Doc's top three ways to improve your health in 2014...

An update on my End of America thesis...

Editor's note: Every year, we run a special holiday Digest series... It gives readers an opportunity to revisit some of the best work we published throughout the year. And it gives the Digest team a few days to spend with their friends and family.

This year, it's an "all Doc" Digest series...

Dr. David Eifrig is one of our most popular editors... He currently writes three advisory services – Retirement Millionaire, Income Intelligence, and Retirement Trader.

In Retirement Millionaire, "Doc" (as we call him around the office) shows subscribers how to live a "millionaire" lifestyle on less than you'd imagine. In addition to his market-related advice, Doc – a board-eligible eye surgeon – also fills the issues with loads of health advice and money-saving tips.

Every day this week, we'll share some of Doc's best non-market-related advice... We'll cover ways to save money on your car insurance... specific foods you should eat to cure or prevent illness... how to pay less for your prescriptions... and the best time of year to buy school supplies. It's a wide-ranging list...

Before we go on, a bit about today's Digest...

Since 1997, Doc has created a list of things he could do to improve his health going into the New Year. Every year, he reviews the most recent research and uses it to reorder the list and add or remove items. This year, he published a list of 13 steps he says will improve your health almost immediately.

Today, we're sharing three of the most important health recommendations on Doc's list...

 Deciding on the best ways to improve your health is tough.

One day, you hear a self-appointed expert tell you one thing. The next day, a different talking head claims something that sounds like the exact opposite. Often, the advice is contradictory and confusing. Much of it also lacks scientific evidence.

That's why, in 2006, I started publishing a list of my top ways to improve your health. I wanted to give patients and readers a simple, straightforward way to start on the path to a healthier life.

I originally created this list for myself in 1997. I kept the list on my refrigerator to remind myself of the importance of these tips. I have continued to update it every winter since then...

The biggest change I made this year is elevating Movement to the top spot. Since I started publishing this list, Sleep had always been No. 1. But more and more research shows that just getting up and moving a little each day can make a huge difference in your health. And it turns out, that little bit of exercise and movement helps you sleep better. So it was easy to move sleep down to the No. 2 spot.

In total this year, I'm reporting 13 ways to improve your health for 2014. Please don't let the number of tips overwhelm you. Read the list and then pick out a couple each month to focus on as the year rolls on.

If you're a longtime subscriber, many of these are familiar to you. And if you haven't been feeling well over the past year, look at this list again. Start at the top and try a couple out for the months of January and February. You'll feel better almost immediately.

I hope you enjoy reading the list as much as we at Retirement Millionaire enjoy sharing it with you...

 Movement – This gets the top spot this year. Movement offers dozens of benefits, more than just keeping you at a healthy weight. Regular exercise reduces stress, releases endorphins, improves brain function, and improves cardiovascular health. A new study published in Frontiers in Human Nature shows exercise even boosts creativity.

And here's the GREAT news... you don't have to engage in strenuous exercise... Light exercise (walking is my favorite) for about 20 to 30 minutes a day gives you nearly all the benefits, while avoiding injuries like muscle strains and joint pain. And it's never too late to get started. Even people who start exercising later in life lower the rate of senior dangers, such as falling and osteoporosis.

So don't make excuses about exercising this year. One of the most popular excuses is being too tired. If you're tired, go for a walk. You'll see an improvement in your energy. And you'll do this better...

 Sleep – It was No. 1 on my list for years. More than a third of Americans are chronically sleep deprived. Chronic sleep deprivation impairs memory, alertness, and concentration and can lead to serious injury – driving while tired causes more than 100,000 accidents a year, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Getting around eight hours of sleep a night helps reduce stress, makes you three times less likely to catch a cold, helps you maintain a healthy weight, and reduces your risk of diseases like cancer and diabetes.

The key is setting yourself up for a good night's sleep. Keep your room dark, quiet, and cool. Get rid of electronics by your head and bed. And make sleep a routine. Go to bed at the same time each night. This helps your body know when to wind itself down. And when possible, avoid using an alarm clock to wake you up. Our bodies naturally wake us up when we've had enough sleep. This will leave you feeling better rested and more awake throughout the day. Try it this weekend.

 Meditation – What I paradoxically consider the "No. 1 exercise in the world." For thousands of years, various cultures have used meditation as a way of focusing the mind and healing the body. Scientific research continues to prove the health benefits of regular meditation. Like exercise, meditation reduces stress, improves brain function, and lowers the risk of depression.

A new study from a group of researchers in the U.S., Spain, and France found meditation suppresses genes that trigger inflammation. (Inflammation is linked to diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer.) The type of meditation used in the study – called "mindfulness meditation" – involves focusing on something in the present while you meditate.

