Being Well

Posted in Food, Home, Writing.

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I’m not entirely comfortable with the word ‘wellbeing’. It sounds a bit faddy and unobtainable, like ‘paleo’ or ‘no carbs’. I don’t think I’ve ever referred to my own ‘wellbeing’ out loud – it’s the kind of word used only at your yoga class or in an online forum for vegetable juicing. But I’m trying to put my sneering judgement aside and embrace elements of a lifestyle that would, at one point, have me snorting into my Diet Coke and reaching for a frozen pizza.

I mentioned in my 2015 goals post that I wanted to take my health more seriously. I’m not really an unhealthy person – I don’t binge eat burgers or sink a bottle of wine a night, but nor do I eat leafy greens and exercise daily. Or like, ever. I’ve never paid much attention to what I’m putting into my body – additives, sugars, trans-fats, whatever. I don’t read ingredients lists. The McDonald’s Double Cheeseburger is in my top 3 foods of all time. I drink a lot of gin.

Aside from food, I’m also very poor at ‘switching off’. Both literally and figuratively – my iPhone is a constant companion. I think about – and carry out – work tasks all day every day, including weekends. I haven’t had a proper, no-work-to-be-done holiday since my honeymoon in 2013. The symptoms of burn out are very familiar to me.

At the beginning of the year I decided to make some changes. I’m quite good at dealing with stress – in fact, I think I thrive on it – so realising something wasn’t right took me longer. I’m the person who says ‘I can do it. No worries. Leave it with me. I’ll have it to you in an hour’. But I needed to be the person who says ‘not today. Maybe next week. I can’t take this on right now’ and closes her laptop.

So, changes were made.

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In the pursuit of ‘wellbeing’, I gave up fizzy drinks. I’ve had two glasses in 2015 so far – a vast improvement on my one-can-a-day habit. I don’t drink tea or coffee (aside from the odd Earl Grey when I’m somewhere fancy) and I’ve also cut out squash, so now only really drink water with lemon… and gin and tonics. Obviously.

I also no longer buy ‘diet’ versions of anything. No ‘Lighter than Light’ mayonnaise. No reduced fat butter. No ‘healthy’ ready meals. I read an article that explained what goes into diet food to make it look and taste like normal food and it seriously turned me off for life. I’d rather have less of the real deal than lots of an artificial hybrid.

Food is an area I find difficult, because processed stuff is literally amazing. I love pizza and burgers and Pepperamis and crisps. But I am trying. Vegetable crisps with homemade guacamole, for example. Bananas with natural yoghurt and honey made by my mum. Wholewheat pasta. Dark chocolate. I’m making subtle changes where I can, because life is still for living and dieting is seriously boring.

I don’t want to be thin, I want to be well.

On the lifestyle front, I’m pleased with the small changes I’ve made. I’ve started going to yoga once a week which I find amazingly relaxing – a whole hour away from my phone, no screens in sight and 10 minutes with a lavender eye bag at the end. I went on a spa day and had the most brilliant full body massage (at Eastthorpe Hall, which I thoroughly recommend), which made me realise regular massages should absolutely be ~a thing~ in my life. I’m trying to be better at scheduling client content over the weekend, so I can leave it to post automatically. Little things like closing the laptop to properly watch a film or leaving the office for an afternoon walk are making a big difference to how I feel.

This is definitely an ongoing thing – a journey, if you will. I’ll always get a Diet Coke refill in Nando’s (it’s just common sense) and I’ll still Instagram my way through a ‘relaxing’ weekend away. But I’m hoping there will be more balance, and I’ll manage to find some ‘wellbeing’ in among a busy life.

I might even say the word out loud.

