Perfectly reasonable, do-able + enjoyable though I might believe the MuTu-Lifestyle to be, occasionally my health + wellness self-righteousness is very rightly challenged by an exasperated + perfectly normal woman throwing her hands up in the air…
“REALLY? No wine? No crisps? No high heels? What are you trying to DO to me?’.
It’s delicious. Honest it is. And it kicks that hangover into the middle of next week…
My advice extolling the virtues of juicing kale + lifting weights fades to background noise for the dear woman as she starts banging her head slowly against the fridge…
Can’t say I blame her.
I rather enjoy a glass of red, or a bowl of something deep fried + salty, or crumble + custard after a Sunday Roast. So at the risk of digging my hole of self righteousness still deeper, I’m going to soldier on + attempt to inspire rather than drive you to drown your sorrows of deprivation in Hula Hoops + Sauvignon Blanc.
If you want to see results quickly (as in, fat loss, change of body shape, looking + feeling noticeably different to how you do right now), then initially you do need to make some seemingly radical changes. Of course it depends on your starting point + how whole hearted + dedicated you want to be in embracing those changes for the long term. Cutting out processed foods, radically reducing sugar, caffeine + alcohol, walking every day for at least 30 minutes, doing daily core exercises + progressing gradually to additional intensive workouts is quite a lot to take on. And thats before you’ve even started on the breathing right, walking right + ditching your high heeled shoes… (If you’re still with me, you can read more about the programs that make you do all that stuff here if you like, then come back).
It works – of that I can assure you… but thats not to say its always an easy transition.
It’s a lot to change. It’s a lot because to make big changes, we have to, well, make big changes. “Isn’t there an easier way?” you ask? A quicker, less hassle way? Well… you can go on the-[insert name of any diet]-diet. If you follow it, you’ll consume less food or calories overall + lose weight. That tends to be how most diets work – eat fewer calories over a period of time. They often work very well, often quite quickly. So well in fact, that once you’ve come off them, after a period of time you go back on them, to lose the weight you’ve gained. Because it worked so well the first time… See where I’m going with this?
I’m suggesting we stop the roller coaster. That we work instead to change our relationship with our body + what we put in it that means we never again bore ourselves or others with ‘I’m on a diet’, ‘I’m being good today’ / ‘I’ve been bad today…’, that we try to change the internal indulge-feel-guilty-diet-indulge cycle. The eating in times of stress, loneliness or boredom.
That you set yourself free to do + eat stuff that feels good to do + eat. Not just right now, as you’re eating it, but afterwards too. That we consider ourselves important enough, fabulous enough + worthy enough to take care of with balance + self love.
For what its worth, heres a snapshot of my weekend. On Saturday we had friends over for dinner. We drank Prosecco out of fancy glasses - just because. We had dinner… Italian pork with crackling, piles of buttery pasta + roasted veggies. We drank wine, + then ate cheesecake… had lots of laughs… then peppermint tea + bed around midnight. Fast forward to a nights sleep that probably wasn’t as long as it should have been, Sunday morning + a drink of hot water + lemon (kinda zingy on my fuzzy mouth), a ginger shot (an apple + an inch of ginger, juiced) + a large green smoothie (kale, spinach, celery, pineapple, lime, apple, pear + avocado) . Out the house at 8.30am for rowing training. Around an hour hard rowing on a choppy sea + all traces of indulgence are well + truly blown away. Later my daughter + I walked + ran + played hide + seek in the woods with the dog.
I won’t bore you further with the minutiae or dinner table of my life – but this is what balance means to me.
I do the juicing vegetables thing + the walking every day, I do the intensive workout thing about 5 times a week. I do less yoga than I intend to, but I do some. I eat pretty much zero processed food. I like meat + butter + green vegetables + dark chocolate + occasionally wine. I really like food + I also really, really like moving a lot. None of this is a chore – its just what feels good.
Many healthier-than-me people choose to never, ever eat sugar or drink alcohol + to always get 8 hours sleep. Some less-healthy-than-me people may have stayed up later, or drunk a little more… they probably wouldn’t have juiced kale + spinach in the morning or done an hour’s intensive exercise in the rain + the cold (fair enough). This is none of my business. I have absolutely no, none, zero, nada, interest or desire to tell anybody how they should go about… well, anything really. I just know what things + foods make me + my loved ones feel good + happy, + try to do that as much as possible.
And in my line of work, I can of course advise others on how to eat + move to look + feel better if thats what you want. On the whole, that works out pretty well but my approach, like anyone’s approach, won’t be for everyone.
If you want to look + feel different, you have to change some stuff. You have to move + eat differently. HOW differently – well that is entirely, your decision. It depends how different you want to look + feel.
It is NO-one’s damn business what you want to eat or do. If you’re not hurting anybody… + you want to do or eat that (whatever that is) then do it or eat it. Do your thing + be judged by no-one. Don’t feel guilty about what you eat or ashamed or unhappy about your body. Love it – either as it is, or say ’Hmm, might like to change that a little’ + then do things differently – things that feel good to do – to change it.