How Annoying is the Health and Wellness Industry These Days?
/The title of this blog sounds pretty odd coming from someone in the health and wellness industry, doesn’t it? This is a topic I was thinking about the other day when I was walking home. We have SO much information thrown at us on a daily basis and it can get a bit noisy and overwhelming. I love the health and wellness industry, don’t get me wrong, but even I get overwhelmed sometimes like “oh should I be adding this in too?” or “should I be doing that?”. Like whoaa hold on a minute, this is getting to be a little too much at times and I wanted to talk a little bit about going back to the basics.
I think
superfoods and
collagen and
epsom salt baths and
oil pulling and
fermented foods and
infrared saunas and
yoga and
foam rolling and
rebounding and
everything organic and
meditation and
journaling and
matcha lattes and
cleansing your crystals before you place them on your chakras and
manifesting and
legs up the wall pose are all fine and dandy. In fact, I do/use all of these things and I love them. But is it realistic to do a face and hair mask after you’ve taken a hot yoga class and foam rolled and then did legs up the wall pose and then made a 3 course organic meal realistic for every day? Hell no. Again, I love this industry and these things feel natural to me, but some days I only do maybe one or two things on this list and thats okay. I think it’s important to keep a few things in mind when living a healthy lifestyle and everything else is just extra nice if you have the time and/or energy to make it happen.
The 5 things I make sure to do every single day that make me feel great and keep me on track are:
Eat mostly plants. This looks different every single day, but I try to incorporate greens into every single meal, or at least 2 out of the 3 meals. Like today, instead of my usual smoothie with greens in it, I ate a plant based yogurt for breakfast and then had a salad with arugula, green olives, jalapenos, quinoa, chicken, and avocado for lunch. Dinner was a cauliflower crust pizza with tomato sauce and a vegan mozzarella cheese and then I ate a piece (or two) or my Chocolate Chip Almond Butter Freezer Fudge and it was great. I didn’t incorporate greens into every meal but I did have a snack between lunch and dinner that was cucumbers and my Cilantro Peanut Sauce so I’m counting it, okay?
Drink lots of water. Yeah this is one that should never be excluded. I like to drink half my body weight in ounces every single day. I carry a 32 oz Yeti cup around with me literally everywhere and I love it because I can drink out of a straw and I’m telling you I drink twice as much water that way. Some days I like to squeeze half a lemon in my water and also add one tablespoon of chia seeds for some extra fiber and omega-3’s. You’ll feel more energized, alert, and overall healthier just by making sure your body gets enough water.
Movement. This looks different every day but I make sure that I either get a workout in at the gym, take a pilates class, or a get a good walk in every single day. Movement is so beneficial for our overall health and wellbeing and it seriously does amazing things for my mind and stress levels. My recommendation is don’t do what’s popular, but stick to what you LOVE. You could simply do an at home workout or yoga class if that’s what works best for your schedule and/or budget. Don’t be hard on yourself about this one, just find something (or a few things) you like and stick to it. I used to think I loved group classes until I started working out by myself again more and realized I get more in the “zone” that way and feel like I get a better work out in. Again, try out a few things and find what works for you.
Sleep. You don’t need me to tell you this, but it’s so, so important. I love my sleep so much and am definitely one of those people who thrives the best when I get 8-9 hours. I wish I could be the energizer bunny after 5-6 hours, but it just doesn’t work for me. This is something that I used to be hard on myself about and think I was “lazy” until I learned about human design and found out that my design, a projector, needs more sleep because we are “non-energy” beings meaning we get our energy from others and don’t create it. The more we can learn about ourselves as individuals and what works best for us, not what works for everyone else, the easier I think it is to live a lifestyle that is in alignment with what we need.
Supplements. Now, this isn’t something I always agreed with because I was one of the stubborn ones that thought we could get all of our nutrients from the food we eat. We can get a lot of those nutrients from our food source, but our soil is so depleted of nutrients these days that more than likely we do need to supplement even with the cleanest diet. I think everyone should take a good multivitamin, glutathione, fish oil, vitamin d (if your multi doesn’t have at least 2,000 iu’s), turmeric, probiotic and magnesium. I list all of the brands I love HERE under my “supplement” list to make it easy for you.
Of course some days I really go ham and do all the health and wellness things, but somedays I’m lucky if I remember to take my vitamins. Have grace with yourself and remember that no one is perfect and you don’t have to be either.
With love,
Ashley
