Our Inner Lives
There are a number of buzzwords now in the Health & Wellness space regarding the parts of you that aren’t muscles, bones and brains. Some of these are: microbiome, lymphatics, and inflammation.
All of these are important, and possibly affect much of our health far more than muscle and bone until about age 60. In fact, they may be part of being more ‘ready’ for ageing that we appreciate. That’s not to say that exercise isn’t a priority as it does have really good effects on bone density, flexibility, coordination, balance and resiliency (as well as inflammation itself!), but it does imply that we again need a holistic approach that takes into account where a person is at in the moment and how they feel.
One of the ways we try and tamp down inflammation....but it's a limited time remedy
Recommending exercise when moving hurts (because of inflammation) or when moving is challenging given an overworked lymphatic system or if the person or when a person is dealing with GI issues and that restricts how and for how long a person could exercise, might be putting the cart before the horse.
If you are hesitant to exercise for any of the above reasons – or others reflecting a body-based feeling – please consider our Comprehensive Ebook On Health And Wellness, our Detox E-Book or our 28 Day Clean-Eating Meal Plan. The ideas presented in those short, easily accessible books might help better frame what you’re experiencing to give a roadmap that works for you, now, in your real life.
We don’t use clean eating and detoxing as buzzwords or anything complicated, fancy or tied to anything other than being humans like we were for 1000s of years before there were Food Stuff Companies. That means - in general - our view of clean eating is informed by what has existed naturally in the world or was easy enough to create or cook that your great-grandmother would understand your meals. Our view of detoxing is how to mitigate the unnatural parts of the world that challenge our health, again, depending on where you live and how you live.
Clean Eating
Ask: What foods do I have a history eating that help me feel good both physically and emotionally? If something has been good for you for many years, it should remain part of your life. That isn’t to say there aren’t emotionally unhealthy choices (stress eating anyone? here…) and physically unhealthy choices (upset stomach, waking up at night, etc). Doing ‘research’ really means understanding what works for you, rather than what some marketer makes up as a ‘SuperFood’
Evaluate: What is available consistently, what can I make consistently, what can be a bedrock foundation for my days and weeks? These items, meals, combinations (Aleks loves “Chicken, rice and veggies”) should be part of your life often. There isn’t anything - meaning any cultural, scientific, or based on history - behind the idea of having a large variety of foods and meals. Really. Most of human history was responsive to the local environment: what could be hunted, grown or found and the local season. If you pair down variety to what works, you’ll likely feel healthier. That doesn’t mean have no variety or variety is bad. It does mean that you likely don’t need some supplement with 47 vegetables and fruits in powdered form to ‘detox’.
Record: Keep track! At least at the beginning. We know food journals are difficult as are meal plans. Which is why we don’t give detailed versions of either. Our idea of a journal is the basics: generally what and when you ate. Not, servings, ounces, grams, macros, etc. At the start, or if you have no intention of being a competitive athlete, the basics help Find Your Foundation. That’s the important cornerstone. Our idea of a Meal Plan is a collection of thought processes and ideas to help create easy-to-repeat good habits and recognize subconscious bad habits. Having a formula by day and hour is most often a delightful recipe for the opposite of success….pause and notice that. Good habits don’t require an extreme attention to hourly detail, just like good driving habits don’t require paying so much attention to everything on the dashboard and outside, and mirrors, and ahhhh! Too much.
