Newsletter #68: ⚡ 3 Sparks of inspiration for an intentional, healthy week
All in 10 minutes or less!
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Every weekday morning, I send a Good Energy Spark to the Stewards community—a bite-sized prompt to help each of us embody a life of stewardship through simple, daily acts of thoughtful care for our bodies, our spirits, the earth, and our communities. As a new mom, I especially love the concept of Sparks because some days, I just need an achievable win to feel like I’m maintaining momentum on my own health journey!
Each Spark takes less than 2 minutes to read and usually less than 10 minutes to complete—though some take as little as 20 seconds! They don’t require you to buy anything fancy, and they’re always supported by data and references.
Below are three of the Sparks that have gone out to the community over the past couple of months.
Enjoy, and have an incredible week!
Dr. Casey
✨ Good Energy Spark #1
Fit five different colors of fruits and vegetables into your meals today.
❓️ Why: Each color of produce signals a different family of phytonutrients—the pigments that give plants their hue also act as antioxidants that help protect your cells from oxidative damage. Variety is the point: in the American Gut Project, people who ate more than 30 different types of plants per week had significantly more diverse gut microbiomes than those eating 10 or fewer (McDonald et al., mSystems, 2018). Think of a colorful plate as building a broader, more resilient cellular defense.
💪 Commit: "Today, I am going to get at least five different colors of vegetables onto my plate."
Aim for one of each:
Red — tomatoes, red peppers, radishes
Orange/yellow — carrots, squash, yellow peppers
Green — spinach, broccoli, asparagus, zucchini
Purple/blue — red cabbage, eggplant, purple carrots
White/brown — cauliflower, mushrooms, onions, garlic
Easy ways to stack colors:
Build one big salad or veggie-loaded stir-fry and you can hit all five in a single meal
Add two colors to breakfast (peppers and spinach in eggs), two at lunch, one at dinner
Roast a tray of mixed vegetables (yellow onion, beets, sweet potatoes, green peppers, cauliflower) and eat them straight off the pan, or blend with bone broth, cashews, and herbs for a creamy soup
Recently, I made tacos with mushroom (white/brown) and cashew “meat,” and topped with a slaw of purple cabbage (purple), tomatoes (red), cilantro (green), and mangos (orange), plus sautéed yellow and green peppers. All five colors in one meal!
Inspired by this Spark, I made a dinner with arugula, roasted broccoli, kraut, and sprouts for green; purple sweet potatoes for purple/blue; yellow bell pepper for yellow; apple and radish for white; and, whoops, I forgot red (maybe the apple counts 😄 ). I split it between my husband and me and topped it with regenerative Seatopia salmon.
📖 Learn more:
Good Energy — see the sections on antioxidants and eating a diverse, plant-rich diet
Plant diversity is linked to a more diverse gut microbiome — American Gut Project (mSystems, 2018)
✨ Good Energy Spark #2
Do a 5-minute stretch or gentle yoga flow first thing when you wake up.
❓️ Why: After a night of stillness, a few minutes of stretching gets blood flowing to your muscles and restores range of motion before you sit down for the day. A 16-week randomized trial found a regular yoga routine significantly improved flexibility and balance (Lin et al., PLOS One, 2023), and a separate controlled trial found that just 10 minutes of daily stretching was enough to offset the losses in flexibility and lower-body strength that come with sitting more and moving less (Warneke et al., IJERPH, 2022).
Gentle morning movement gets your lymph flowing, too—and unlike blood, your lymphatic system has no pump, so it relies on muscle movement to circulate. It also calms your stress response: a meta-analysis of controlled trials found that yoga practice measurably lowers cortisol, your main stress hormone (Pascoe et al., Psychoneuroendocrinology, 2017). A few unhurried minutes in the morning is a signal to your body that the day is beginning calmly and on your terms.
💪 Commit: "When I wake up tomorrow, before reaching for my phone, I am going to move and stretch my body for 5 minutes."
A simple flow to try:
Gentle neck rolls and shoulder circles.
A few cat-cows to wake up your spine.
A forward fold to release your hamstrings and back.
A couple of slow sun salutations.
End with a deep breath and a full-body stretch.
Make it easy:
Lay your mat (or a towel) out the night before, in sight
Set a timer for 5 minutes
Pair it with something you already do—stretch while your coffee or tea brews
No routine memorized? Follow a free 5-minute video, or just move in whatever way feels good (Insight Timer and Youtube have tons of free options)
📖 Learn more:
✨ Good Energy Spark #3
Read a book for 10 minutes today—set a timer, and no phone.
❓️ Why: Reading for pleasure has fallen sharply—daily reading among Americans dropped more than 40% over the past two decades. Yet the payoff is remarkable: in a 12-year study of over 3,600 adults, book readers had a 20% lower risk of dying during follow-up than non-readers, an advantage explained largely by reading's cognitive engagement. Interestingly, it was specific to BOOKS, not magazines or newspapers. Ten focused minutes of reading is a gift to your brain!
WOW! Increased survival was associated with book reading. This is correlation, not causation, but it is interesting!
💪 Commit: "Today, I am going to set a timer for 10 minutes, put my phone in another room, and read a book."
