Tag: eating healthy

STOP NEGOTIATING ✋️

So many times I will here people who are trying to change make deals with themselves. “I’ll start tomorrow.” or “I will give myself a break on the weekend.” While I am all for doing whatever will help you achieve your goal, this type of thinking leaves us with a little problem. Believe it or not, it reinforces the identity that we are not what we are striving to become. You are actually tripping yourself up by doing this.

There are 2 reasons that jump into my mind. First, it makes the thing you are trying to get away from a ‘reward’. If I eat good during the week, I can then tackle the all-you-can-eat pizza buffet every weekend. That creates the feeling of only being able to be yourself on the weekend. Thus, reinforcing the identity of someone who does not eat well. By looking forward to filling your face, and your stomach, with high calorie sauce pie, you create more a feeling of dread for the week of healthy eating. When you dread something are you more or less likely to do it?

Many of you may counter that ‘looking forward to something’ will allow you to make it through the week of good eating. This may work in the short term. How do you think your brain will react to having a hit of dopamine every weekend as you swallow many pieces of cake. It will begin to subconsciously tell your mind, “This feels good. Eating healthy feels bad.” This will only make it more difficult to identify yourself as someone who is now a healthy eater. Instead, you will be a bad eater struggling to eat healthy. It may sound like splitting hairs, but there is a big difference. Especially if you want the change to last long term.

Think of how your actions shape your identity. Not only to others who are watching you, who will reinforce that identity, but most importantly to yourself.

YOU MUST KNOW THIS!🤔

Here we are at the start of a new week. We can already feel overwhelmed with our ‘to do lists’ and obligations for the coming days. How many of us have self-care items on our ‘to do lists’? All too often, our self-care gets pushed down to the bottom of the list. We really must understand the importance of taking care of ourselves and the benefit to others.

Look at so many other things in our life. Take our cars for example. We get their tires rotated, we change the oil. Why do we do these things? We do them so our car will be able to get us from point A to point B. How about our cell phones? We keep them charged and updated. Why? So they will run at optimal speed and we can put them to full use.

When it comes to inanimate objects, we understand that taking care of them will help them serve us better. In the case of the car, the better we maintain it, the longer it will last and the more efficient it will operate. If we keep our phone fully charged and updated it will have a better connection and speed in use.

How come when it comes to ourselves we somehow think these rules don’t apply? If, like the car, we maintain our bodies with good food and fitness, won’t we last longer and be more efficient? Like the phone, of we allow ourselves to recharge, won’t we have a better connection with the world around us, and those in it? Won’t we have more energy and be able to operate in a faster rate than if we are living off 2 hours of sleep and 3 large coffees?

This week, stop viewing self-care as something selfish. See it for what it is; a necessary step to bringing the best version of ourselves to the world at large and to those in our life we care about. Next time you get in your car, or pick up your cell phone, remember how much better they operate when we take care of them. The truth is we operate a lot better when we stop and take care of ourselves as well.

MID-WEEK MAKEOVER 🥕🍅🫑🥒

Here we are, mid-week. Your energy might be starting to slip. I know that happens to me. It is time to ask ourselves some tough questions. Are we relying too much on stimulants to keep us going? Are we using a 5 hour energy for our salad dressing? Are we even having salad? Maybe we are choosing convenience over quality for our food choices? Who has time to make a meal at home when you can just swing by and pick up a burger? Are the foods we are eating robbing us of energy and more importantly, our health?

Our diet is one of the things that can affect every area of our life. The wrong foods can make us feel sluggish and bloated. They can cause inflammation in the body and give us aches and pains. The wrong food can lower our immune system and make us more vulnerable to a whole host of different illnesses. I understand that choosing healthy options can be more expensive, both on the wallet and on the clock. Ask yourself what they alternative is. Are we trading our time and money for health and true energy?

It is not all doom and gloom. Food can be some of the most helpful tools to live an amazing life. You do not have to be on a strict diet, or even the latest fad diet. If you find your energy starting to slip mind week, or you are starting to feel run down, it might be what you are feeding yourself. An important question to ask yourself when choosing what to eat is, “Am I eating this for fuel or for entertainment?” In other words, are you eating something because you love the texture, the taste or even the fun packaging and the little cartoon characters that do the commercials? Perhaps thinking what would fuel your body and provide the nutrition it needs to run the best it can would be better? Being healthy make take some thought, and some prep, but it pays off in the long run.

Like all of the areas in life you are trying to improve, it is better to start by adding something healthy than sacrificing something bad. From a psychological standpoint, you feel less like you are depriving yourself, or having to ‘give something up’. From a scientific standpoint, your stomach is only so big. This means, the more you fill it with healthier meals, the less room you will have for the entertaining foods. Soon, you will find yourself making the entertaining foods the exception and not the rule.

Look up some healthy recipes today. Start with one meal. Replace the junk you are putting in your body, with something that will nourish it and help it serve you the best. Make sure you are getting enough fiber and water. Try to pick some foods that are gently detoxifying. That way you will help your body help itself. When you are pouring stimulants in a body that is full of a terrible diet, it is like putting premium gas in a car that has no oil. Eventually, you are going to break down. Remember to ask yourself if you are eating for pleasure or for health and fuel. It is ok to eat some things for pleasure. Just make sure they are the exception and not the rule. Feel free to share any healthy dishes you enjoy. Especially ones that give you a little boost of energy.