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How To Get Well and Stay Well: 6 Healthy Habits We All Need To Know with Dr Gemma Newman (Re-release) #625

Feb 15, 2026 2h 5m 34 insights
What is it that really makes us healthy? Is it regular trips to the doctor, a swift diagnosis, and medicine when we need it? Or do we need a more holistic approach? Today’s guest believes it is the latter.  Dr Gemma Newman has been a family doctor in the NHS for 20 years. She is regularly invited to speak and teach all over the world and is incredibly passionate about treating body, mind and spirit as one - and this forms the basis of her brand new book, Get Well Stay Well - The Six Healing Health Habits You Need To Know. Like me, Gemma increasingly found that her conventional medical training wasn’t yielding positive results for many of her patients - so she decided to take a more open-minded approach, studying nutrition, psychotherapy and a range of other holistic methods and combined them with her conventional medical practice. And, very soon, she began to see radical transformations in the health of her patients. It’s this holistic method that Gemma explains in our conversation today, using the acronym GLOVES - which points to six key areas of life we can address if we want to get well and stay well. They’re ways of thinking, being and doing that should be front and centre in our lifestyles, and, of course, we discuss them all during our conversation together.  Crucially, Gemma, believes the first step in any effective, lasting behaviour change is finding self-compassion, and her approach will help you trust your inner wisdom, feel more in control, and stop outsourcing your wellbeing to the doctor’s surgery. And in a world where ‘wellness’ often comes with a hefty price tag, her suggestions are all free.  Gemma writes and speaks from the heart and I think you will really enjoy this conversation.   Support the podcast and enjoy Ad-Free episodes. Try FREE for 7 days on Apple Podcasts https://apple.co/feelbetterlivemore. For other podcast platforms go to https://fblm.supercast.com. Thanks to our
Actionable Insights

1. Prioritize Self-Compassion for Change

Make self-compassion the first step for any effective and lasting behavior change, as it helps overcome the barrier of negative self-perception and allows you to envision a better future for yourself.

2. Reframe Life’s Stories

Recognize that everything in life is a story and that you have the autonomy to reframe any event, creating better narratives that positively impact your long-term well-being and perspective.

3. Practice Forgiveness for Self-Healing

Engage in forgiveness as a gift to yourself, releasing resentment and emotional pain that can consume your heart and negatively impact your health, leading to a sense of freedom and lightness.

4. Visualize a Better Future

Use visualization as a powerful tool to imagine a better future or improved health circumstances, opening your mind to possibilities and providing ideas for changing habits and actions.

5. Meaning Maker Exercise (Facts)

When dealing with emotional struggles or perceived betrayals, write down the objective events of what actually happened in a relationship or situation, stripping away all emotional attachment to gain clarity.

6. Meaning Maker Exercise (Gratitude)

After objectively listing events in a challenging situation, reflect on what you are grateful for or what you’ve learned about yourself from the experience, fostering peace and acceptance.

7. Daily Value & Action

Each day, ask yourself, ‘What is my most important value today?’ and ‘What can I do today that will honor that value?’ to live with purpose and consistency.

8. Daily Quality Intention

Each morning, ask yourself, ‘What quality do you want to show the world today?’ and focus on embodying that singular quality throughout the day to set a positive intention and prevent falling into old patterns.

9. Implement GLOVES Habits

Incorporate the GLOVES framework (Gratitude, Love, Outside, Veggies, Exercise, Sleep) into your lifestyle to improve holistic health and well-being, as these are simple and free practices.

10. Connect with Nature for Health

Prioritize being outside in nature and appreciating it, as this is integral to bringing more health and vitality into your life and fosters mindfulness for supporting the natural world.

11. Minimize Emotional Response to Pain

Reflect on ways to minimize your emotional pain or emotional response to physical pain, as this fosters self-determination for health and can diminish the sensation of physical pain.

12. Use Physical Activity for Emotional Release

Engage in physical activities like yoga or exercise to release energy, as the body and mind are intimately connected, benefiting psychological and emotional health.

13. Practice Self-Love and Give Love

Practice self-love (self-compassion) to improve your own health and extend love to others, recognizing that we are all healers of ourselves and each other.

14. Practice Gratitude Daily

Engage in gratitude by recognizing lessons learned from life experiences and appreciating moments of beauty around you, which can improve mental health and diminish physical pain.

15. Forgive with ‘If I Was That Person’

To facilitate forgiveness, consider the perspective ‘If I was that person, I’d be doing exactly the same thing as them,’ which helps lead with compassion and acceptance.

16. Prioritize Consistent Sleep

Go to bed an hour earlier and wake up at the same time daily to prioritize sleep and improve overall energy levels, which directly benefits immune system health.

17. Sit Down to Eat Meals

Sit down to eat breakfast and lunch, chewing slowly, to improve digestion and nutrient assimilation, which is important for a healthy and functioning immune system.

18. Batch Cook Meals

Batch cook meals on a designated day (e.g., Sunday) for several days of the week to reduce reliance on takeaways and make healthy eating easier.

19. Look to the Horizon

Regularly look out into the distance, as far as the horizon, to shift visual focus, relax your eyes, activate the parasympathetic nervous system, and induce a sense of calm.

20. Bring Nature Indoors

Bring nature into your home through potted herbs, nature screensavers, pets, or houseplants to enjoy visual pleasure and potential benefits like reduced indoor bacteria.

21. Walk Barefoot on Grass/Near Water

Walk barefoot on grass or by the seafront to connect with nature and potentially absorb electrons from the Earth, which may offer energetic benefits.

22. Observe Water for Mood Boost

Observe bodies of water, even a tank of water, to improve mood, with greater benefits observed from more biodiverse aquatic scenes.

23. Reduce Rumination in Nature

Spend time out in nature to reduce activity in the brain regions responsible for rumination, thereby improving mental well-being.

24. Gratitude Journaling for Mood

Engage in gratitude journaling, even when feeling low, as studies show it can significantly improve mental health and reduce pain perception.

25. Cultivate Presence Through Gratitude

Practice gratitude to ignite brain regions associated with presence, helping to reduce rumination and allowing you to be more present in the moment.

26. Reflect on Life’s Shaping Events

Reflect on past life events to understand how they shaped your opinions of the world and yourself, enabling an open mind to new, often free, approaches for life’s challenges.

27. Listen to Understand Stories

Emphasize deep listening to understand a person’s story about their illness, past, or self-identity, as this reveals the root of their challenges and where they are coming from.

28. Implement Plants, Peace, Purpose

Adopt the ‘Plants, Peace, and Purpose’ framework as a simple way to integrate healing habits into your life, covering nutrition, mental calm, and meaningful living.

29. Practice EFT Tapping

Use Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) tapping by rating a struggle (physical pain or psychological problem) on a scale of one to ten, then tapping specific pressure points while repeating an acceptance mantra to diminish the problem.

30. Create a Value Code Word

Create a personal code word that reminds you of your core values, enhancing your connection to them and making it easier to embody them daily.

31. Trust Inner Wisdom

Trust your inner wisdom to feel more in control of your health, as many effective wellness suggestions are completely free and accessible.

32. Recognize Cumulative Habit Effects

Understand that small, consistent daily habits, whether beneficial or harmful, accumulate over time to have a significant impact on long-term health.

33. Embrace Setbacks with Self-Compassion

When facing setbacks or perceived failures, embrace them with complete self-compassion and thankfulness for every effort made, understanding that each step contributes to your journey.

34. Provide Hormetic Stress to Plants

Give houseplants a gentle shake occasionally to provide hormetic stress, mimicking natural wind and promoting their health.