Does being “healthy” feel like you are at the bottom of an uphill battle? Most of my days I am running around like a chicken with my head cut off and even preparing dinner feels super overwhelming at times. Then throw in the thought of dirty dishes post dinner! (sigh.) (Pizza night is my favorite night, and eating it straight from the box. Brings me great joy. Insane joy. Really it does!). On top of 105 things to do in a day, we are encouraged to get in some exercise, feed out bodies with nourishing foods, be emotionally available to love on all our people {husbands, children, friends, work, community}, keep our homes in order, and have some time alone to be with the Lord or meditate. I mean…….I feel semi stressed just typing all that out. How is it possible to be healthy?
In 2004, my husband and I battled through a dark time as he faced some serious health challenges with Ulcerative Colitis. Later in 2010, he was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that was most likely the root of the colitis in the first place. We are no strangers to disease and it was at this time I became fascinated with comprehensive wellness. Not only was I desperately searching for ways to heal my husband’s body, but I also found myself in want of wellness. I felt tired, overwhelmed with three small children, out of shape and wondering, “What is health, and can anyone truly obtain it?” I went through a period of trying “extremes”, as I like to call them. From juice cleanses, to only eating meat and cheese, never eating sugar again, to really extensive workouts—I was always searching for a way to get in shape and be “healthy”, when really I was going about it the wrong way. Maybe you can relate to this phrase: “Well I just ate cake, so I will blow the rest of today and hit the restart button tomorrow”. It was physically and mentally taxing and felt like some sort of failure. Healthy in my mind was all about getting back down to my pre-baby weight.
So, let’s be clear on what Healthy is.
Health is defined as : the state of being free from illness or injury. A person’s mental or physical condition. Being comfortable, or happy.
People tend to sum up health as something to do with how fit we are or what vegetables we eat, but it is so much deeper than that. Health is mental, it is physical, it is all-encompassing. And we are all desperate to be healthy. A lot of people believe that to be “healthy” we need to eat salads, go on a diet and exercise for longer than we have time for. Healthy sounds not fun. When we can’t accomplish food and exercise, then we kind of give up and say, “I could never eat like she does, I like food too much”, or “I’m just not an exercise kind of girl, plus I like to spend my time with my family.” Under the slight judgment there is always a little defense. Because deep down we know we are not honoring ourselves. Being healthy is not about loosing weight and working out. Health is about honoring this one body we have been given.
I started to have a radical shift in my thinking and decided to live mindfully healthy. Instead of just focusing on my goal or what I wanted to change, I started to give myself grace for where I was and form daily habits that would not only help me achieve my goal but also provide joy and well-being along the way. It became so clear to me, that wellness goes way beyond diets and the gym. It really boils down to mindfully paying attention to how I direct the thought patterns of my mind and spirit ,what food I am filling my intricate body with that makes it thrive, taking time to honor my body with movement, and my focus on self-care. When we pay utmost attention and give care to ourselves, we get to a state of being healthy. We have lost the art of caring for ourselves. We tend to take care for the other 105 things before we look at our own health.
I absolutely believe that the practice of healthy habits leads to achievement, and I want to daily foster an atmosphere of intentional living. I have confidence that the daily focus of these four things can lead anyone to feel better physically, mentally and emotionally. I believe all these areas are connected and that in order to be healthy, we need to focus on all of them. Below are a few thoughts on each of the 4 pillars of health.
