Hello friends! Happy January 1st! Oh My Goodness!! We've made it to a whole new decade! Wow, I can't contain my excitement. Say it with me, THANK YOU JESUS! He brought us through 2019 and into 2020. This is so exciting. I think we can all agree that 2019 was that year. Lol! listennnnnnnnn. There was so much struggle but it was totally worth it because along with that came a tremendous amount of growth. God has been good y'all. He deserves all the glory and the honor. It is a new year, a new decade and I am grateful to be alive.
Now, I know this is the time of year when we start to reflect on our lives and where we want to be. This is the time of year when everyone starts writing down goals, be it health goals, financial goals, academic or career goals etc. So, let's talk about it.
The concept of "new year, new me" has been around for as long as I can remember. Especially when it comes to health. We begin to see people flooding the gyms and produce isles in the supermarket in hopes of getting it together. However, February comes around, March, April, May... and everything goes right back to square one. There are a series of reasons for this. One being, we sometimes get excited, and overload ourselves with a bunch of new changes that overwhelm us and we give up after a few weeks. Another reason, when it comes to making health changes that don't last, is that we tend to turn to diet culture. Diet culture tells us that in order to be healthy we have to restrict, or we have to eat a specific diet, or we have to eat perfectly (whatever that means). In this blogpost I am going to talk about making sustainable health changes without falling into a dieting cycle.
Things to consider:
- Do not go on a diet. Instead of eliminating from your diet, consider adding things to your diet. For example, if you haven't been including vegetables in your diet. Consider adding a new one each week. You can play around with preparing them using different methods and adding them to various dishes. Of course, if you need help I am here.
-Do not bombard yourself with a rigorous fitness routine. Before purchasing that gym membership or hiring that trainer, consider finding a mode of physical activity that you like. This will be more fun and enjoyable, and therefore easy to stick with. You can even switch it up every now and then to keep things interesting. You will find what you like by trying different things. Enjoy the process. I've found that I like yoga and weight training. When you take away the stress surrounding moving your body, you'll find that there is so much more to working out than joining a gym. There is dancing, going on nature walks, gardening, yard work, like raking leaves in the fall or mowing the lawn, and there is playing in the park with your kids if you have any. Moving your body can make room for improvement not just in your physical wellbeing but could even help you bond with friends and family and most of all improve your mood.
-Do not let your goal be weight loss. In this new decade don't become jaded by the constant before and after pictures that you see online, or the new weightloss diets being advertised. Make healthy choices that do not take away from you. Do not make changes because you hate your body. Do it because you love your body and desire to take good care of it, so that you can be the best version of yourself, both for you and your loved ones. If weight loss comes, that's ok. If it doesn't that is ok too. So, ditch the restrictive diet and eat foods that nourish both your body and soul. Instead of restricting, practice healing your relationship with food and give yourself permission to eat. Diet culture tells us that we should feel guilty when we eat certain foods and feel good about ourselves when we eat certain foods. However, we are leaving both that mentality AND diet culture in 2019! In 2020 we are listening to our bodies and making the right decisions that fit our needs.
- Give yourself grace. Diet culture has done a number on us all. It will take time for us to start denying the principles of dieting and restriction. Dieting has been perpetrated as "healthy" for years. So, I understand the hesitation to accepting that dieting for weight loss is unhealthy. The reality is, restricting and telling yourself you cannot have a certain food item and then feeling guilty after having it is unhealthy. We begin to stress over it and get anxious and get trapped in a never ending cycle of restricting-binging-feeling guilty-restricting. Give yourself grace and love. What you eat is more than just calories. It is something to be enjoyed. Guilt should never be associated with food.
Friends lets start this new decade taking care of ourselves holistically.
Here are a few suggestions on how to take care of your health in the new year:
- Remember to rest. We all want to pursue our goals and dreams. They are definitely important, don't get me wrong, but don't forget in all the working, to make time to rest. So ensure that you're getting enough sleep and that you set aside time for your favorite activities.
- Try cooking more. Cooking can be very therapeutic. Of course, everyone is different, but give it a try and see if you like it. For me, cooking is not just something I do to nourish my body, it is also something I do to express my creative side. Play around with different textures, foods, spices, herbs and just have fun with it.
- Move your body as much as you can. As I mentioned earlier, find an activity that you enjoy and do that. Physical activity shouldn't be something you dread and struggle through. It should be fun to move your body and take care of it.
- Spend time with loved ones and nourish those relationships. I think the word of 2019 was "toxic" lol! It is definitely relevant. If there are people who make you feel bad and lower your self esteem, keep them at a distance. Nourish the relationships that are good in your life. For the ones that need some work, take it one step at a time. Don't forget! love and forgiveness go a mighty long way.
- Show love whenever possible. Love is important and we all need it. So, whenever you have a chance to show someone you care, take full advantage of that opportunity, because you never know what people are going through and how much showing them compassion could change their lives. Also, allow yourself to accept love.
- Find someone you trust and confide in them. You could talk to a family member, an objective best friend, pastor, counselor or even a therapist. Mental health is an important aspect of our being to nourish and take care of. You can do reflections at your own pace. It can be daily, weekly or monthly. This will give you some idea of how you're feeling and what changes you should make for improvement.
- Spend more time with God. Giving my life to Christ, and making him the leader of my life has honestly changed my view of health and resulted in the birth of the Holistic Health Nut. I will talk about my spiritual journey in an upcoming blogpost. In summary, being able to recognize that God accepts me based on the sole reason that I have faith in him was the best thing I ever learned. I know that my validation comes from him and my worth comes only from him. Depending on him has changed my view on life. I use to worry a lot, but now I know that he loves me and all things will work together for my good because I love him. Of course, this doesn't mean I'm perfect now. It simply means I can lean on him and be confident in the fact that he has my back ALWAYS!
This is all for now loves! Thank you for your continued support of the blog. Please subscribe if you aren't already. I love you all! HAPPY NEW YEAR!
See you soon.
Peace, love and blessings!
Photos were sourced from Pinterest.
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