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