Make a commitment to yourself. Take on even three of these top eight health tips this month and you will be amazed at the difference. Three new habits for 30 days! What do you have to lose?

1. Lose weight now if you need to. Excess fat, particularly around the waist, places you at a big risk for several serious illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke and heart disease. Currently there are more overweight people on planet earth than ever before. Sadly, Jamaicans are among the fattest! I recommend a very effective, doctor-approved, weight-loss programme that is readily available right here in Jamaica. It's based on a concept called cellular nutrition.

2. Stop smoking. Cigarette smoking is the commonest preventable cause of death in the world.

Every cigarette you smoke shortens your life and puts you at risk for many major diseases. Get help now.

3. Eat healthy. You are what you eat. I recommend a simple plan emphasising fresh fruit, vegetables, healthy protein (like soy) and whole grains. Avoid highly processed and fried foods.

Reduce fats and refined carbohydrates, especially sugar and flour. Drink at least eight glasses of water daily.

4. Take supplements. Even the American Medical Association now recommends that everyone take supplements every day. The modern 'balanced' diet will not provide all the nutrients you need for optimal health.

I personally use and recommend the nutritional supplementation programme called the cellular nutrition programme. It's a simple way to ensure your cells get all the nutrients they need. You can feel the difference in how your body functions in just a few days.

5. Exercise. Use it or lose it. Your body is like a machine. If you do not move and exercise it, it will malfunction and deteriorate before your very eyes.

Even 30 minutes of brisk walking four days per week (only two hours each week) will have great benefit to your health.

6. Get enough sleep. Your body repairs and heals itself while you sleep.

Without enough sleep, you will not enjoy optimal well-being, and you will be prone to a wide variety of mental and physical ills. If you have insomnia, don't just take a sleeping pill; discover the underlying cause and deal with it.

7. Learn stress management. Stress, as I shared in last week's article, is not a person or thing. It is the reactions that we have to circumstances around us.

Learning to control our reactions is the key to stress management. There are many things around us that we may not be able to change, but we can always change ourselves and how we react. Stress management is really self-management.

8. Develop spiritual support. Medical research demonstrates how important our beliefs and connection to supportive relationships are.

Develop and nurture healthy relationships in your personal and spiritual life. Remember, you are not just a body, but a body connected to a mind and a spirit.