If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading. ~Lao Tzu
I have a confession -- my days of mindful eating and exercise have fallen far to the wayside in the past couple years. It turns out the three things that have made me happiest - starting a business, meeting the love of my life and getting a dog -- were not the most conducive for my health. The dog hates to run so I started running more slowly and at lower mileage. I've also been eating out with my partner much more frequently, and we all know that restaurants make you fat. The business seems to take up so much time that I don't have enough time to exercise or cook. I relied on convenience foods, and the worst thing is that I ended up eating far too much sugar, which is evil.
Anyway, that's all a BIG FAT EXCUSE because you need to prioritize eating well and exercising, no matter what. It's the foundation for everything else that you do. And I didn't. The result is that I am woefully out of shape, as evidenced by my inability to wake up in the morning, general tiredness, weight gain and susceptibility to colds. I finally had it when I caught a cold that wouldn't go away and lingered for two weeks.
It was time for a massive rehaul. Fortunately, the map is already written. Eat well, sleep regularly, exercise, drink water. I started by exercising and cutting out dairy (not completely since I work in food and I constantly need to taste things). This prompted me to stop eating cheese as a convenient snack and just general more healthful eating. Almost immediately I noticed that it was easier to wake up in the morning. After five days of cleaner eating, I did a juice cleanse.
I've been fascinated with juice cleanses, but never felt the need to do one since I ate pretty mindfully, and your body works well when your healthy. However, I had become too accustomed to sugar and I had a constant lack of energy. I thought that not eating food was one of the only ways I could quickly reset my palate and signal to my body that we were about to make a big change. So in this iteration of getting healthier, the juice cleanse was a way for me to set the stage for myself. How was it? The next post will be all about it.
Getting healthy is simple, but not necessarily easy. It just takes discipline and willpower. If anyone out there wants to get healthier, let's do it, shall we? It might feel lonely, but there are millions of people out there making that same commitment today. So let's do it!
What to do - Kickstart your Healthy Lifestyle
- Are you fed up with being unhealthy and tired? Don't take it anymore! Take that anger and turn it into positive motivation. Use it to fuel the foundation of your new healthy lifestyle.
- Follow the steps in the Mindful Map.
What I ate: 14 oz green juice, 2 hard boiled eggs, quinoa, sauteed tofu + kale + shiitake mushrooms, 1.5 cup almonds, brown rice, stirfried shrimp + swiss chard + summer squash + shitaake mushrooms, grapes, tangerine, 3 squares dark chocolate, 16 oz coconut water, 64 oz water
Exercise: jogged 4 miles
