Healthy Living

Ok. I'll admit it. I think living a healthy lifestyle is hard. For some people it seems to come naturally. My mom, for example, loves her healthy food and you never see her with a KFC burger. When my parents were married my dad was a huge junkie. I learned a few bad habits there but my mom was still very strict. No sweets or junk food during the week. I was very active when i was younger, dancing ballet several times during the week, climbing trees, swimming, pretending i was mermaid one day and Lara Croft the next.

But when my parents got divorced i stopped all my extra activities, music, ballet, art. I was sad so i turned to food. Comfort food. Some people lose their appetites when they're sad, some turn to food. I'm part of the latter group. Carbs just have a way of 'filling the gap' when i'm sad. But that's a false feeling of comfort 'cause a few minutes later you feel sad again ....and fat, lol.

So ever since i was 14 i've battled with my weight. Picking up weight, attempting starvation but it was all in vain.

I like the concept of living a healthy lifestyle but actually doing it is a whole different story. South Africa isn't exactly the place where i can go for a run by myself so it's a lot harder for me to be active.

Our body is the Temple of God and we can't fill it with junk and artificial crap. I just found an awesome YouTube Channel called Blimey Cow and in a few of his videos he mentions how you CAN'T pray over unhealthy food. It's true.

 It's just wrong.

So here are a few tips that i've learned. I love studying the benefits of food and also the consequences of eating badly.

• So the first tip is obvious: Stay away from all fast foods, crisps, white bread and greasy, oily foods.

From some of my research i see a lot of diets say to cancel out carbs and sugar. Nah! Sugar consumed in small amounts is NOT bad.

• Try and eat lots of fruit, veggies, and protein. 

I know a lot of women stay away from protein for some reason. I, on the other hand, have absolutely no idea why and how. I love meat, chicken, fish etc. Plus it's extremely good for you. It is packed with iron and the B vitamins. A few months ago God started showing my mom and i how eating Halaal food is against the Torah 'cause it's sacrificed to another god. In SA a lot of the meat is Halaal so we bought our meat at a kosher butchery. Kosher meat is extremely expensive so we had to have mince once a week and chicken on a Shabbat. After a while i started feeling extremely exhausted and i started getting the symptoms of what a diabetic has. Excessive thirst, lethargy, occasionally blurry vision and i started getting pins and needles very quickly. I went to the doctor, got my sugar level tested and praise God i didn't have diabetes. But then what was wrong with me? It turns out i was lacking in iron and B vitamins. So i went to the pharmacist and the lady there injected me with B's. I got such an energy rush and i felt so good. But then when i went to the mall i was looking at some of the meat there and saw a lot wasn't Halaal. That was awesome and now we eat more red meat.

Which is good 'cause i haven't needed any injection. I'm so awake and buzzed.

• Exercise.

This is also a given. But it's hard when you can't pay a fortune for a gym subscription or you don't have any sport activities such as tennis or dancing. So i've formed a workout plan. Either you can buy a workout program online such as Tae Bo or Zumba. But i can't afford that right now so i just switch on music and dance away. It sounds crazy but i walk out my room 40 minutes later matching my red hair so it must do something. Just put on some upbeat music and jive. I also do things like crunches, russian twists, jumping jacks, push ups etc. It works. Seriously.

• Eat chocolate.

This is just something i can not give up. I used to be addicted to Doritos but now? Hm-mm-mmmmmm .... dark chocolate has stolen my heart. Dark chocolate is actually good for you. I read in a magazine article once that people who eat 50g of dark chocolate a day weigh 2-5kg less than the people who avoid it. 

So my advice is to EAT CHOCOLATE! 

*Dark chocolate. Not milk or white chocolate.

• The miracle of popcorn.

Google it. Popcorn, surprisingly, is packed with vitamins. Plus it strengthens your teeth. I have IBS so i have to snack in the afternoon else my colon hurts and my tummy stings like crazy when i get round to eating dinner. So i think popcorn is a good healthy choice for snacking. It's also very light so you don't have a full feeling for hours afterwards.

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So these are a few tips i have for anyone out there who wants to live a healthier lifestyle. If you've grown up with fast food and unhealthy habits it will be hard. But i've found that if you give yourself 2 weeks you'll find yourself disliking the taste of bad food. 

It's true that having a burger from McDonalds is cheaper than making a healthy meal but if you're creative it's not that bad.