Healthy Nutrition Mindset

Hello friend ! December is here🎄!

The time of family, friends and FOOD - fitting on this months topic! ‘Mindful’ gets thrown around a LOT on social media in the wellness sphere...but what does it really mean when it comes to mindful eating? Why is it even a good thing realistically?  

I wanted to make this months focus on something that will hopefully help you start to understand what the difference between healthy & unhealthy mindsets around food actually are through my personal experiences & how you can put simple practices into place I’ve used that have affected me really positively 😀! 

Firstly, to get some context let’s dive into what my personal food mindset development started like. If you’ve been on my journey with me , you’ll hear me reference this on my Instagram ‘mental health journey’ videos briefly - my beginnings with food were not a happy one. Long story short I slowly started developing mindsets that were damaging around what I ate - it started me giving absolutely no thought to the food I put into my body, then got to the point I genuinely feared eating properly (enter eating disorder) . If you are reading this & struggling currently ,I hear you, I see you &my inbox is always open - I also cannot recommend therapy enough for this (make sure you feel it’s the right fit for you though, therapists are essentially your life aspect ‘driving instructors’ so you need to be able to trust & open up to them 😊!) ,which is an integral part of what helped me overcome this overall . In my head I viewed any food with ANY sort of fat content (yes, even the good fats because at this point I didn’t know these existed!) as literal poison. Nothing felt ‘safe enough’ to eat because I was terrified of gaining weight from what I was putting into my body so simply put, I stopped eating apart from apples & plain salad... 

Now, we could dive into all of the subconscious beliefs years of reading ‘VOGUE’ where women & body image was displayed a certain way played a part in this ,however I want to focus on the concrete takeaways from this period in my life. I have ZERO clue about the importance of eating balanced food groups. I had zero energy. Zero patience. The only factor that made me totally reconsider loving food instead of hating it out of total confusion & sadness was the horse Cheerio munching an apple loudly & with pure joy (we used to share one) - if he could love his food so much ,why couldn’t I ?!    

What followed was realising enough was enough,  education & amazing therapy. I poured over online article after online article on why each food group was essential , I looked into intermittent fasting, pros & cons of different lifestyles with their way of eating & the different opinions of top nutritionists. The key FALSE mindset I had originally about food being directly linked to staying 'overweight' or 'skinny' was slowly beginning to shift. How your body reacted to certain foods was down to so many factors :lifestyle, genetics, any physiological issues & MINDSET.   

I worked for years & years on figuring out what ‘healthy’ looked like for me and I am proud to say now that even though therapy is an ongoing theme for me in my life (I honestly recommend the benefits beyond words) ,I have learned to TEAM up with my nutrition as fuel to carry my mind and body strength into feeling GOOD everyday.

A good friend reminded me recently that new habits take 60 days to turn into a natural element of your everyday routine - this was literally how I transformed my food mindset into being a healthy mindful one. That is the literal difference between healthy & unhealthy food mindset -knowing what hurts your body compared to what HELPS your body. Little by little, I used everyday efforts with the view to SERVE my body. The key changes I made are as follows so you can try them for yourself too :

-I started everyday with a workout & balanced breakfast of something I LOOKED FORWARD to eating but that was also good for me ! (used to be overnight oat recipes as I could prep these the night before ,then I started making frozen fruit superfood smoothies with plant based milk usually chocolate flavour😍)

-My meals were tasty, balanced & thought out in advance (if I was going out for a meal somewhere ,I looked up their menu on the website & took 5 mins to decide the healthiest yummiest option so I didn’t order last minute out of stress : mindful=thoughtfulness!)

-Started listening to my body’s reaction to certain  foods & adjusted accordingly - I’m now gluten free because gluten bloats me

-Gave myself grace when I had an off day 😃

-Told close friends & family that I was making a change to eat more mindfully for my health (even though this took a while, they began to be really supportive & make it easy for me to make good choices)

-I used my fave healthy foods as snacks in between meals & main meals portioned so I ate veggies as the biggest portion & co flex carbs were the smallest size on my plate 😊

-Found healthy tasty alternatives to my fave desserts (yes..I have a huge sweet tooth!)

-Increased my water intake to the recommended daily amount (this not only improves your skin, energy & fullness but also reduces sugar cravings!)      

Be warned of trend ‘diets’ out there that tell you there’s a quick fix - not only will it permanently damage your internal body’s ecosystem but it isn’t true because real lasting positive change takes time, thought & care - this is the true meaning of mindful nutrition to me.

This festive season especially means lots of food & fun ! I wish you all the best memories & mindful choices for your body & mind 😃.                          

If nothing else sticks with your from this entry I want to leave you with this thought - it is never too late to make positive change in your life for your health, in whatever capacity that is ! YOU are WORTHY of health, happiness & light in your life❣️

Love & light always,

     Abs  Xo 



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NEXT MONTH : Goodbye 'NYE Resolutions'
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