Living a healthy lifestyle is everywhere.  Everyone has a different opinion and a different strategy for getting healthy.  It’s exhausting.  In my constant quest for a healthier happier life, here are some things I have discovered along the way through daily trials and experiences.

1.       You have to cut out everything you enjoy eating and drinking.

This is only true if you are eating McDonald’s every meal and having a soda with every meal.  I certainly hope this isn’t you, but if it is, well than this is no myth.  I have read lots of different articles and researched this topic a lot.  The fact of the matter is, every body is different.  Are you listening to it?  After you have that  cup of coffee, is your digestive system tied up in knots…well, then it’s probably not a good idea for you to have that.  After you eat something with dairy, do you have lots of gas.  I know to some, gas can be funny business, but it’s not when it’s you!   Your body will give you lots of clues if something isn’t jiving with your system.  You have to listen to it and respond.  It’s almost like having a conversation with your body and treating it with the same respect you would when talking to anyone.  I am a believer in healthy moderation.  I will have an occasional cup of coffee or an occasional glass of wine, and I don’t worry about it or give myself a hard time.  Stress and worry about these things just do more harm than good.  But, listen to your body and the clues it gives you.

2.       It’s only about diet and exercise.

Have you ever worked out every day and eaten relatively healthy and still felt like crap?   I have.  It was because I wasn’t filling my spirit and mind with what it needed.  I was either super bummed out about work, or a relationship, or just feeling unfulfilled in general.  It was hard to get up every day.  Your spirit is just like your stomach, it needs constant feeding.   Your mind controls everything that you do and feel.  This life is filled with lots of tragedy and sad stories that can really take a toll on us.  I just recently started going back to church and I feel as though every Sunday, my spiritual tank is getting filled up.  I used to be afraid to tell people about it thinking they would judge me.  But why should I apologize for something that works for me and something I love.  Now, I am praying daily, so my tank gets filled every day!    As you can imagine, it has done wonders for how I feel overall.  Church and praying might not be your thing, but what about yoga/meditation or reading spiritual books, or talking with a friend about the meaning of life.  There are lots of ways to fill up your tank.  Find yours and don’t apologize for it.

3.       If I am eating “perfectly” (lots of fruit and veggies) then I don’t need supplements.

This is a big one and filled with a lot of differing opinions.  Many people say that  you can get all the nutrients you need from the food you eat.  That could be true if we could transport ourselves back in time to the days when we were growing our own food and weren’t using chemicals on our soil.  The insides of our bodies haven’t changed since we were brought to this earth.  When we first started on this earth, food was meant for survival, not pleasure.  Humans weren’t going to restaurants by the masses and enjoying a steak with béarnaise sauce with a side of broccoli and potatoes sautéed in butter.  They were killing their food or growing it and eating it when they were hungry.  Food wasn’t readily available like it is today.  People weren’t running around after work trying to get their kids to soccer or piano and trying to squeeze in a meal by running to Subway or some other fast food kind of place.  Now, if you are eating mostly raw food (not cooking it til it’s soft), eating mostly fruits and vegetables, chewing it slowly and not scarfing it down, and you are growing some of it or buying from a local organic farmer, then maybe you are getting most of the nutrients your body needs to stay healthy.  Otherwise,  you need to supplement your diet.

4.       All I have to do is lose 30 pounds or go on “X” diet and I can get healthy.

If you did lose 30 pounds, then that is fantastic and it is a factor in getting healthy.  But, if you did it on some sort of challenge, now what?  Do you have a system and process to continue?  Or are you going to have to keep doing the challenges to keep the weight off?  I think challenges and detoxes can be great tools, but they can also be misleading.  You do all this work to get the weight off, and then your willpower takes a sky dive into a lake of Cheetos and chocolate.  You get ONE body your entire life.  That means this is a lifetime lifestyle…not a 21 day, 28  day, or 30 day lifestyle.  Again, these can be great tools, but a lot of times there are deeper things going on that need to be changed, and that’s better to change with slight shifts over time as they are more than likely to stick forever.

5.       Working out takes too much time and is too hard

I give myself a hard time too about my workouts.  I didn’t work out long enough or hard enough.  But, I find time and time again, it’s the days that I am doing a workout I look forward to vs. one I’m dreading that I’m the most content overall.  Everything else falls into place too…including my clothes.  I eat better, I sleep better, I wake up better…everything is better when I am doing something I love to do.  Even as I write this, I’m getting excited that today is Body Pump day.  Sometimes it might take a while to find this for you.  But, find it.   You are going to have to kiss some frogs as they say…or do some workouts you hate, but there is something out there just for you.  Barre class, spin class, yoga class, weight lifting class, swimming, running, biking, walking, tennis…the list is long!  I personally like to mix it up.  I do something different almost every day.  But, there are some people that swear by running or biking or weight lifting.  Maybe I have a bit of ADD, but I just can’t do the same thing every day.

Truly, I hope you get closer every single day to feeling your best and loving your body, and I hope some of these things help you along the way.  As said earlier, you only get ONE body!  Treat it well and own it.

Here’s to living your most positive life,

Kristin

What?  No TV for 30 days?  Why would I do this to myself?  Well, it was time for lent and I had to choose something, so why not TV??  I’m not Catholic, but my boyfriend is, and my daughter was going through the classes to become Catholic, so I thought I would jump on board with everyone else in giving something up.  I am not the type of person to go easy on myself and say, “I’ll just give up sunflower seeds.”  When I don’t even eat those regularly, and even if I did, sunflower seeds aren’t something that needs to be given up.  Not sure I even remember the last time I ate those.  Plus, I was trying to read more, meditate more, blah blah blah.  So, here we go…this is what I learned.

