In the last few years I've had a bit of a yo-yo thing going on. Not so good. I've hit it hard & exercised like a demon, had excellent results but neglected many other things in my life [creating, creative business - things I need for balance & contentment, inner peace] and I've also dropped the exercise pressure right off & done minimal in the interests of being kinder to myself.
[beautiful raspberry photography found here]
Well turns out being kind to myself resulted in a chocolate bar when I needed a pick me up. So sadly I have undone lots of my hard work. Yes I'm disappointed but I'm also seeing the patterns and I know I need a happy medium. I do need to choose different pick me ups, not V, not a chocolate bar, but time in my studio alone, time sewing, treating myself to beautiful fresh raspberries, putting myself to bed early to crochet, a foot massage every now & then. I also need to focus on regular exercise and even though its puts the whole house under pressure & heartwrenching to leave little people upset every time I walk out the door, it needs to be done. And regularly.
So this week I have returned to the gym. I did an RPM class with my sister last night & tonight we'll be doing Body Pump, we'll also do another class on the weekend. I'm aiming for about 4 classes a week. I hope to incorporate a little bit of treadmill at home & build in physical activities with the kids on the weekends as part of our family fun day. So I'm blocking out time to just get some good hours racked up at the gym & also doing some things at home. At the moment its not really a happy medium [because the little ones aren't exactly happy] but I'm hoping the family will recognise that this is the 'medium' the 'balance' that will just have to work for us long term because mum needs to program little blocks of time away from home to focus on good health.
So here I go again.
The other part of good health is a strong food foundation of course. I do enjoy cooking a mix of quick meals for the family & other more involved meals for the nights I have time. So much I have been researching & reading about points to a couple of basic things that form the foundation of a good all round healthy diet.
1] Minimise processed & sugary foods
2] A diet rich in lean meat protein, fish, vegetables, wholegrains & fruit
It seems every resource I've found quibbles over some of the finer details, just see the differences in these charts!
But the broader message is pretty obvious stuff really. And we can't have too many reminders. Seems not only are the many diets/models for healthy eating all pointing to essentially the same thing but many of my friends are seeking out similar things too. Subtle differences. I am enjoying Tamar's blogging on clean eating & taking many things onn board. I was also intrigued when Mel started instagramming and now blogging about Paleo. Paleo is said to be like an original caveman type way of eating food. The less processing the better, wholefoods.
After hearing about Mel's enthusiasm for Paleo, it got me all enthused too and upon her recommendation I looked into two of her favourite books. Just a week later, I was catching up with my friend Lauren at her sister Tatums house and what do you know, Tatum had these same two books. I was able to flick through them and yep they absolutely both look like winners. So I've ordered them & can't wait to incorporate some Paleo meals into the family meal planner. It comes down to organisation for me and I'm trying very hard to have more balance in our home & plan ahead.
And lastly, a few days ago I blogged about family organisation & a book on my wishlist. I ordered this one also from here.
Excited to get cracking again. I'm not going to try to be a superhero, just pay more attention to things, not let the cold winter make me too lazy.
Oh and one more thing, a cousin of mine had a link to this fabulous website on facebook that I thought I would share too. Looks like it has some super recipes. You can find it here.
Ok, Buddy & I are off to shop for fresh produce! Yes!