13 Comments

lilylipstick

I definitely agree with wellness over thinness. Switching off will always be the biggest struggle for me, I still find myself falling asleep on my laptop most evenings but have made some big changes (Diet Coke is now an occasional treat and not an 8-a-day habit) and definitely believe its all about balance, the thought of giving up gin does not bear thinking about! x

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Sarah

Such a great post! Giving up on diet versions of food is somewhere I want to be. I’m not there yet – at the moment, I’m trying to get back into good habits, and it’s a crutch that I need (as is diet coke). And I’m overweight – about four stone so, for my height – so I feel like I need to address that first, before I start making those other changes. But by the end of the year that’s my aim – get back into a healthy mindset, then work on a thing at a time. Introducing more exercise. Cutting out fizzy drinks. Getting rid of the ‘diet’ food. I keep looking at my 98 year old granny, and thinking that she eats what she wants – in moderation, but there’s no lighter or diet versions in her fridge. There is a lot of wine though, so lesson learned.

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Julia

Loved this. So, so refreshing to read a post which focuses on health and lifestyle changes without a) being spurred by a desire to lose weight and b) a single mention of bloody detoxing. Hooray!

P.S: As a long time lurker and possibly even first-time commenter I’d like it to be known that your posts have been on. point. recently. Really enjoying the progession of your blog and content.

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Natalie

Eeeeexactly!
Great read, the Yogaa struck a cord with me. I’ve been going for a month now and I just love being so focused on a pose or a balance that my mind is totally present! I’m actually switched off for an hour and it’s bliss!
Be well!! Nx

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Lauren

I’ve been living at home in-between moving houses and I’ve put on a stone from eating my mum’s carb-filled cooking all winter. This post has made me even more excited to get back to eating what I want next week! Keep it up with the no fizzy juice! x

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Gwen

Another hands-waving-in-the-air for wellness over thinness. I went through a phase of going to Pilates and swimming a lot about this time last year and I loved it – I didn’t lose weight but I felt fit and strong and so much calmer. I really need to go back to it, thank you for the reminder!

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Lizzy

Ah crisps. My greatest weakness and the thing I literally cannot stop myself eating! The challenge is REAL! I’ve also found the headspace app really great for ‘switching off’ and meditating.

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Maria

Loving this, Mark and I have been trying to go for walks in the evening recently rather than gawping at the TV and it is so nice to have some time out of my own head!

Maria xxx

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Charlie

It’s all about making changes that make you happy, and work for you ! I have radically changed my way of eating about a year ago when I went vegan but this year I think I’m gonna take it farther by going raw as well. It’s not easy but with baby steps I’m getting there and the most important for me is to feel good in my body, happy and full of energy !
Good luck with implementing healthier habits in your daily diet !

Charlie xx
http://charlieleschroniques.blogspot.fr/

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Helen

There’s been a real movement away from dieting and towards eating well, trying to avoid additives and other nasties and exercising to be fit instead of thin – and that’s such a good thing! It makes it feel less like punishment and more like looking after yourself. I’m right behind you on the wellbeing front (although I don’t like that word either!)

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Jenna

I so, so, so needed to read this. I started on a similar journey to this about a year ago, of wanting to be healthy and ‘well’, rather than thin etc. It’s definitely been great, I’ve learnt a lot, and my general lifestyle is so much better. As a consequence though, I follow various healthy food blogs (I quit sugar, against all grain etc etc), and while they’re so helpful for giving you all the info on why certain things are good/bad for us, they can be so overwhelming and make ‘healthy’ seem so unachievable in comparison to a relatively normal english lifestyle. Reading this was such a good reminder that I’m not the only person out there that wants to be healthy, but doesn’t necessarily want to only eat Kale and coconut oil whilst doing butt clenches at your desk (or even using a treadmill desk!) for the rest of eternity. Here’s to having a healthy attitude towards being healthy!

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February 2015 | Jenna Woodward Blog

[…] Reading a well-being blog that actually makes you come away feeling good about yourself, rather than feeling like you need to binge-eat kale for the next month is always a good thing. Jen took the words right out of my mouth with this one. […]

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