What healthy means to me...???

I haven't blogged for a while, and thought I'd jump back into it. Being in college, and having two jobs has kept me really busy, but I'm happy to be back.  I wanted to talk about what being "healthy" means to ME. Everyone has their own way of taking care of their bodies, which is why you shouldn't take everything I say as bible. This is just my perspective on how I view my life and body. Ever since I could remember, I always had an issue with my physical appearance. To most people that sounds ridiculous, and sometimes I feel that I am being ridicules about the standards I set for myself. The greatest challenge of being human is accepting ourselves for who we are. That is a gradual process, and after 5+ years of trying to live more intuitively, I have come to realize that the journey may never end, at least not for me. I'm the type of person, that is never really "satisfied" with anything. This translates into every aspect of my life, getting an A+ on an exam never made me happy, or fulfilled, it made me feel as if, it wasn't enough, I'd always ask myself what was next? The destination never existed. This mindset is what makes me who I am, but it also poses the greatest challenge that I have to yet conquer with myself. With food, and my health, I used to find myself being on two opposite ends of the spectrum, I'd either be perfect with everything I ate (reading labels like it was my JOB, which is not healthy) or I would binge on the MOST unhealthiest foods. Many years later, and now being very close to being done with my college degree, I have found some middle ground. And let me tell you, it is like a breath of fresh air, somewhat accepting who you are, and embracing it. I know that I will never be happy with myself, because once I reach a goal, whether that be with my body, health, job, personal relationships etc... I will always set a new goal, because the finish line does not exist. I do not limit myself to one goal, my goals are limitless, till the day I am not longer able to complete one. 

Now, let me go through my typical day. Also I do want to mention that simply eating healthy, and exercising is not everything one needs to be "healthy". Health is more than just that, its how you feel on the inside as well, because trust me, negativity, sadness, and despair they show up and affect your health just as much as a bag of Cheetos. 

Okay, let me give you a play by play of how a typical day goes for me... 

I usually wake up pretty early, (I am in no way a morning person, but I usually have work so I'll be up by 5:30 AM) If I don't have work, I'll sleep in till about 7-8AM (assuming I went to bed at 9 PM) If I don't have work, then I will usually make myself a cup of coffee, clean the house, do laundry, prep breakfast (which I eat around 1-2 PM) regardless of being at work or at home. I don't eat a legitimate breakfast, I prefer fasting for a very long time, because I want my body to burn any excess fat that it can before I reintroduce food. Now- for anyone who has gotten to this point, I understand if you have data to support that this may not be a great thing to do, but I ALSO have data:) In recent years, their has been a lot of studies on intermittent fasting and their benefits, on how it gives your body a chance to "cleanse" itself, and fight off any excess crap you may have floating around in their....So this is what I like, and it's what I do. I will usually sip on my coffee, near a window where the sun is shining on my face (if its not cloudy:/ ya feel?) My coffee time is ritualistic for me, it starts my day with the right foot forward, and gives me a few minutes to just NOT thing about anything, cause' damn I get so tired of thinking sometimes. After my coffee, I will go shower, and prep myself for work. If I didn't have work I would do a workout, which really just means some deep stretching and yoga. I found yoga feels better for my body, I DO NOT lift weights, I actually hate it, and that is my personal opinion on it. I like to use my body weight and resistance bands to work difference muscle groups. If I do workout I will have a grassfed protein shake within 20 minutes of my workout. My first meal of the day being around that 1-2pm window will consist of whatever the hell I honestly made for the dinner the night before or a random assortment of vegetables and greens. I try to have a salad at least for one of my meals every day, because girl needs her fiber (my bowels are really important to me, no shame in admitting it :), if my gut is happy I AM happy, majority of a humans serotonin is made in ones gut, so if you're gut isn't happy well sorry hunny you aren't either)  For dinner I try to have fun. My boyfriend and I will see what we are in the mood for, and dinner is usually some type of protein (fish, chicken, grassfed beef) with vegetables (brocollini, brussel spouts, carrots) and starch (gluten free bread, maybe some gluten pasta on the rare occasion, or potatoes). I try to avoid gluten, because it reeks havoc on your gut... yes its quite sad, because I do enjoy bread:) just with limitations and portions. After dinner, I will usually indulge in something sweet, such as dark chocolate (something without soy), and have a cup of tea. 

Author:

Isabelle Gyulakian