Friday, January 16, 2015

Intentional


My habits are changing this year (my habits are TRYING to change...) 
"What habit?" might you ask. Let me tell you. 
NOT Taking care of me every single day. 
Yep. That one. 


I've always been against the whole "take care of yourself" mantra that I feel like our society screams at us on a minute by minute basis. I know self care is healthy...needed, I think for me the reason why I have always stood against the idea is because I've kind of witnessed the whole "going overboard" with the notion. Instead of self care we have a lot of people who are just plain self absorbed. I would rather not be like that - I would like to focus my life on loving and serving and taking care of others. 
But - I've noticed this little teeny problem over the last 3 years. I've gotten to a place where I actually don't feel like I have much of a choice anymore in taking care of myself. The last few months of 2014 were rather hard for my body - I noticed that my once high energy levels were completely gone and instead I felt fatigued almost everyday. I didn't feel creative, my skin started breaking out and my scalp got all flaky and disgusting. I had other problems but a little TMI. 
I realized that in an effort to put others first, I had completely neglected myself and then because of this...I was no good to anyone. I didn't feel like playing very much with the kids (like, at all...) and I was extremely up and down emotionally. So, then because of the fatigue and the moodiness and the bloated belly and the bumps on my face  and not being able to sleep and yada yada yada - I became self absorbed because all I could think about is how crappy I felt...which then became a cycle of not being able to see the light, not feeling hope, not feeling ANYTHING except for "poor me." 
When Mama ain't happy ain't nobody happy. 


So, 2015 brings a lot of self care for me...without neglecting others. That's what I would like. 

Self care for me starts in the kitchen. I'm a strong believer in getting out the bad and replacing it with good (mind, body, and spirit) and so I'm going after health in a whole new way. My diet gradually started getting worse and worse towards the end of last year - I was eating a lot more salt, a lot more gmo corn, a LOT of cheese - I ordered pizza at least twice a month. Yah - cravings were getting out of control. I definitely needed to change basically EVERYTHING about how I was fueling my body. 

So - my focus this year is nutrient dense foods. The most nutrient dense foods on the planet are plants - so I'm gonna eat tons of them.  I'm trying to juice everyday even if it's just carrots and apples with spinach (a little cheaper then other juices.) I like to add beets sometime, ecspecially after my cycle because beets have a TON of iron in them. I also make smoothies almost everyday with lots of bananas and almond or coconut milk - these smoothies give me instant energy and almond milk has way more calcium in it then cows milk. 
 I've cut out all gluten and dairy - almost all sugar....I have been vegetarian for over 3 years and I'm still cutting out meat. I had a doctors appointment and they did extensive blood work and they said ...shock of all shock..that me, a non eat eater...has perfect iron, cholesterol and I have no deficiencies in any of my B vitamins. Thank you and thank you. 
 One word about cow's milk - when you have a cold what to doctors tell you? Take out dairy...it's mucus forming. When you are constipated...what do doctors tell you? Take out dairy. When you have cancer what are you not suppose to drink EVEN if it's organic? Dairy. Yet everyone says to drink dairy. Interesting. Dairy causes inflammation and for most people is very hard to digest - it's got a ton of fat in it and not the good fat that you would find in avocados, coconut, or olives - it just has fat. You can't really absorb the calcium in dairy - and in order for a milk cow to be able to produce enough milk to meet our standards at the grocery stores they are having to be given hormones and antibiotics, and then are being milked ALL day long - a good milk cow now days in a milk factory only lives about 4 years at most and then is ground up for beef. That's just plain sad. 
Oh...and just to finish the cycle - most people these days have candida. Look it up and see if you might have any of the symptoms - there is a pretty easy spit test you can do to test for it. Guess why most people have candida? Well, besides sugar consumption it's because of antibiotic.Now...what's in milk again? Oh yes...
Sorry - that paragraph was way more than "one word." I get carried away sometimes. 


My other change is I'm drinking a lot more water and even infusing it sometimes with fruit for a little treat. I love eating the fruit AFTERWARDS - so rewarding. 
I'm happy as a clam. 


I'm also having a lot of fun finding simple face mask recipes online and even figuring out how to care for long hair. I'm treating myself when the kids go to bed - instead of snacking on corn chips and salsa all night I'll make myself some cinnamon tea and put a honey cinnamon mask on my face. Simple but makes my skin super soft. I ordered a shower filter for our shower head to get rid of the chlorine that is soaking into my scalp and skin everytime I shower (supposedly once you remove the chlorine from your shower water your skin feels a lot softer) - I can't wait for it to get here and my hubby hook it up for me. I'm also excited that Brady won't be absorbing as many toxins through his skin every morning when he takes his ritual 20 minute soak. :) 


All of these things that I'm doing "for me" don't actually take that much time, and the goodness ends up flowing directly on to my littles. They drink the carrot juice, they eat healthier snacks, I'm more mindful of their skin when I think about MY skin - I'm not as tired so I'm in a much much better mood which means more smiles directed toward them. 


The last little bit for my self care is that I'm trying to focus on gratitude. I'm thinking of my blessings, I'm noticing what's around me more (whether it be a bird on the window sill or someone else's feelings) - I want to be intentional. I want to be intentional about what goes in my body, about where I buy gifts, about how I use my dollar as my vote, about the words that come out of my mouth, about the products I use in my home, about the time that I spend...I just want to be intentional. Balanced. Grateful. 


There you have it - my little changes that are having huge pay offs thus far. By the way, the top picture was of my lunch today - zucchini noodles with a mango, avocado, cilantro sauce. Pretty tasty - not gonna lie...it's no waffle fries - but my body feels good after eating it. :) 
What do you do each day to make sure you are being nourished inside and out? 

~ Alyssa Spring

2 comments:

  1. Good for you. It is so important for us to find time to nourish our bodies and our souls. Self care for me looks like healthy eating, fellow vegetarian here:), making time for creativity, spending time in the woods, soaks in the tub, my morning me time when the house is quiet, everyone is still sleeping and I can journal, reflect, exercise and meditate and the little things like candles in our home as the sun sets, a little 15 minute break mid day to sit with a cup of tea and just be, and that act of writing down my gratitude for the day. Simple things really, but so powerful in changing my outlook on life.

    Sounds like you are well on your way to an intentional year. Looking forward to seeing where it takes you.

    Enjoy your weekend.

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  2. It is important to take care of one's self. Sadly, the people I know who preach this the most are really just self absorbed narcissists who feel the world should revolve around them.

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