Becoming more mindful about your nutrition can be a game-changer. In honor of National Nutrition Month, I thought I’d share my WHY behind the nutritious eating, and how it’s changed my life and why I decided to change my life to become a more healthy, NUTRITIOUS eater. Perhaps you can relate, or perhaps you have your own reasons. I’d love to know your thoughts so please comment below!
Here are the five reasons why I decided to become a more mindful, nutritious eater:
LONGEVITY
Look, it’s no joke this getting older thing. And, if you want to feel vibrant in five years, or ten, or twenty, it doesn’t just happen. It is something that you have to prioritize in your life … now. SO, I realized that if I didn’t get more mindful about everything I’m eating, then I’m not going to feel my best in the next decade or so. I had been somewhat of a sugar junkie, but I never gained that much weight from it. I burned off the calories because I’ve been active most of my life. Nonetheless, being skinny or not didn’t matter. It still is unhealthy, bad for my body, having a fatty liver or becoming “skinny fat” or even pre-diabetic. This is because of eating too much sugar. So, I realized that if I want to be in good health down the road, I need to start making changes. So I did. I enrolled in Nutrition School last year to educate myself, took the program and graduated. (I’m not a certified healthy and wellness coach). It reminded me of how we can do better one day at a time, and a great way to start was “crowding out” the bad foods for the good. So, I started eating a piece of fruit or an extra veggie before I indulged in the Talenti ice cream and Toll House. Before I knew it, I didn’t even crave it anymore, I had given up the ice creams, passed on the cookies, and didn’t even feel deprived! I know I’ll be healthier over the long haul by eating more and more of the ‘good stuff.’ Not sure if I’m adding years to my life, but I’m not subtracting from them, that’s for sure! I’m excited to embrace my next ten years.
HEALTHY WEIGHT
It is possible to reset your weight to a new normal. As they say, I’ve been up and I’ve been down – been up about six clothing sizes as a matter of fact. Over time, getting your calories from the more nutritious foods versus the junk food will help you shed the excess pounds. And, once you stick to it for enough time, you’ll reset your weight to a new, lower normal. I did and have maintained it for about thirty years now. I am loving how I feel so much better, and it’s the healthy weight combined with the health-boosting, energy pumping nutritious foods that make me feel so good.
MENTAL HEALTH
During the pandemic, I was worried and anxious. I turned to the sweet stuff – and I would feel foggy-headed, sluggish and just not vibrant. I am sure you’ve done that – where you eat something that just makes you feel blah. Feeling depressed or down is common after binging on sugary foods. So, to feel better, you have to eat better.
It must start with your food - apples, pears, citrus, green leafy vegetables, potatoes for healthy fuel, lean proteins, healthy fats, and water. Lots of water. That’s a great start to feeling good, and feeding your body this good food truly affects your mental health and well-being. I said out loud one day, “I didn’t know that I could feel this good.” And, I’m telling you … after a few weeks of eating like this, I really felt great!
ENERGY
Get up and boogie, friends! The more you’re doing exercise, the more you want to eat the more nutritious foods! You’ll find that this becomes a cycle in the most positive way! The better foods you eat, the more energy you have. Then, in the same way, the more energy you expend in exercise and activity, the more you’ll want to eat healthily. So, start an exercise routine that inspires you, that gets you moving and energized, and then you’ll want more nutritious foods. To me, exercising daily is important. I feel much better when I do; and then, I want to keep eating healthy foods. So, like begets like … expend energy and eat well and then expend some more energy and eat healthy again!
SELF-LOVE
Loving yourself is the key to peace and contentment, at least in my book. But self-love has a lot of different forms. One of them is by caring enough about your well-being to eat the right things! After a bag of Cheetos, or bowl of Fruity Pebbles, or a double pounder smothered in bacon and cheese and onion rings, how good do you really feel? Just compare that to eating something that’s really diecious, but also really good for your body. Your cells are constantly turning over, as well as your skin, your bones, your blood, and it’s important to fuel them with the good foods. It’s a form of loving your self – and your body.
So, these are the reasons why I embrace nutritious eating now, and I’m excited to share it with you. So please tell me, are you eating nutritious? What motivates you to do so? Please do share! And Happy Nutrition Month …. May it be chock-full of great health and vibrant energy for you!
You are what you eat. My mom always told me that and now I try to instill healthy eating to my children.
I truly enjoyed my college Nutrition class. I had 2.5 years of college chemistry prior to the Nutrition class and the Nutrition class really put everything in to perspective in regards to metabolizing food. And yes, I am a label reader.
All excellent suggestion found here for physical and mental heath.