Health tends to be a touchy subject for many people. No one really wants to hear that they're unhealthy, that they're doing the wrong things or that they should make changes by giving up things they "love" or "cannot live without" I can admit even I would be a little annoyed if someone told me I wasn't doing well enough when I think I'm keeping myself healthy. I can make improvements, definitely, but I'm pretty happy with what I can control at this point of time. From being the overweight child who would stuff her face and an awkward chubby teenager who was jealous of other girls to the woman I am today who mostly prioritises her health, I know what it's like to be in different positions when it comes to being "healthy". For those of you who may not already know, there's a little story about how I started my fitness journey HERE. As you can tell, I'm far from the "always been fit and healthy and active" type. So that's why my health is even more important to me now. Speaking completely from my experiences and watching the lives of those around me (unfortunately, my family mostly) not exercising, eating like shit and making excuses for yourself when you could actually make a change, is sad to see. I have sick, extremely overweight - maybe even obese, dying people, all around me (again, within my family) and for lack of a better way to put it, it's breaking me. From my grandfather to my aunts and uncles, and sometimes the odd family friend, they're suffering, some with completely preventable illnesses. Complaints of aches and pains, diabetes and medication are normal and this really is a terrible situation for people to be in. I never had an adult present in my life who showed me how to nourish my body in the right way and how to exercise and have fun with my health. I'll admit, my parents were definitely better than my grandparents, my aunt, and probably many other parents when it came to how we ate and lived, but now I know there could have been improvements which could have given all of us better health and habits today as well as taken away some of the struggles i had with my body growing up. As a child you don't think about it. You do what everyone else does because that's normal. But it doesn't mean it's the best for you. I was overweight and unhappy and far from healthy because of this. And if I never met the people who motivated me to live better, where would I be now? Or 10 years from now? Or 50 years from now? My grandad is 80 and he pretty much has everything except his head in his grave already. 27 pills a day, constantly weak, regularly swollen, massively overweight, diabetic, kidney's failing, constant hospital trips, and being completely and brutally honest, a burden.
I love him. But I don't love what he's done to himself or the fact that he never tried to change his situation - cause the answers are always in a pill even when it's preventable and reversible - and now my grandmother, aunt and mum are left to take care of him. This isn't a nice thing to hear but seeing him is a constant reminder of what I do not want for myself and what I would never want to do to my family. I want to grow old with a family and know that we can live our lives to the fullest. I want to be able to hike and run and go on holidays and adventures and laugh and make endless happy memories together. I never want to find relief from a condition that is completely avoidable in a prescription bottle or a hospital ward. I never want to find myself being a burden to my kids because I thought an unhealthy lifestyle was more important than my health. I never want to look into my own eyes in the mirror and know that I've let myself down. As far as it is possible, I want to be as healthy and live the best life that I can. That is why my health is a priority. I would only hope that the rest of you want that for yourself too.
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Exercising is an amazing way for anyone to release some stress, feel great, relax a little (yeah i know how silly that sounds but it relaxes me), and keep your body and mind healthy. But let's get real for a second, as much as i love working out and i know how great it makes me feel, there are countless of other things that should be a part of my life that keep me feeling just as good. There are times when no matter how great i know exercising is, I just want to do something else to feel good. And there are other times when skipping that workout is the healthy thing to do. So when we look at healthy activities, exercise and eating well are not the only 2 things on the list.
Know what your body and mind needs. What it craves. What it thrives on. And then feed it with all the right things (and i don't mean just food).
1st November 2016 is World Vegan Day - and ironically, Melbourne Cup Day too. I've been a vegan for just over half a year now - I don't have an official date but I'm thinking somewhere in April 2016 was my start. If I wasn't so paranoid and scared about getting sick and not doing it right, I may have just been vegan for almost 2 years now. But I don't regret doing all the research I did to come into this lifestyle. It made me strong, stable, knowledgeable and very confident with how I'm living.
Let's try it out together. I'm not asking you to drop everything you normally eat and do, and go full vegan overnight. I'm asking that for the next month (from today till 1st December 2016) maybe set up a little challenge for yourself. I didn't drop my non-vegan foods/items slowly, i changed almost overnight, and I didn't regret it or crave anything or feel deprived - if you follow me on Instagram you already know I love my vegan burgers and cakes! But I know not everyone will experience it the way I did. Let's pick some things to slowly substitute to have you feel what it's like to transition to being vegan. I'm not going to decide what foods items you should pick - you look at your own diet and decide what animal products you're comfortable with substituting this week. Then add another next week, and the next week, and the last week. And see how that goes. Of course, you won't be completely vegan by the end of it. You probably won't even be eating a completely plant based diet, but if you made it through, at least you tried, you know what it's like, and maybe you can keep going! So here's the full challenge in summary:
So at the minimum, if you make it through all 4 weeks, you should have cut out 4 different animal products and accessed how you felt and what it did or didn't do for you and whether this is something you want to continue.
