I hope you found my first post helpful! Yesterday we looked at simple changes you could make for your spiritual wellness. Today, let's continue that theme by taking a look at our physical wellness:
2. Make Small Changes to Your Diet.
Without good health, it’s going to be difficult to make this year exciting or productive. Yet many of us are no longer in peak condition, whether this is because of our age, injury or illness. However, regardless of any or all of these conditions, there are plenty of things we can choose to do to bring ourselves closer to, or even above, the wellness line. Diet is one change that you might want to consider.
Recent studies have shown that the way we have been taught to eat over the past 50 years has done more to harm our health than to help it. A diet high in sugar, processed foods and seed oils have all taken their toll, but the good news is that we can reverse the damage by ditching all the processed junk and getting back to food the way God provided it.
Rather than worrying about calories, try eating as close to nature as possible. If you can afford it, opt for organically grown meat, dairy, eggs, veggies and fruit. If you love to cook, try some paleo or keto recipes.
If you are less adventurous, think about ways that you can change up your favourite meals so that you cut the carbs. For example, our diet used to consist of a lot of stirfries and pasta dishes. We ditched the rice and pasta, and added more meat and veggies to our meal. Then, realising that commercially produced sauces contain heaps of sugar and fillers, we also started to make our own yummy sauces. With a few extra herbs and spices, this was surprisingly simple to do, and much healthier!
HINT: did you know that you can use essential oils as a substitute for herbs and spices? They can be more cost effective, too! To maintain the therapeutic properties of the oils, dilute them in some olive or coconut oil and add them after you have removed the dish from the heat. One drop of an essential oil is the equivalent of a whole teaspoon of the same herb. With some oils, like Black Pepper, you need even less. To help you get started, here is a download with the recommended quanitites of Young Living Culinary Essential Oils use in cooking:
Another thing we have learned, is that if you buy it, you will eat it! So by choosing not to buy bread, crackers, and other snacks, we have forced ourselves to look in our supplies for healthier alternatives. This may be as simple as keeping a dozen boiled eggs in the fridge, or tins of tuna in pantry, so that when the hungries hit we have something satisfying to munch on.
Once again, don't try to change everything at once! Making big changes can be a surefire recipe for failure (pardon the pun!). Small changes, made one at a time, are generally more sustainable and can provide a greater sense of achievement in the long term.
Tomorrow we will look at another aspect of wellness, but in the meantime, please share in the comments any recent changes that you have made to your diet, and lets inspire each other towards wellness!