Meditating is simple and it only takes 10-12 minutes a day. You can sit in a chair or lie in bed, relaxing your body while you concentrate on taking deep breaths. That's it. You can let your mind wander as it chooses, as long as you keep breathing steadily and deeply. I make sure to meditate when I'm feeling stressed or tired.

Here's to our health, wealth, and a great retirement,

Dr. David Eifrig, Jr., MD, MBA
Raleigh, North Carolina
December 23, 2013

Editor's note: Dr. Eifrig recently launched a new investment advisory service, Income Intelligence, designed to help subscribers maximize the returns they enjoy from a range of income-generating vehicles – things like municipal bonds to high-yielding equities.

Over the course of 18 months, Doc has developed a collection of strategies to "time" investments in these cash-generating assets. These indicators tell you exactly when to get in and out of certain assets. Using these strategies can generate 10%-20% more money than simply buying and holding the same income investments.

We believe Doc's income strategies are more important today than ever before...

Interest rates are at record lows... Negative real interest rates (when inflation is outpacing the yield on 10-year Treasurys) mean you're actually losing money in savings.

The government is forcing responsible folks to take unwanted risks with their money.

In Income Intelligence, Doc shows you how to earn big income, while protecting yourself from downside risk.

Because we think Doc's latest research is so important, we've decided to give you a gift for the holidays...

You can sign up for one year of Income Intelligence for $900. (That's $300 off the regular price.) And we'll give you one year of Retirement Millionaire (normally $99 a year) free.

In addition to Income Intelligence and Retirement Millionaire, you'll also receive the "Income Investors Handbook," which explains everything about Doc's methodology. And you'll receive a report highlighting Doc's three favorite income investments to make today.

We've never made this offer before... And it's only available to Digest readers through December 27. You can learn more here (without watching a long sales pitch)...

 Heading into 2014... I (Porter) am looking at a few things that support my End of America thesis – my belief that the U.S. dollar will lose its place as the world's reserve currency.

 What I'm looking for in 2014 will probably surprise some folks. I'm actually looking for a much stronger global economy, especially in the Western world. You see, for these currencies to fail, sooner or later, their economies must go through a period of runaway inflation. And my thesis is that if the government prints enough money – and it already has ($3.5 trillion) – it can get the economies to work again. But by doing so, the economy is going to be inefficient. That will cause massive inflation, which in turn will drive people away from the dollar.

So I wouldn't be surprised if we see stronger economic growth. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more people getting jobs. But I think you'll also see prices move a lot higher. That's an unconventional call because actually prices have been falling recently, mostly because energy has gotten much cheaper (thanks to the massive amount of shale oil and gas we're producing domestically).

 Right now, I'm following the decline of the Western sovereign monetary system and the rise of the U.S. oil and gas industry. Honestly, the two are juxtaposed, and it's not clear to me which one will become the more powerful economic force.

If the End of America hypothesis begins to take the upper hand, you'll see higher rates of inflation. You will see further downgrades to major Western sovereign debt... Most recently, ratings agency Standard & Poor's downgraded French sovereign bonds. You will see a continuation of that theme.

 But the surprise will be that the stronger economic growth won't lead to any improvement in the debt positions of the Western sovereigns because inflation will make those debts way more expensive to finance.

Even as tax revenues are increased, the borrowing costs will rise faster than taxes... And that sets the stages for the death spiral of Western sovereign paper money.

– Porter Stansberry with Sean Goldsmith

An update on my End of America thesis...

Heading into the New Year, Porter wanted to update Digest Premium subscribers on his End of America thesis...

Specifically, he shares what you can expect to see in 2014 that supports his belief that the U.S. dollar will lose its place as the world's reserve currency.

To subscribe to Digest Premium and receive a free hardback copy of Jim Rogers' latest book, click here.

Doc's top three ways to improve your health in 2014...

Stansberry & Associates Hall of Fame
(Top 10 all-time, highest-returning closed positions across all S&A portfolios)

An update on my End of America thesis...

Heading into the New Year, Porter wanted to update Digest Premium subscribers on his End of America thesis...

Specifically, he shares what you can expect to see in 2014 that supports his belief that the U.S. dollar will lose its place as the world's reserve currency.

To continue reading, scroll down or click here.

Stansberry & Associates Top 10 Open Recommendations
(Top 10 highest-returning open positions across all S&A portfolios)

As of 12/17/2013

Please note: Securities appearing in the Top 10 are not necessarily recommended buys at current prices. The list reflects the best-performing positions currently in the model portfolio of any S&A publication. The buy date reflects when the editor recommended the investment in the listed publication, and the return shows its performance since that date. To learn if a security is still a recommended buy today, you must be a subscriber to that publication and refer to the most recent portfolio.