My house on the outside is clean, comfortable and organised - or so that is what it appears to be. When you open a cupboard you have to duck for cover with the overflow of “stuff” oh and by the way avoid the garage and store room.
Sometimes that is how our brain feels, on the outside we look uncluttered but on the inside we are brimming with ideas, thoughts, memories and that endless what to do list ultimately making us feel disorganised and perhaps a little depressed due to the overwhelm. The way that many of us approach our health is very similar. Although we want to be healthy and we want to make great food choices everyday, sometimes it's just not possible. Our brains are so cluttered with “stuff” we have to make room for new ideas and concepts. To make changes stick we need to deal with the clutter within. This idea struck me while I was watching youtube sensation Marie Kondo in her Netfilx series Tidying Up. She shook all my conventions and it took me a little time to come around to her system of organising as I hate to admit it, her ideas were far better than mine. How can we relax and enjoy our space when we are surrounded by kaos? We can’t clear our thoughts or make good choices when our homes and our heads are filled with “stuff” that we either no longer need or think that we need. It’s like eating healthy, we are full of lots of ideas about healthy eating but it's hard to change habits that took a lifetime to create. We need to deal with all the clutter. We have to break our patterns of old unhealthy eating habits and create new healthy eating habits. To make a start, I put together 10 golden rules for eating healthy. You are probably going to read this list and think, it's just not possible. That’s ok. Just catalogue it in your brain until it does make sense and it is doable. When making changes there are two types of people in this world. Those that change everything at once, and the rest of us who need to take things bit by bit. One change at a time, and when you are ready, then go to the next step. Don’t think that you have to do it in this order, just pick the easiest change for you, start with that and when you have aced it try another. Krys’ 10 golden rules for healthy eating:
Marie Kondo asks this one question when letting go of possessions does it spark joy for you? If an item sparks joy, then keep it. If it no longer does, or you have no use for it in your life ahead, then let go of it. Thank the item and graciously give it away. Just like food, embrace the healthy foods and be thankful that you are eating to heal rather than create disease. Then, say no thank you graciously to the unhealthy ones. Let them go, as they do not belong in your healthier life now and in the future. Uncluttering your life and your home can be the first step to healthy living. Because, once you have nailed that, then you can move onto other areas of your life such as your health and wellbeing to get even more rewards and importantly joy. Nutrition advice, finding foods that suit you and ways to improve your gut health is what I love to do. I have a practice in Balgowlah, Sydney and see patients locally or by skype. Let me help you live your best life. Check out my website www.kryslojeknutrition.com and sign up to my newsletter to receive a free healthy pantry list.
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Yosemite, California Ever had a day where you had a total personality failure. Well, my family will attest to that one, I successfully made everyone's life a misery but here is how the story goes….
This was perhaps one of the best holidays we have had in along time. I had planned our trip so that we were not rushed and had plenty of time in one spot to explore and relax at our pace. This is in stark contrast to our last one where we spent, maximum three days in one spot for two weeks. Great but rushed. We were ending our stay in Yosemite and heading to the big smoke in San Francisco. Like all, or most ‘organised' mothers, I thought I was doing the right thing. We have self-contained accommodation so that we can cook our own meals and have relative control on the quality of food that we eat. I love vegetables and fruit and lots of them, which you don't get when you eat out. So we were eating through our supplies to buy fresh at the next spot without food spoiling in the car on the drive from Yosemite to San Francisco. I had planned it down to the wire, except….. The last night. So we picked up a few things from the corner store which didn't sell much at the end of the afternoon, so it was a big breakfast for dinner, of grilled tomatoes, eggs, bacon. All the fresh produce, eaten and only a few staples left for the next phase of our holiday. The next day, we pack the car, I've made a stack load of pancakes for breakfast with maple syrup and head off. It wasn't a long drive, so I wasn't concerned that we didn't have any snacks. But after breakfast, packing the car, saying goodbye to our holiday spot, we get in the car and what do the kids say? I'm hungry is there anything to eat. Is that a recording that I hear? Determined to get going, we ignore calls for food and drive on. Lunch we stopped off on the way and had what ever limited choices there were. Roadside food is never a positive experience, but what do you do. That afternoon, I felt a wave of Jekyll and Hyde take over. Once the lovely pacifist, I became, the mother from hell. I was grumpy, moody, nothing was good enough and I felt the only safe place was to take myself to bed and sleep. This did help but once again we ate out that night, not eating what we really needed to be eating. Although my personality returned after a restful night's sleep, I felt weary, no energy and lost my spark. I was not sure what I was missing until we stopped at Whole Foods on the way from Monterey Bay to San Francisco. OMG, now I love Wholefoods in the States, it's like a little food haven, but this one was huge. They had isle upon isle of cooked food in a bain-marie of all different types and styles of food. Slow cooked meats, vegetables, salad ingredients we were all in heaven. I looked around at all the choices and my body drove me to the paleo section where I filled an enormous takeaway box with roasted vegetables, grilled chicken, and beetroot. There were many other foods that I would easily have loved, but I bypassed all for these choices. What got me the most was the absolute pleasure of eating. Every mouthful of veg was sensational. The taste heightened. It was a truly fantastic, pleasurable eating experience and I could feel the goodness with every bite. My body was healing and receiving nourishment and I could feel it. My family thought I was totally mad. I thought I was mad. But my body was starving. Starving for the good foods. Real foods, fresh foods. My personality was restored, my energy revived, and now we had a new joke in the car. What do you do when you are feeling down, go to Wholefoods….Made me laugh for a change. So with personality revived, I have learned the importance of planning your food realistically and if you ever get stuck traveling in the States go to Wholefoods. |
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April 2019
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