Small Healthy Steps: 7 Weird Things We Do to Stay Healthy

“Even the smallest actions are a step in the right direction.” 

Have you ever heard this quote? It’s all about taking small healthy steps. Small steps really can add up to big gains and improvements in your health. That’s why we’re big proponents of the small, or even tiny, mini-step approach.

Here’s an example. Suppose you were to lose one pound every two weeks. That’s not unreasonable, is it? With a few small changes to your diet and lifestyle, you can do it.

It might not sound like much until you multiply it out. That’s two pounds a month and 24 pounds in a year. Now, it’s starting to sound like something, isn’t it?

Same with exercise. Walk a mile every day and you’ll have covered 365 miles in a year. That’s quite a journey – but it all starts with small steps.

To inspire you to take more “small steps,” we’ll share some of the small things we do to stay healthy. They might seem a little whacky but each is at least partially backed by science. Here are some of the things we do:

Small Steps for Health: Eat Broccoli Sprouts Once a Day

Broccoli sprouts are our secret anti-cancer weapon. As you know, cruciferous vegetables, of which broccoli is one, are one of the best sources of anti-cancer chemicals called glucosinolates.

Although mature broccoli is packed with these cancer protective chemicals, you need an enzyme called myrosinase to activate those “good for you” chemicals. Once activated by myrosinase, glucosinolates are converted to sulforaphane, compounds which offer strong anti-cancer benefits.

Unfortunately, when you cook mature broccoli it destroys most of the myrosinase. So you have anti-cancer chemicals that can’t be activated, making them pretty lame as far as protecting you against cancer. That’s where broccoli sprouts come in. They’re LOADED with myrosinase.

On the downside, sprouts have been linked with food poisoning outbreaks in the past. However, we’ve eaten broccoli sprouts daily for almost 20 years and have never had a problem.

Sadly, we haven’t been able to find broccoli sprouts at the places we usually buy them recently – Fresh Market and Roanoke Natural Foods. So, we’re going to try our hand at growing them. Should be interesting.