellness, fitness, and beyond on the Thrive Market blog. Whether your New Year’s resolutions are to improve your own relationship with your health or to lessen your impact on the planet, these thought-provoking tips may help you get inspired. 

On sticking to your goals: 

“Remind yourself to get back to the basics and focus on one small action you can do today that supports your goals. Taking daily action could look like cooking something at home rather than ordering takeout, drinking a glass of water over a can of soda, or going for a 10-minute walk over scrolling on social media. These simple shifts every day add up to creating lasting change. When it gets too overwhelming, ask yourself, ‘What’s one small thing I can do today that I know is supportive of my mental, physical and emotional health?’”
–Holly Krack, INN Certified Health Coach 

Read more: How to Be Kind to Yourself in the New Year

On making time for mindfulness:

“The most sacred, magical, precious, creative, inventive hours of the day, for me, are a few hours before the sun rises. Those are the moments where the portal’s open, and the deep silence is available, and the world hasn’t woken up yet. I always want to be with myself, with my creativity, and with my higher power at that time. I like to have a full day before the phone starts ringing, and the phone starts ringing at nine o’clock. Then I give the rest of myself to the day, to the world, to the phone calls, to the grocery shopping, cleaning my house, taking care of whatever the emergencies of the day are. I don’t like the day to have me before I have had me. I always feel behind, unless I have a couple hours to be very quiet and to tune into what I love.”
–Elizabeth Gilbert, Author 

Read more: But Are You Thriving? Episode 3 Recap: Creative Living Beyond Fear with Elizabeth Gilbert

On health as a ritual: 

“I view the word ‘healthy’ as a ritual that is practiced consistently. For me to show up in the world, I prioritize being gentle with myself and giving my body the space it needs to evolve.”
–Will Coleman, Chef and Writer 

Read more: How Chef Will Coleman Cooks His Way to Community

On the importance of mentorship: 

“When you’re in a community of other women who you see excelling, leading and learning, you realize that you have those traits within yourself as well. You can only learn so much from your own experiences; you gain so much by listening to what others have been through and learning from them, too.” 
–Perdita Paria, Lead People Ops Specialist & Member of Thrive Market’s WELL Employee Resource Group 

Read more: Celebrate International Women’s Day with Our WELL Employee Resource Group

On becoming part of the climate solution:

“About ten billion tons of plastic goes into the ocean every year. How do we begin to tackle that? I decided I wanted to just whittle it down to something more manageable—a single unit of plastic—which was plastic straws.

For me, it wasn’t about solving the problem absolutely top-down, but starting to break apart the problem into manageable, bite-size pieces that everybody can participate in. For me, it was just an offering, a suggestion to humanity like, ‘Hey, just because it seems so big, it doesn’t mean you can’t access it and be a part of it.’ I gave people permission to not worry so much about all the plastic in the ocean and just do one thing. Stop sucking, stop using plastic straws, and if you can do that, which is hard enough, then move on to the cup and the lid and whatever else. If we can’t just get one thing right, man, how can we do the big thing? Because the big thing is just a series of little things.”
–Adrien Grenier, Actor and Environmental Advocate 

Read more: Introducing “But Are You Thriving?”, the New Podcast from Thrive Market

On eating for health and longevity: 

“Diversity of food is really, really important, based on the research that I have been bombarded with over the years. What I mean by that is it’s easy to get very myopic in your way of thinking with food. I understand that sometimes that’s what it takes to get motivated. Some people do [the carnivore diet], some people do other things, and it can get very, very narrow. I’m a firm believer that when you look at the epidemiological data, the regions that eat the most diverse food have the best body composition, the best lifespan, the best health span. They’re healthy and vibrant up until their older years. It all has to do with the diversity of their food and the diversity of their microbiome.
–Thomas DeLauer, Author, Health Coach & YouTuber

Read more: But Are You Thriving? Episode 2 Recap: Intermittent Fasting Explained with Thomas DeLauer

On setting boundaries: 

“I hear a lot of misconceptions that boundaries are about telling other people what to do or controlling other people, or that they’re somehow mean or selfish, and that couldn’t be farther from the truth. I just define boundaries as limits that you set around how you allow other people to engage with you. It’s not about telling other people what to do, it’s about telling other people what you will do in order to keep yourself safe and healthy.”
–Melissa Urban, Author & Whole30 Co-Founder 

Read more: But Are You Thriving? Episode 4 Recap: Making Peace with the Past with Melissa Urban

On growing your own food: 

“When I was a private chef in Los Angeles living in a little apartment, all I had space for was a tiny tomato plant. But it brought me so much joy, and I was so proud of those tomatoes! Experiencing the process of growing food connects you to nature’s intelligence, and gives you a deep appreciation for where food comes from and what it takes to grow fresh, nourishing ingredients. My advice would be to start small and keep it manageable, whether that’s growing tomatoes in pots, some herbs, or a small raised garden bed with a few vegetables. There are lots of great online resources out there—our friends at Farmers Footprint have a great garden club, as does Rodale Institute. My husband John and I have curated a list of resources that have helped guide us on our farming journey here.”
–Molly Chester, Chef & Apricot Lane Farms Co-Founder

Read more: Talking Biodynamic Farming (and Perfect Pork Chops) with Molly Chester of Apricot Lane Farms

On conscious consumerism: 

“In the U.S., just a tiny percentage of farmland is organic, and the reason why is because we just don’t have the financial infrastructure in place for farmers. A lot of entrepreneurs continue to say, If you really believe in this as consumers, please go and support these people and buy their products. Because when farmers tend to see that it’s actually profitable as a business and there’s demand for it, then they’re likely to convert over [to organic practices].”
–Esha Chhabra, Writer & Journalist  

Read more: Author Esha Chhabra’s Advice for Becoming a More Conscious Consumer