The benefits of a healthy lifestyle

The benefits of a healthy lifestyle as a working mom or non working mom are endless. 

When you start eating healthy, don’t expect to see results the next day.  It will get bad before it gets better. You might gain weight before you lose it, have more acne before it cleared up, have more headaches before they are gone…got the point?  Patience and perseverance are  VERY IMPORTANT.  Try not to beat yourself up if you ended up eating muffins at one of the staff meetings or you kid’s birthday.  Be gentle with yourself.  Stressing and obsessing about: losing weight,  eating a meal without getting bloated, having smooth skin without acne, defeat the purpose. Might as well eat those darn doughnuts.  No one is perfect, you are human! If you are looking for perfection, you are not being realistic. With simple and easy changes,  you can achieve the benefits you want or reach the goal of healthy living and quality of life.  If I can do it , ANYONE CAN.  Let me know if you need my mom or dad’s number , just to ask them what I ate as a child ! 

I would love to sit here and write: your face will clear up, your constipation will get better and you will get over all your problems once you start.  However, I would not be realistic. 

Baby steps! Let’s face it, not everyone can jump cold turkey into a healthier lifestyle . Let’s be real!!! After years of eating doughnuts, hot dogs, steaks, bread etc…. you are not gonna stop over night. You may succeed for a week or so but after that you will start dreaming about junk , literally dreaming about it.   

When I cut down all junk from the house, cold turkey, my son started taking money to school to buy the nasty school lunch, without telling us.  Therefore, my husband and I took a step back and let him have junk “once in awhile.”  But we were very careful to define for the kids what “once in awhile” meant. To them it can mean daily. So when you allow yourself to eat ice cream “once in awhile”, make sure to define the term. Is it once a week, once every 2 weeks, once a month ? Whatever works for YOU.  

Let’s get back to the topic 😉 goodness gracious I go off on tangents.

Some people may start benefiting right away, for some it may take weeks, months or years. The key is to be patient which is super hard but I always choose a good quality of life. I know we have one life and we are gonna die anyway but why drag ourselves fatigued and depressed? Let’s live this one life energetic and light !

Here are the benefits that I experienced and continue to do so :

1. Better digestion ( fancy word for going poopoo): I suffered from constipation ALL my life and I used to stay without a bowel movement for a week ( which is super unhealthy).  At the beginning of my health journey, my digestion started to get better, then it plateaued then better again. 
2. Skin cleared up: When I first started to eat healthy,  I broke out SO bad but with patience and consistency, my skin began to clear up from acne.  Our skin is our largest organ.  “Your skin is your body’s largest and fastest-growing organ. Skin is your body’s coat. It protects you. It helps you stay warm when it’s cold, and cool when it’s hot. Your skin keeps all your insides in, from your heart and lungs to your blood and muscles. And unless it’s cut or damaged, it keeps stuff out, including germs and water. You also feel things through the nerves in your skin.” http://www.aad.org/dermatology-a-to-z/for-kids/about-skin.  Exercising and sweating is essential so the skin gets rid of all the toxins in our body. So let’s get moving too. I gotta remind myself to exercise , it does NOT come naturally to me.  
3. Less headaches:  I used to get migraine and sinus headaches if not everyday , every other day. It was horrible 🙁 My migraines were so bad that I had to leave work and once I got home I slept, I could not do anything else. I remember being in my office at work with the lights off  because it was aggravating my headaches .  I also remember another time I was at the mall , the lights appeared to be so bright that I had blurred vision , it was so scary! I literally felt like I was going blind because I could not see.    Since I started a healthier lifestyle , I stopped getting headaches and I don’t take medicine for it anymore. I used to take Tylenol and/or Advil every day ( I am not kidding).  If I get a headache now , which is very rare, I drink lemon water or eat fresh peppermint which usually does the trick.  I totally feel free that I don’t have to take medication on a daily basis.  
4. No more heartburn! Come on, you can’t  beat that 😉 I used to get heartburn all the time especially if I ate something canned like canned tomatoes or tomato paste. The burning and the cramps were not fun at all.  I took tums, prevacid or zantac. Now I don’t get heart burns at all because I am always eating fresh food.  A quick trick for a fast heartburn relief: BAKING SODA.  Just put one teaspoon of baking soda in a glass of water, drink it all and wait to see the “magic.” Try it next time you get a heartburn, before reaching for Tums, and let me know in the comments below if it worked. 
5. Less cravings: This one is huge!! I used to crave all sorts of sweets, coffee, and chips.  However, the more I added greens and real food to my diet, the cravings lessened and disappeared eventually.  Cravings are messages from our body. It is telling us it is missing “something”.  Once we fill that “something” with real food, the cravings go away. Seriously it is that simple.  I know the term “listen to your body” is so cliche! For the longest time, I wondered to myself whoever is telling me to listen to my body,  is crazy.  But healthy eating showed me how to listen to my body and how to honor it by giving it food that it wants and it strives on-food that has vitamins and minerals such as fruits, greens, grains and legumes: quinoa, lentils, beans, etc… 
6. Enjoy variety of food:  Growing up, I ate a handful of things. I HATED veggies with a passion and my mom never forced me to eat something I didn’t want.  I remember picking the onions, no matter how small they were, and throwing them away when I was little. My mom and grandma always made sure to cut the onions super tiny but I always found those little suckers.  During my college days, it was Taco Bell, Mcdonald’s, Burger King, corn dogs, food in vending machines usually chips and candy.  Now I eat food I would not have dreamed of eating few years ago. I eat quinoa, spinach, mixed greens, celery, mushrooms, eggplants, squash, zucchini, green onions and so much more. My taste buds changed. They are not numbed by the processed food and processed sugar.  Trust me when I tell you, when you start eating food packed with vitamins and minerals and cut out soda, sugar and processed food like substance, your taste buds will change too.  
7. Clearer mind. I think this is the most important one. A healthier and clean lifestyle makes you want to clean your whole life not just the food you eat and the products you put on your body. It forces you to love yourself. I think you also start seeing people for who they are and you are not blinded by fog which is caused by eating processed food and processed sugar .  I started praying and meditating more, reading inspirational books and quotes. I copied my favorite inspirational quotes on yellow sticky notes and put them all over the house to remind me to live by them daily.   I am learning to slow down and enjoy my kids. This clean lifestyle made me see myself from outside like a third party.   I used to be in a rush all the time, now I encourage myself to slow down and enjoy the NOW.  The Power of Now by E. Tolle has helped me a lot.  I find ways to slow myself down.  I am always rushing in the morning because I have to be at work at 7:15 AM.  I usually leave the house at 6:40, drop the kids off at my parents and go to work.  Last week, I told my husband that I would appreciate his help and if he can take the kids to my parents’ house two days a week. Now I have two days a week that I do not have to rush in the morning. It is the simple and little changes you make in life. We need food and water to survive but we need a clear mind and love of self to survive peacefully. I am discovering myself and my strength while I am on this journey. Some days are harder than others and  I do get upset and frustrated (sometimes too much) but I am learning and accepting.

I would like to hear from you. Tell me in the comments below what are your experiences and struggles with eating healthy? Name few benefits you noticed from eating healthy?