BODY
“Your body is your most priceless possession. Take care of it.” – Jack Lalanne
It’s one thing to be happy and healthy mentally and spiritually but, as I learned through the last few years – you can’t have a happy, healthy, fulfilling life without also being physically healthy.
For as long as I can remember I struggled with my body image. I grew up in the 90’s and early 00’s when “thin” was “in” and the body I was born with just isn’t naturally stick thin. I had to do so much mental work to get to a place where I was able to shake the insecurities, the calorie counting and the overall obsession with my weight to just be happy with the body I was born with. And for the last decade or so I believed that if I was mentally accepting of my body, no matter what size or shape I was, it meant that I was, “healthy”.
That was until I started experiencing health issues at the end of 2020. From rashes (all. Over. My. Body.) to chronic bloating to breaking out in hives – these physical manifestations were relentless, uncomfortable, and apparently never-ending. Every time I was able to heal one issue … another one popped up. I was doing everything “right”. I was living an organic, mostly vegan lifestyle (eating fish or cheese occasionally) and exercising a few times a week. I was “healthy” – it didn’t make sense. And that’s when I started digging.
In the beginning of 2021, I started counting ingredients instead of macros. I started working in more whole, organic, one-ingredient foods into my diet and working out the low-calorie, high-protein “dairy alternatives”. I also started to learn about “greenwashing” (a deceptive practice by brands that market their products as “healthy” or “environmentally safe” when they are NOT AT ALL). Just because the products I was eating had an organic label on them… didn’t mean they were good for me.
In the last few years I learned that everything I thought I knew about physical health was wrong. That in many instances I was trading the convenience of “healthy” prepared food for my gut health. And that our gut health is responsible for so many functions including our mental health and that my unhealthy gut may have been responsible for any struggles with depression or anxiety that I had.
Our bodily health makes up another 1/3 of our puzzle – yet it has two parts. Our body health is more than physical body health but energetic body health. As humans we all have our physical body and our energetic body.
Our energetic body influences our overall well-being and, as such, taking care of it is necessary if we want to live happy, healthy, fulfilling lives. Tending to our energetic body can be as simple as a breathing practice or ensuring our ankles, neck, and midriff are covered during cold days. Tending to our energetic body is also becoming aware that, regardless of our gender, we all have both masculine and feminine energy running through us and those energies require balance.
Under this BODY category you will find articles about some of the “healthy” misconceptions I’ve learned over the last few years, whole, natural and organic recipes, various organic concoctions for skincare, hair-care and body care, as well as different practices I partake in to tend to my physical and energetic bodies.
