I want to share something that I found to be incredibly inspiring and beautiful. I was listening to my absolute favorite podcast, “The Ed Mylett Show,” and he was talking about how we should seek change within ourselves and for our lives, and there should not be a cutoff for growth.
Life wants us to settle down, to conform, to slow down, to be realistic. This results in a 30 year old who is the same person they were when they were 20.
Ed discussed a belief that he has that helps drive him to ignore these life messages, and to strive for growth. This belief is grounded in religion but can easily be applied to any belief system you may have.
Ed states “When we die and we arrive in heaven we are greeted by person we could have become – the person we were born to be, and the absolute best version of ourselves. This person achieved absolutely everything that was in his path. The goal is that me and this version of myself are twins. We will not be strangers. I want to recognize him as myself, and I want to know him.”
The only way we accomplish this is by growing. By making it an obsession to constantly grow and replace parts of ourselves. This requires being uncomfortable, and growing in self-confidence.
Think of it like working out. In order to grow our muscles we have to INTENTIONALLY break them down and then build them back up again. Sometimes to grow we may have to start over, to experience pain, and experience discomfort.
These are the 5 nutrition habits that I follow each and every day.
As we recently learned, I have a history with disordered eating. This means I make a conscious effort every day to fuel my body properly and to be mindful of my negative thinking. Luckily, those moments are rare and fleeting. But these practices have definitely kept me sane and healthy.
Healthy eating can seem daunting to anyone so I wanted to share these five tips in case they help you not only develop healthy habits, but maybe to mend the relationship you have with food/eating.
I truly believe it is the little things that we do in our daily routine that make or break us. Have you ever felt this overwhelming feeling of “blah”? Well, I have.
The first thing I did was take a look at my routine. What was I doing all day long? How did I spend my mornings? How was I going to bed? How was I getting my ish done?
What I discovered was my routine was shit. For a quick example, I would wake up and immediately grab my phone. I would scroll my instagram. Then just spend the rest of the day going in circles trying to make things happen. I would go to bed completely defeated.
Here’s why. My mornings had zero intention. There was no purpose. Also, I would immediately compare myself, my life, and my day to what I would see on my feed (even if I didn’t think that was happening)
I would go through the day feeling inspired through my own vision and thoughts, but would shut them down because it wasn’t “as good” as what I had seen. The more time that went on, the further I got from myself.
All of this to say, I no longer look at my phone in the am.
Anxiety can be a real bitch. There is no other way of saying it. (If you know then you know.)
I have battled with anxiety on and off since I was nine years old. It surfaced at the same time as learning long division, and has remained as a lead character in my life ever since.
It comes in waves. Some days, weeks even, I will feel amazing. Then one random day, I wake up in the biggest pit. Suddenly, I don’t know how to make sense of the world, and I am moving in a completely different way.
Saturday was one of those days for me. I woke up feeling that tight feeling in my chest, was extra irritable, and felt this need to cry.
The whole week I had been having trouble sleeping. I was having racing thoughts, feelings like I forgot something, and slight OCD tendencies (like having to check if the front door was locked three times.)
These anxious behaviors ONLY happen when I’m about to be in the pit of anxiety. However, I ignored them. I had a lot going on this week and I had ripped myself from my routine in order to manage it all.
Terrible Idea. But, it happens. In times of stress and overwhelm, we love to overlook our bodies messages telling us to slow down.
So this post requires some story time. Earlier this year I embarked on a journey to make this the healthiest year of my life. I wanted to feel my best mentally and physically. Also, I created some fitness goals like gain flexibility, strength, and become more toned. I really want some abs y’all. Mostly because I never pushed myself in this area and now I’m addicted to the process haha (in a healthy way)
PSA: As I continue this story I want to be clear about one thing… I am not complaining, I don’t think this is the end of the world, and I am truly happy with my journey. I just want to be as open as possible with my experience.
For a while, it seemed my routine was working. I was dropping inches and seeing improvements, but then… it just stopped. I am hanging on to fat in certain areas like my lower belly, hips, and arms, and I don’t seem to be gaining muscle (that I can see anyway)
I won’t lie. For a while, I was frustrated. I was doing the hardest workouts I have ever done, and eating clean and balanced. I do have some gut issues that contribute to all of this, but I knew it couldn’t be causing all of my issues.
So I went to school. I studied articles, research papers, and have been reading books. I feel so beyond thankful for this part of my journey. For many reasons that I will save for another post, but I was able to de-bunk so many myths, challenge my thinking, but also help me shift focus to be more holistic in my journey.
Stress and our hormones play a HUGE role in our ability to gain and lose weight. It’s absolutely vital that we care for ourselves and combat stress along the way to avoid some of the symptoms I listed above. (I go into more detail in this post)
So here are some of the myths I have de-bunked while on my journey! I hope you enjoy!