Make it easy and enjoyable:
Pick a real, physical book —paper keeps the screen and its notifications out of reach
Put your phone somewhere you can't see it, on silent
Read anything you genuinely enjoy—fiction, memoir, poetry; it does not have to be "productive"
Pair it with a cue you already have: morning coffee, a lunch break, or winding down before bed
If 10 minutes feels hard to find:
Keep a book on your nightstand and read a few pages before sleep instead of scrolling
Carry a book to read for waiting rooms and lines
Try an audiobook on a walk if reading time is genuinely scarce
📖 Learn more:
✨ BONUS Spark!
Wash your hands with soap for a full 20 seconds every time you get home or use the bathroom.
❓️ Why: This one may feel out of left field, but stick with me — it is one of my FAVORITES! Maybe it’s from my years in the surgical world scrubbing my hands before every surgery, but I am a HUGE fan of handwashing. We all know that having a bad cold (COVID, flu, common cold, etc) takes us off our fitness and health momentum, which is why this is highly relevant to our overall health journeys.
The data is remarkable: proper handwashing with soap (which means a FULL 20 seconds, not just a quick 5-second rinse) reduces respiratory illnesses like colds by 16–21% and diarrheal illness by 23–40%! The CDC estimates that handwashing could protect about 1 in 3 of the world's young children who die from diarrheal disease and nearly 1 in 5 of those who die from pneumonia (CDC, Handwashing Facts).
THAT IS WILD – just by washing our hands properly, we can significantly prevent being sidelined for potentially weeks by a respiratory illness. That is a worthwhile investment. Currently, the average American adult has an estimated 2-4 episodes of an acute upper respiratory infection per year, and a young child 4-6 episodes per year! That is a lot of annoying — and potentially dangerous — illnesses, and it is often preventable.
We touch our eyes, nose, and mouth constantly without noticing, and our hands are the main highway germs use to get into the body. A thorough wash physically removes viruses, bacteria, and environmental residue before they ever reach you.
💪 Commit: "Today, I am going to wash my hands properly—soap and water for 20 seconds—every time I enter my home and every time I use the bathroom."
The right way to do it (per the CDC):
Wet your hands with clean running water, then turn off the tap and apply soap
Lather and scrub the backs of your hands, between your fingers, and under your nails
Scrub for at least 20 seconds (going to 30 only helps)—about humming "Happy Birthday" twice.
Rinse well under clean running water.
Dry with a clean towel or air dry.
The key moments to wash (aim for these every day):
Every time you get home from being out and about
Every time after using the bathroom
Before preparing food
Before eating
After coughing, sneezing, or blowing your nose
At least once on a flight, and immediately after deplaning
After touching garbage, handling raw meat, or caring for someone sick
Aim for at least 5 good hand-washes per day, each a minimum of 20 seconds with soap. That’s a 100-second investment that could save you WEEKS of frustration being sick! (And it protects other people!)
A note: plain soap works just as well as "antibacterial" soap—the scrubbing and running water do the real work. 💡 Idea: find an unscented or naturally scented soap you really enjoy using to make handwashing a pleasurable ritual. As an affordable, non-toxic option, I enjoy Dr. Bronner’s Pure-Castile Magic Soap in every scent (they are scented with natural essential oils, not synthetic “fragrances”). They come in 100% recycled paper cartons, which you can then use to refill glass soap dispensers (I like using a foaming soap dispenser!). I also love Primally Pure hand soaps as a special treat or gift. They’re naturally scented with essential oils and come in glass bottles. Both companies also make bars of soap, which are the most sustainable option. (I have no financial relationship with either company.)
📖 Learn more:
PS: If you’d like a little dose of Good Energy delivered to your inbox each weekday, join us HERE. Along with the daily Sparks, you’ll receive a monthly Q&A with Dr. Casey, a “Poem of the Month” to help you live well and expand your mind, a Metabolic Research Roundup distilling the latest science on a focused topic, and—if you’re looking to connect with others—access to the wider Stewards community. Together, these offerings are designed to help you care more thoughtfully for your body, your community, and the living world while building lasting, whole-person health.
Stewards are loving the Sparks! 👇
💬 This spark was just the gentle reminder I needed today (and always). I’m so happy you’re back, Casey. I’ve missed your presence on social media and your newsletters so much. Spark complete!”
💬 “This Spark was amazing! Thank you!! It was just what I needed!”
💬 “Hello Dr Casey! I took you up on your challenge to incorporate 5 different colored veggies on my plate. You are doing a phenomenal job spreading the word about living healthier. 😊 Thank you for sharing your wealth of knowledge and experience with us.”
💬 “Thank you for helping me reclaim my health and wanting to understand how best to live this wonderful gift of life!”
💬 “Today’s spark has inspired me to make the switch! 🥰”
💬 “I needed this reminder … Thank you for putting this data in front of us to show the reality of the physical benefits.”
💬 “It has taken a great deal of education and lifestyle changes for me to now eat like Dr. Casey Means suggests. … I feel like I walk a narrow path compared to the masses who consume all the conventional holiday fare. So be it!! That's why I'm so thankful for this group of like-minded individuals!”
Stewards’ feedback on the Daily Good Energy Sparks
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