10. I still got all the news I needed.

Listen, I’m not really a news watcher anyway.  I think it’s sensationalized and ridiculously negative, and to be honest, it really freaks me out.  If I watched the news all the time on a regular basis, I’d never leave my house, and my daughter wouldn’t either.  I’m not saying I am ignorant to the scary things in this world, but I don’t need a constant reminder.  Through have conversations with people, you still get all the news you will ever need.  Plus, you are having REAL conversations.  You actually have something to talk about vs…Oh yeah, I heard about that.  Then, the conversation is over.  You might get the occasional, “WHAT?  YOU DIDN’T KNOW?  Are you living under a rock or something?”  But, I don’t really care.  I’m living in my no-TV, happy bubble for 30 days.  Deal with it and tell me what happened.

9. TV is friggin everywhere!!!

It’s hard enough to turn off the TV in your home with a 9 year old around, but man, the TV is everywhere.  It’s in the airport, the nail salon, the gym, and sometimes even at the gas pump!!!  Really??  I’m at the gas pump for hopefully no longer than 5 minutes, I don’t have to be constantly entertained.  But, I just did my best to ignore it and focus on pumping the gas, reading a book in the airport, or trying not to laugh when they are scrubbing my feet at the nail salon.

8. The house was much quieter at bedtime.

I always watch The Big Bang Theory to go to bed.  It’s mindless.  I’ve seen them all, so if I fall asleep during it, I didn’t miss out.  Plus, it’s nice to have a little noise when you are alone and are trying to fall asleep.  It was a bit eerie at first, and every little noise I thought someone was breaking in.  But, I got over it.  I actually found that my sleep was better and fell asleep faster.

7. I became more addicted to my phone.

I had an argument with my friends that videos on Facebook were NOT TV.  But, they just laughed at me and said I wasn’t really following the rules.  My view…it’s about my “pact” with God, and not about my friend’s rules or opinions.  But, I do think I chose one vice over another.  I thought to myself, next time, maybe I’ll give up Facebook for 30 days.  We will see.

6. My mind felt less cluttered.

I was able to actually focus on what I was doing.  Before this experiment, I would turn on the TV when I entered the house.  I didn’t always sit down at watch it, but it was on and the noise was there.  I don’t care what people say, you cannot multitask.  It’s been proven.  Quiet is a good thing!  Quiet gave my mind space to think, to read, to cook, and to just be present.  It’s amazing how the subconscious can truly be affected by mindless noise in the background.  I found that I was able to focus on the things I was doing which actually made me much more efficient.    

5. I actually lost a couple pounds.

I had more time to cook and plan what to cook.  I have really enjoyed these past few years getting back to cooking.  I like to make it all from scratch…and that takes time and planning.  When the TV was on, I would sometimes get sucked in and lose 30 minutes or an hour.  That is 30 minutes of cutting, prepping, or shopping to prepare a healthy meal.

4. It didn’t really bother me after about a week.

I think it was the second day of no TV and I decided to take out my brand new bike and do a 20 mile ride with a group training for the MS150.  Well, the ride felt good and I didn’t want to turn around and ride alone, so I kept going with them for the full 40 mile ride.  Oops.  I came home completely spent and exhausted and all I wanted to do was veg on the couch after a long bath and watch TV!!!  But, I couldn’t!  I mean I couldn’t give up on my second day of making the pact!  I actually made it through.  I found myself some things to do wobbling around the house.  After that, I knew 28 more days would be a piece of cake.  It wasn’t really, but after about a week, I got used to it.  I have heard it takes a lot of brainpower and energy to solely use willpower to change.  Once it started to become a habit vs. always thinking about not turning on the TV, then it became much easier.

3. My daughter ended up watching less TV too.

It is so true that your kids pick up on everything that you do.  She even made the comment to me that she was watching less TV.  She was following my example, and she started cooking with me, or cleaning the house instead of plopping down and watching an episode of Spongebob.  We talked more, and I felt more connected to her.  She and I would go on walks, and I felt like I had more energy and focus to be with her.  I think she really enjoyed this experiment because Mom wasn’t in her room watching her show…she was hanging with her daughter and enjoying being together.

2. I got a lot more done.

The other surprising thing is that I didn’t come home drained.  I felt like I had all this time and space to do stuff, that I actually was excited to come home and had energy.  I played the piano, read, cooked, talked to friends and family, and most of all, had time to myself.  There are only so many hours in the day to do all of these things we have to do.  Work takes up a lot of time whether you work for someone else or work for yourself.  It’s just what we do.  But, we need time and space for these other things.  It’s important to keep up with all aspects of your life…and well, TV is not your life.

1. I can’t wait to do it again (but I have to wait until So You Think You Can Dance is over)

I am a SYTYCD lover.  I was so happy that lent was not over the summertime, so I could watch my favorite show of all time with no guilt.  But, I look forward to the time when do this again.  I’m not quite ready yet, but I don’t dread the day that I decide to do it again.

I have noticed that I am right back to where I was before this little experiment.  It actually took a month or 2, but here I am.  I am a moderation type of gal.  I actually think it’s much better to make slight shifts over time to make something really stick.  Plus, the older I get, the more I realize how short life is.  Why deprive yourself of things you absolutely love?  Just do it in moderation.  As long as it’s not something completely harmful to you.  Now, my focus isn’t on a complete deprivation of TV, but to limit it.

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Yours in building a positive life,

Kristin