Many of you may have seen this title and thought “What the heck is Nice Cream?” If this was you, sit down because I am about to rock your world. Nice cream is basically frozen bananas blended to create an exact dupe of ice cream. Revolutionary, I know!
I have been obsessed with nice cream for such a long time, and I am happy to share that I have officially mastered the texture to make it fluffy, thick, and creamy.
The key is to use as little liquid as possible. If you are using fresh fruit or juicy fruit (like papaya) then you won’t need to add any liquid at all. Also, you want your bananas ripe and frozen. I like to freeze a bunch of bananas every week just so I am ready for smoothies and bowls.
Now if you are worried about consuming bananas you can add avocado, papaya, or frozen cauliflower and it will come out just as creamy.
I uploaded the recipe video to my Youtube channel so check that out if you want step by step directions on how to make the perfect bowl of nice cream! See it HERE
So this year is all about GROWTH and CHANGE. I have adapted so many habits into my life in order to make my lifestyle the healthiest it has ever been both physically and mentally. I wanted to share a few of the habits that have completely changed my life.
I have many more that have shaped my life in one way or another, but I was able to take the list down to my top 5 habits! I hope you enjoy!
1. The foods that you consume in a whole food plant-based diet have been shown to prevent cancerous cells from forming/reproducing.
Many studies prove that following a vegan diet can dramatically decrease your chances of getting cancer. In one well-known study, blood samples were taken from women with breast cancer, who were then asked to try a plant-based diet for two weeks. After the fourteen days, the women’s blood was taken again. The results showed that the vegan blood had nearly eight times the stopping power when it comes to cell cancer growth, as compared with blood taken from people who follow a Standard American Diet.
Cancer is the second leading cause of death in the US. The Cancer Society estimates that in 2019, there will be an estimated 1,762,450 new cancer cases diagnosed and 606,880 cancer deaths in the United States.) This scares the you know what out of me- so if eating a diet in plants minimizes the risk of developing cancer… count me in.
2. Veganism lowers your risk of developing Type 2 diabetes by 60%
Many studies have replicated these results. The crazy thing is that a diet high in fruits has actually been shown to reduce your chances of developing type 2 diabetes. This was surprising for me because all we hear is “Fruit will make you fat.” Now, I know that isn’t true, but I really want to de-bunk this for sure. I will be doing lots of research on this and will let you know what I find.
Look, I’m not one to push this part of the lifestyle, but the reality is eating a whole food plant based diet will result in a lower body fat percentage. In fact, those who follow a vegan diet are on average 20 lbs lighter than those who consume meat, dairy, and eggs.
4. A vegan diet results in lower blood pressure compared to those following a diet high in meat products
1 in 4 Americans have high blood pressure, and only about 50% of those with high blood pressure have it under control. A vegan diet, greatly decreases the risk of hypertension and high blood pressure by 33-75%.
5. Leads to lower cholesterol
High cholesterol levels lead to coronary heart disease and in some cases death. Consuming meat, dairy, and eggs results in 25% higher cholesterol levels than a diet in plant based foods.
6. There are a lot of unwanted hormones, antibiotics, and chemicals found in meat and dairy products.
70% of the antibiotics used in the US are used in the animal agriculture industry. Antibiotics are fed to farmed animals to offset the disease risks posed by overcrowding, stressful conditions, early weaning and maximising production. These are given regardless of whether the animal is infected or not. Greater use of antibiotics in modern animal farming raises the risk of antibiotic resistance, meaning increasing antibiotic failure for human diseases.
I once loved eggs. They were a huge staple in my diet. Even now I can think of my favorite dishes that involved eggs. Even when I was considering going vegan, eggs were the one thing I struggled to let go. Once my values and priorities changed, cutting out eggs became not only easy, but necessary. This isn’t a post meant to sway anyone to a vegan diet. I just want to start sharing my take on food and nutrition, as I am sharing so much of my lifestyle here and on my other channels.
Even if you decide to keep eggs and simply cut down your egg intake you will be lowering your risk for heart disease, obesity, and various other health problems tremendously : ]
So without further ado, here are the reasons I no longer consume eggs:
Getting enough protein seems to be everyone’s biggest concern- No matter the diet you follow. Even those who consume meat at every meal will supplement with protein powders.
When I went vegan, I kept seeing all of these posts about vegan protein deficiencies, and how there is no way that being vegan will give you enough protein. I’ll admit… I bought into it a little bit. Suddenly, every single symptom I experienced while transitioning was blamed on not getting enough dang protein.
After stressing about my muscles eating themselves to survive for a week I decided to do some research. I believed that there was just no way that protein did not exist in plant-based whole foods.