And please, feel free to even cut out oily or sugary treats instead of animal products if that's a real issue you face regularly. As much as I do want everyone of you to see how great being vegan can be, doing anything you can to improve your health is a benefit too!
So now that you have this, try it out! Let me know if you are! And let me know how it works out for you! Happy Vegan Day ! When I was in school, I used to go over magazines and articles online about how drinking some cucumber and lemon infused water helps weight loss or about how spicy food speeds up your metabolism, and all these article would get me a little bit excited. I was never desperate to lose weight as a teenager but i knew I had some problems with it so I would actually pay attention to the little tips here and there. What I didn't know back then but thankfully know now, is that there isn't a secret, no strings attached, easy, miracle way to lose weight (or body fat) without putting in real effort and taking care of your health. It's not like many people around me (or all of us?) growing up know what healthy really means. Everyone knows the usual, apparently losing weight means eating less and exercising more till you're at a happy shape then you go back to what you did before again. This kind of advice about health and weight loss, coupled with silly "tips" from health and beauty magazines and websites, don't do us any good. As you're reading this I can only hope you all know better as well. Many like to think something that's been published by certain kinds of websites or magazines are always right but that's just not true anymore. These have all been written by adults who may just genuinely think writing down every calorie you consume or drinking water when you're hungry is ideal for weight loss. I can't say much else besides the fact that these "tips" are so often just lazy suggestions, ignorant ideas and sometimes just plain dangerous advice.
Sure, I still know people who would happily go through a magazine and say "This article says eating chilli will help me burn belly fat" or "If I don't eat carbs after 4pm I'll be healthy!" and then actually try this out for a while until they realise it doesn't fix their problems. I've read articles on my news app (NewsLoop) that claim drinking Coke Zero is better for weight loss than water.... um, what?! And I know there are people who would believe this shit they call quality writing. I don't want any of you to listen to this kind of "advice". Take some real advice instead. Exercise regularly, nourish yourself with healthy whole foods, treat yourself every now and then, fill your mind with positive thoughts and surround yourself with great people who make you smile and give you actual healthy advice. There are no quick fixes. But the effort you put into your health will be worth it when you start experience the results of healthy living. Every single one of us follows tons of women on social media who are fit, healthy, happy and many times, have that lean tummy all the ladies want. I mean they look hella good, you know why we wanna look like that and why so many people think this is a 24/7 situation for them. I know to some girls out there, I'm one of those women who they think has a lean tummy because of some of my photos of videos. But follow me long enough and you know that's not the situation. I still get DMs from some girls asking me how they can look like me and as tempted as I am to send them photos of my rolls and flabs and unappealing angles, I don't, and instead I tell them their goal shouldn't be to look a certain way but instead be at the best of health.
Now let me explain something else. When you wake up in the morning, that's when your stomach should look it's leanest. Why? Because you've been asleep and haven't eaten or had anything to drink for an extended period of time. This is normal. I wake up, and unless I had a huge or fatty dinner, my stomach's pretty lean. And then i get out of bed, do everything I do, and I eat. And then what happens? I don't look the same anymore. AND THAT IS OK. When I was starting out with my journey, I used to only take photos before I ate in the morning, so I would "look better" and eventually I learned how stupid that was of thinking was. Now I wouldn't take any photos with the intention of wanting myself to look as small or lean or flat as possible. I try not to take any photos unless I've already eaten something because that's more realistic and that's what I actually look like for most of the day. These two photos below, they're both me, both from within a few months ago. And though i have some high waisted bottoms on than my bikini bottoms in that photo above, I'm sure you can tell I look a little smaller/thinner/flatter. And oh I wonder why. Both these days I hadn't had breakfast yet but instead got dressed for yoga and work respectively. It's not that I want to deceive people, I think most women posting fitness related things on their accounts don't want to deceive anymore. But that's just reality. You WILL look different throughout the day. It's okay to still be learning and think some women look lean and have flat stomachs 24/7 because sometimes you just don't know. I didn't know. I thought this was something I could achieve. But that's not ever going to happen.
You are going to eat and feel amazing. Sometimes you'll look like you ate a feast and other times you won't. Both are okay. Sometimes you might be on your period or that fatty meal from lunch is going to make you bloat. And that's okay too. You don't always need to look so lean or feel so great but accepting that is part of what your body is doing to keep you healthy and moving is so important. I'm not the first person to talk about it and I will definitely not be the last - but understand that no matter how good you eat or how much you workout, let your body do what it needs to do and don't get upset because it doesn't "look like that girl on IG" or "look flattering in the mirror" just let it do what it needs to do. Don't aim for a lean tummy or a bigger bum or arms that always look toned. Our bodies will do what they need to do but expecting them to look the way you want 24/7 is only going to hurt yourself. |
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