Thoughts:
Truly being healthy starts with out thoughts, it is about being mindful. It takes conscious effort and thinking to sustain a “healthy” lifestyle. Self consciousness is a form of fear. Self doubt is from of lack of confidence. Lack of confidence is fear of not succeeding, fear of failure, worry of being judged, worry of not measuring up, not being good enough, all of this is fear based. Our thoughts govern so much of how we feel. We have got to get control of our thoughts. How we think affects our negative emotions which encompass stress, anger, depression, anxiety, fear just to name a few. You can eat right and exercise all day long, but if your thoughts are negative, holding on to past hurt and operating from that place, or fear based, then you are not healthy. Whatever we focus on, we give power to. Whatever the mind focuses on, it feasts on. If you want to know what a persons focus or feast is, all you have to do is listen to the words that come out of their mouth. (Lysa TerKeurst) We must train ourselves to fix our thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise. (Phil 4:8)
We are called “to serve, not be served.” If our thoughts are only on ourselves, then that leaves very little to give to others. While this takes a lot of time and planning to nurture and care for our health and soul, it is equally important to care for others. I fully believe the quote, “you become like what you focus on.” I want all people to not only love themselves but to love others extremely well. It takes intentionality to stop and think how you can serve others. A servant’s heart will gift you in return in ways you can’t explain. Part of our thought process each day must be to step out of our personal insecurities and respectfully encourage, strengthen and empower others. Washing our mind with truth and love and serving others is good medicine for health.We will be talking a lot more of mindfulness in another post and the role of our thoughts regarding our health.
Food:
The best way to honor our bodies with food is:
- Eat whole and real food
- Do NOT count calorie
- Listen to our bodies
- Plan and be prepared – this is HUGE
I most often fail when I am under stress and are hungry {like when you start cramming your kid’s leftover chicken nuggets in your mouth}. Part of taking care of yourself, is planning for yourself. Of course I love meal planning for dinners, but I also love envisioning my whole day. When you are prepared you are setting yourself up for victory. I truly believe that there are many ways to be “food healthy”! We are all beautifully and uniquely made and no two bodies are the same. I appreciate the meat eaters to the vegans. Whatever avenue you choose to go down, there is a consistent thread throughout all of the research on healthy eating, and that is Fruits and Vegetables!!!!! Our goal each day is to highly focus on fruits and vegetables. When you are eating real and natural foods your body thrives and you are full and content. I pattern and plan my days around a very colorful and vegetable-rich day. We will dive into food soon, but in the meantime, feel free to send me any questions you have!
Exercise:
Our bodies were made to move! While the thought of “working out” does not sound good to most of us, there is nothing better than physically feeling strong and able. I believe it is critical to our health to intentionally move. Exercising increases your blood flow, clears your mind, is beneficial to your entire body and helps prevent too many things to name. The goal is intentional movement for at least 20 minutes a day. The American College of Medicine and the American Heart Association recommend 150 minutes of exercise a week, which basically means a minimum of 20 minutes a day. Twenty minutes are so doable! If you don’t value exercise then are a look at the statistics for heart disease in the U.S. : Heart disease is the No. 1 killer of women and is more deadly than all forms of cancer combined. Ya’ll this is for real! Your heart needs your attention and care through exercise and clean eating. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends that adults participate in muscle-strengthening exercise involving all major muscles at least twice weekly. Every move you make requires muscle strength. Maintaining muscle strength over the long-term is an essential component of your good health. When we move often and build muscle strength so we can actively participate in life well into our 80’s. We all need to revisit the “WHY’S” of exercise and know that it is not something we do so we can fit into a bikini (those days are over for me anyways, I’m actually really digging my one pieces) but it is to honor our bodies that need it.
Self-Care:
Self-care is one of the things most people forget to do for themselves and can be detrimental to their health. We must carve out time to recharge and refresh. We are prone to give, give, give and then feel guilty for taking a break. If you do not take time to re-charge, you will run yourself down and not have anything left to give to others. I really encourage the mindful practice of incorporating little ways to re-charge and give back to ourselves. We will talk more about rituals, routines and ideas for self-care in posts to come.
I truly believe that all aspects of our life are to be glorifying to the Lord. Our health and wellness is no exception. By taking it one day at a time, we can feel so much freedom and joy on our journey of healthy living. I have let go of the pressure of detailed diet plans and crazy exercise programs and am focusing only on today and how I can honor my body. It is absolutely a life-style that becomes a habit. I am passionate about health and would love to help and encourage you along the way!!! Please reach out to me anytime with any questions, and although I may not have all the answers, I would love to encourage you. xoxo KK